It wasn’t that long ago that Penn basketball dominated the Ivy League, all but guaranteed to finish first or 2nd. But their fall from grace has been dramatic, as they went from King of the Castle to doormat in almost no time flat after Fran Dunphy left for Temple. A few weeks ago they fired his replacement, Glen Miller, who had essentially run the program into the ground, and hired former Penn star Jerome Allen. There was an article about him in the NY Times a few days ago.

“I’ve played with some of the best ever in the NBA and played for outstanding coaches like Fran Dunphy and Larry Brown,” Allen said. “I think I’ve learned from them. And what is consistent with every one of them is that they demand maximum effort and full attention to the smallest detail. That’s the major reason they were successful. That’s the approach I want my players to take.”

It didn’t make much of a difference in their first game under Allen. They lost to Davidson, 79-50. And now they must bend over and prepare for a ass-kicking tomorrow, as they take on the Duke Blue Devils. Is a coach with less than a half a season of coaching experience the answer to turn the program around? Or are the “good old days” of Penn basketball just that, a memory? The Sixers tried a similar move, bringing back a beloved alumni, Mo Cheeks. It didn’t work. Will it work at Penn? Only time will tell, but it would be a shame if for years to come, the only attendees at the Palestra were the ghosts of better times and better teams.