The Palestra, often called the Cathedral of College Basketball, is a historic arena and the home gym of the Penn Quakers men's and women's basketball teams, volleyball teams, wrestling team, and Philadelphia Big 5 basketball. Located at 235 South 33rd St. in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania, near Franklin Field in the University City section of Philadelphia, it opened on January 1, 1927. The Palestra has been called "the most important building in the history of college basketball" and "changed the entire history of the sport for which it was built".
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.
The Penn Quakers football program is the college football team at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. The Penn Quakers have competed in the Ivy League since its inaugural season of 1956, and are a Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Penn's first game was in 1876, and the team has played in 1,413 football games, the most of any school in any division. Penn plays its home games at historic Franklin Field, the oldest football stadium in the nation. All Penn games are broadcast on WNTP or WFIL radio.
The Penn Quakers men's lacrosse team represents the University of Pennsylvania in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I men's lacrosse. Penn competes as a member of the Ivy League and plays its home games at Franklin Field in Philadelphia.
The 1980–81 Princeton Tigers men's basketball team represented Princeton University in intercollegiate college basketball during the 1980–81 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The head coach was Pete Carril and the team co-captains were David Blatt and Randy Melville. The team played its home games in the Jadwin Gymnasium on the university campus in Princeton, New Jersey. The team was the champion of the Ivy League, which earned them an invitation to the 48-team 1981 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament.
Matthew Langel is an American college basketball coach who is currently the head coach for the Colgate Raiders men's basketball team. He previously served as an assistant for the Temple Owls men's basketball team for five seasons under Fran Dunphy.
The Penn Quakers baseball team is a varsity intercollegiate athletic team of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The team is a member of the Ivy League, which is part of the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I. The team plays its home games at Meiklejohn Stadium in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Quakers are coached by John Yurkow.
The Penn–Princeton men's basketball rivalry is an American college basketball rivalry between the Penn Quakers men's basketball team of the University of Pennsylvania and Princeton Tigers men's basketball team of Princeton University. Having been contested every year since 1903, it is the third oldest consecutively played rivalry in National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I history. Unlike many notable college basketball rivalries, such as Carolina–Duke, which involves teams that often both get invited to the same NCAA tournaments, Notre Dame–UCLA, which involves geographically remote teams, Illinois–Missouri, which involves non-conference rivals, or Alabama–Auburn, which takes a back seat to the football rivalry, this is a rivalry of geographically close, conference rivals, who compete for a single NCAA invitation and consider the basketball rivalry more important than other sports rivalries between the schools. A head-to-head contest has been the final regularly scheduled game of the Princeton season every year since 1995. Between 1963 and 2007, Princeton or Penn won or shared the Ivy League conference championship every season except 1986 and 1988. The other seasons in which neither team won or shared the Ivy League title are 1957, 1958, 1962, 2008–10, and 2012-2016.
The 2015–16 Penn Quakers women's basketball team represented the University of Pennsylvania during the 2015–16 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The Quakers, led by seventh year head coach Mike McLaughlin, play their home games at the Palestra and were members of the Ivy League. Penn finished the season 24–5, 13–1 to win the Ivy League regular season title to earn an automatic trip to the NCAA women's tournament where they lost in the first round to Washington.
The 2016–17 Penn Quakers women's basketball team represented the University of Pennsylvania during the 2016–17 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The Quakers, led by eighth year head coach Mike McLaughlin, play their home games at the Palestra and are members of the Ivy League. The team was picked by the Ivy League in the pre-season to be conference champions. They finished the season 22–8, 13–1 to win the Ivy League regular season title and their first ever Ivy League Tournament to earn an automatic trip to the NCAA women's tournament, which they had a 21 point lead before losing to Texas A&M in the first round.
The 2017–18 Penn Quakers men's basketball team represented the University of Pennsylvania during the 2017–18 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Quakers, led by third-year head coach Steve Donahue, played their home games at The Palestra as members of the Ivy League. They finished the season 24–9, 12–2 in Ivy League play to win a share of the Ivy League regular season championship with Harvard. In the Ivy League tournament, they defeated Yale and Harvard to become Ivy League Tournament champions. They received the Ivy League's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament where they lost in the first round to Kansas.
