In his freshman season, the team finished with a 23–5 overall record (13–1 in Ivy League) and were crowned as conference champions. During his sophomore year, McDonald played a more prominent role as team leader after Ron Haigler graduated. McDonald led Penn in scoring at 18.9 points per game, but the team only finished with a 17–9 overall record (11–3 Ivy).
Following his career at Penn, McDonald was selected in the 1978 National Basketball Association Draft by the Seattle SuperSonics as the 42nd overall pick. They lost in the first round of the 1975 National Collegiate Athletic Association Tournament to Kansas State, however. By finishing in second place, Penn did not participate in a postseason tournament.
McDonald earned his first of three consecutive selections to the All-Ivy League and All-Big 5 teams.
Team success was moderate, however, as they finished in second place in the Ivy League again with an 18–8 (12–2 Ivy) record. That year was also head coach Chuck Daly"s final one at Penn, a position he had held since 1971-1972.
Daly was later inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Penn made a resurgence during McDonald"s senior season in 1977-1978, one in which he led the team in scoring for a third straight year at 22.3 points per game.
In the first round of the tournament against Saint Bonaventure, McDonald scored a career high 37 points and grabbed 13 rebounds, which are both school records for the tournament.
On June 9, 1978, McDonald was selected in the second round (42nd overall) in that year"s National Basketball Association draft by the Seattle SuperSonics (now known as the Oklahoma City Thunder).
He won the Robert V. Geasey Trophy as a junior and was named the Ivy League Player of the Year as a senior. Since the Ivy League is the only National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I conference that does not have a postseason conference tournament, only the regular season conference champion earns an automatic berth into the National Collegiate Athletic Association Tournament. McDonald was voted as the Ivy League Player of the Year for being the leader on the most successful Ivy League team that season.
