City of Basketball Love

By Dan Arkans (@danarkans)
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(Ed. Note: This article is part of our 2023-24 season coverage, which will run for the six weeks preceding the first official games of the year on Nov. 6. To access all of our high school and college preview content for this season click here.)

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It’s not quite Danny and the Miracles from 1988, but the Penn women’s basketball team is looking for senior Jordan Obi to lead the Quakers to some pretty green pastures this season.

The Quakers, who were picked fourth in the Ivy League entering the season, only have Obi and sophomore Simone Sawyer back as healthy starters, senior forward Floor Toonders (foot) still recovering from an offseason injury. 

To say this is Obi’s team is something Captain Obvious could even figure out.

“My mindset is just to help grow the group as much as I can,” Obi said at Penn’s Red and Blue scrimmage last Saturday. “We have a lot of players that don’t have main experience from being freshmen now or players who didn’t see time the last couple of years. I am trying to play with everybody and for everybody, making the right passes and right reads. I am going to need them.”

Obi was a second team All Big-5 selection a season ago after averaging 12.6 points and a team-high 7.6 rebounds per game. Among Ivy players, Obi was fourth in rebounds per game and ninth in scoring, as well as eighth in field goal percentage (.441), eighth in minutes per game (32.1) and 13th in blocks.

Not bad for a junior season, but the Quaker senior is primed for another step in her development.

“I have been here 15 seasons,” Penn coach Mike McLaughlin said. “She has grown in terms of maturity the most I have ever had. She has unbelievable natural ability. That kid in terms of her level of basketball maturity, the tools she didn’t have when she got here — in three years, she has grown more than any kid I have ever had.”

Last season, Penn finished with a record of 17-12 and tied for third in the Ivy League at 9-5. The Quakers advanced to the WNIT following the regular season and fell to Richmond in the first round.

To have anything close to a repeat performance will take not only a big leadership step from Obi, but growth in her game as well. While she has lived in the paint her first three years, Obi has been working diligently this offseason to grow her game.

“She spent the summer here the only female in the gym, with all these Penn pros, European guys in the NBA,” McLaughlin said. “It was awesome to watch her down there. This kid is ready. This is her time. She’s going to be phenomenal.”

While Obi would like to be a little more unselfish and lead by example, the Quakers will be relying on her to be more selfish as well. They graduated Kayla Padilla, the seventh-leading scorer in program history (1,355 points), who averaged 17.8 ppg in her three years at Penn.

That’s why she put in the work this summer and continues to hit the gym every day – with her eyes wide open on growing the team.

“I also realize without Kayla I am going to need to score considerably more than last year,” Obi said. “I am trying to take that on. I feel like I am not a scorer by nature. It’s kind of an adjustment, trying to get to my spot. I am working in the gym, trying to get my shots up. 

“I have been shooting a lot of 3s. I have been working on my post moves. Between my post moves and my 3s, I think it will open up a lot for us to shoot 3s and cut. The midrange will come. We play against a good amount of zones. It’s not where I want to live.”

There is no doubt the offense will center around Obi. Whether that’s shooting threes or getting to the post to initiate the offense, a lot of Penn’s success will rest on her shoulders. Still, after being a second-team All-Big 5 selection it’s not as if Obi was a slouch last season.

“The one thing I would like to see her do is land at the foul line a little bit more,” McLaughlin said. “For a kid as strong and dominant she is, she needs to get to the foul line more. She’s got the skills.”

Penn began the season with a scrimmage of Fordham and Obi liked what she saw already. However, there are areas where the team needs to improve.

“We have been rebounding well, turnovers we have to cut down,” Obi said. “With a young team that comes, knowing when to slow down when to speed up. Defense is going to always be one of our top priorities, just doing the little things really well.”

Obi will be the first one to point out she cannot do this alone. Getting her to talk about the team, she is quick to point out the growth of junior Lizzy Groetsch, one of the keys to replacing Padilla at guard and getting Penn out in transition.

“Coach Mike has really emphasized we need a guard who can rebound, so we can get up the floor faster,” Obi said. “Lizzy has done a good job of that, she is doing all the little things. If we get a rebound we can push the ball. She’s really gritty. She has impressed me with that group who hasn’t really played.” 

In the end, Obi not only needs to grow her game, but still dominate inside. She also needs to lead her team the right way and hopefully to an Ivy crown. No problem, right?

“Jordan has been tremendous,” McLaughlin said. “I love this group. We are going to have challenges. We are young and inexperienced. Jordan being the only senior on this team, it’s been fun. Right now watching Jordan with these younger, inexperienced players has been great.”