The 2017–18 Penn Quakers women's basketball team represents the University of Pennsylvania during the 2017–18 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The Quakers, led by ninth year head coach Mike McLaughlin, play their home games at the Palestra and were members of the Ivy League. They finished the season 22–9, 11–3 to finish in second place. They advanced to the championship game of the Ivy League women's tournament where they lost to Princeton. They received an automatic trip to the Women's National Invitation Tournament where they defeated Albany in the first before losing to St. John's in the second round.
The 2018–19 Penn Quakers men's basketball team represented the University of Pennsylvania in the 2018–19 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. They played their home games at The Palestra in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and were led by fourth-year head coach Steve Donahue. The Quakers finished the season 19–12, 7–7 in Ivy League play to finish in a three-way tie for fourth place. As the No. 4 seed in the Ivy League tournament, they lost in the semifinals to Harvard.
The 1978–79 Penn Quakers men's basketball team was a college basketball team that represented the University of Pennsylvania in the 1978–79 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Quakers, coached by Bob Weinhauer, played in the Ivy League and had a 25–7 win–loss record. Penn won the Ivy League regular season championship for the eighth time in 10 years and participated in the 1979 NCAA Division I basketball tournament. There, as the ninth seed in the 10-team East region, the Quakers defeated Iona, number one seed North Carolina, Syracuse, and St. John's to reach the Final Four. In the national semifinals, they lost to a Michigan State team that included Magic Johnson, and an overtime loss in the third-place game against DePaul ended their season. As of 2023, the 1978–79 Quakers are the last Ivy League team to play in the Final Four.
The 2018–19 Penn Quakers women's basketball team represented the University of Pennsylvania during the 2018–19 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The Quakers, led by tenth-year head coach Mike McLaughlin, played their home games at the Palestra and were members of the Ivy League. They finished the season 24–7, 12–2 in Ivy League play, to share the Ivy League regular-season title with Princeton. They advanced to the championship game of the Ivy League women's tournament where they lost to Princeton. They received an automatic trip to the Women's National Invitation Tournament where they defeated American in the first before losing to Providence in the second round.
The 1979–80 Penn Quakers men's basketball team represented the University of Pennsylvania as a member of the Ivy League during the 1979–80 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. Led by head coach Bob Weinhauer, the Quakers played their home games at The Palestra in Philadelphia. A year after reaching the Final Four, Penn again finished as Ivy League champions by defeating co-champion Princeton in a play-in game to receive an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. Playing as the No. 12 seed in the Mideast region, the Quakers defeated No. 5 seed Washington State in the opening round, before losing to No. 4 seed Duke in the second round.
The 1992–93 Penn Quakers men's basketball team represented the University of Pennsylvania during the 1992–93 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Quakers, led by 4th-year head coach Fran Dunphy, played their home games at The Palestra as members of the Ivy League. They finished the season 22–5, 14–0 in Ivy League play to win the conference championship. They received the Ivy League's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament where they lost in the First Round to No. 3 seed UMass.
The 1994–95 Penn Quakers men's basketball team represented the University of Pennsylvania during the 1994–95 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Quakers, led by 6th-year head coach Fran Dunphy, played their home games at The Palestra as members of the Ivy League. They finished the season 22–6, 14–0 in Ivy League play to win the conference championship. They received the Ivy League's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament where they lost in the First Round to No. 5 seed Alabama.
The 2023–24 Penn Quakers women's basketball team represented the University of Pennsylvania during the 2023–24 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The Quakers, led by 15th-year head coach Mike McLaughlin, played their home games at the Palestra in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania as members of the Ivy League. They finished the season 15–13, 7–7 in Ivy League play, to finish in a tie for fourth place. Their season concluded with a five-point semifinals loss to Princeton in the Ivy League tournament.
