Penn Quakers men's basketball

The Penn Quakers men's basketball team is the college basketball program representing the University of Pennsylvania. As the twentieth-winningest men's basketball program of all-time, the team from Penn had its greatest success from 1966 to 2007, a period of over 40 years. Penn plays in the Ivy League in NCAA Division I.
Prior to the formation of the Ivy League in 1956 Penn was a member of the Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League from 1903 through 1955. Penn won 13 EIBL championships. Penn was retroactively selected as the pre-NCAA tournament national champion for the 1919–20 and 1920–21 seasons by the Helms Athletic Foundation, and the 1919–20 team was retroactively ranked as the top team of the season the Premo-Porretta Power Poll.
Penn has appeared in one Final Four, in 1979. Penn and Princeton are tied for the most Ivy League regular season championships with 26 each. Their main Ivy League rivalry is with Princeton, whom they used to always play as the last regular season game. Combining the EIL and Ivy Championships Penn leads with 39 championships; Princeton 32; Columbia 14; Yale 13; Dartmouth 12; Cornell 8; Harvard 6; and Brown 1.
The last NCAA tournament victory for the Quakers came on March 17, 1994, at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale, New York. The No. 11 Quakers defeated the No. 6 Nebraska Cornhuskers, 90–80, in the first round. The Quakers then fell in the second round to No. 3 [1993–94 1993–94 Florida Gators men's basketball team|Florida Gators men's basketball team|Florida] on March 19 as the Gators prevailed, 70–58.

WWW pennathletics.com/index.a...

Notable seasons

1920 & 1921 National Championships

The 1919-1920 team finished the regular season with a 19–0 record and the Eastern championship. Penn defeated the Western champion University of Chicago two games to one in a best-of-three tournament at the end of the season to determine the national champion. The team was also later retrospectively named the national champion by the Helms Athletic Foundation and the Premo-Porretta Power Poll.
The 1920-1921 team finished the season with a 21–2 record and was retrospectively named the national champion by the Helms Athletic Foundation. Penn's two losses came by a combined 3 points. The Helms selections, which cover the era before the 1939 NCAA Tournament, are listed by the NCAA in its annual Division I Men's Basketball Records Book but are not officially recognized as national championships by the NCAA.

1979 Final Four

One of Penn's most memorable seasons came in 1978–79 when the Quakers advanced to the NCAA tournament Final Four. Player Tony Price led the Quakers, who stunned the nation with victories over [1978–79 1978–79 Iona Gaels men's basketball team|Iona Gaels men's basketball team|Iona], [1978–79 1978–79 North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball team|North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball team|North Carolina],, and St. John's to advance to the Final Four. The Quakers faced Earvin "Magic" Johnson and [1978–79 1978–79 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball team|Michigan State Spartans men's basketball team|Michigan State] in the national semifinals in Salt Lake City, Utah, but were met with defeat, 101–67. They are the last Ivy League team to advance to the Final Four and Elite Eight of the NCAA tournament as of 2025.

Others

Other notable Penn teams include the team led by guards Matt Maloney and Jerome Allen during the mid-1990s and the nationally ranked teams of the early 1970s led by Dave Wohl, Steve Bilsky, Corky Calhoun and Bob Morse. Penn's 1970–71 team completed an undefeated regular season and advanced to the Eastern Regional Final in the NCAA tournament, losing there to a [1970–71 1970–71 Villanova Wildcats men's basketball team|Villanova Wildcats men's basketball team|Villanova] team it had defeated during the regular season. Villanova lost to UCLA in the national championship game, but was later found to be using an ineligible player, Howard Porter.

Rivalries

The Quakers, a member of the Philadelphia Big 5, have long-standing rivalries with a multitude of institutions such as Temple University, La Salle University, Saint Joseph's University, and Villanova University. Another rival is Drexel University, which is a member of the City 6. Penn’s traditional rival in the Ivy League is Princeton.

Postseason

NCAA tournament results

The Quakers have appeared in the NCAA tournament 24 times. Their combined record is 13–26.

1953		Sweet Sixteen Regional 3rd Place Game	Notre Dame DePaul	L 57–69 W 90–70
1970		First Round	Niagara	L 69–79
1971		First Round Sweet Sixteen Elite Eight	Duquesne South Carolina Villanova	W 70–65 W 79–64 L 47–90
1972		First Round Sweet Sixteen Elite Eight	Providence Villanova North Carolina	W 76–60 W 78–67 L 59–73
1973		First Round Sweet Sixteen Regional 3rd Place Game	St. John's Providence Syracuse	W 62–61 L 65–87 L 68–69
1974		First Round	Providence	L 69–84
1975		First Round	Kansas State	L 62–69
1978		First Round Sweet Sixteen	St. Bonaventure Duke	W 92–83 L 80–84
1979	#9	First Round Second Round Sweet Sixteen Elite Eight Final Four National 3rd Place Game	#8 Iona 1 North Carolina 4 Syracuse 10 St. John's 2 Michigan State 2 DePaul	W 73–69W 72–71 W 84–76 W 64–62 L 67–101 L 93–96
1980	#12	First Round Second Round	#5 Washington State 4 Duke	W 62–55L 42–52
1982	#12	First Round	#5 St. John's	L 56–66
1985	#15	First Round	#2 Memphis	L 55–67
1987	#16	First Round	#1 North Carolina	L 82–113
1993	#14	First Round	#3 Massachusetts	L 50–54
1994	#11	First Round Second Round	#6 Nebraska 3 Florida	W 90–80L 58–70
1995	#12	First Round	#5 Alabama	L 85–91
1999	#11	First Round	#6 Florida	L 61–75
2000	#13	First Round	#4 Illinois	L 58–68
2002	#11	First Round	#6 California	L 75–82
2003	#11	First Round	#6 Oklahoma State	L 63–77
2005	#13	First Round	#4 Boston College	L 65–85
2006	#15	First Round	#2 Texas	L 52–60
2007	#14	First Round	#3 Texas A&M	L 52–68
2018	#16	First Round	#1 Kansas	L 60–76