Penn:
For Quakers, it's time to get serious
If February is just over the horizon, it must finally be time for the two-time Ivy champions to actually play a league game.
Not to diminish any of the prelims, but for Penn, the real season begins tonight at Yale.
The Quakers (7-6) have played once since Jan. 14. That was a 73-69 loss to Temple at the Palestra on Jan. 21. They haven't lost in the Ivies since Feb. 8, 2002. That was at Yale.
Last season, this was the weekend that defined Penn's season. Holding a one-game lead over Brown, the Quakers won at Brown on Feb. 28, by four points. The next night they won by five at Yale, and the race was history.
This time the Quakers will head to Brown tomorrow. Yale (5-10) and Brown (6-9) have already met twice, with Brown winning both. Princeton, of course, will be making the same road trip, only on opposite nights.
Penn travels to Princeton on Feb. 10. But first things, well, you know.
"This is what we've been waiting for, forever," Quakers junior forward Tim Begley said. "Maybe the reason we start so late is because our conference play might mean a little more than other conferences. Some teams can lose their first game or two and say they'll get back in the thing. If we lose the first game or two, you pretty much can call it a done season. You don't want to fall behind at all."
Even if, 2 years ago, the Quakers started out 2-3 and still managed to get into a three-way playoff, which they won by beating Yale.
They would just rather not go through that again. At least if they can help it.
"This is going to be a tough early test for us," senior guard Jeff Schiffner said. "Hopefully, we can look at it Sunday and say that was real good for us.
"Every team points to the Penn-Princeton weekend. And until somebody dethrones us, we're going to [wear] that bull's-eye. That's not any kind of crutch. We feel good about that. But a month from now, we want to look back and say it was the start of something big."
Added Begley: "The fact of the matter is, we have to play [these teams] sooner or later. Sure, if we drop two, we can always say it was too bad we didn't get to play them later. But, if we win two, we can say we got our toughest weekend out of the way."
This was supposed to be a transition season in West Philadelphia. It might be time to rethink that. The Quakers beat St. John's and Manhattan in New York to win the Holiday Classic. And most of their losses have come against high-quality opponents.
"Every game is important, but this is our ticket to the final goal," said coach Fran Dunphy, who has been to the NCAA Tournament seven times in the last 11 seasons, including four of the last five. "I think we're very antsy to get going.
"We've done some really good things, but we've had some stretches of inconsistency. If we continue to do that, we probably won't reach our final goal. In our league, if you do well against Penn and Princeton, it's certainly going to help your chances at the end."
For Penn, the end is March 9, at home against Princeton. Gentlemen, rev those engines.
For Quakers, it's time to get serious
If February is just over the horizon, it must finally be time for the two-time Ivy champions to actually play a league game.
Not to diminish any of the prelims, but for Penn, the real season begins tonight at Yale.
The Quakers (7-6) have played once since Jan. 14. That was a 73-69 loss to Temple at the Palestra on Jan. 21. They haven't lost in the Ivies since Feb. 8, 2002. That was at Yale.
Last season, this was the weekend that defined Penn's season. Holding a one-game lead over Brown, the Quakers won at Brown on Feb. 28, by four points. The next night they won by five at Yale, and the race was history.
This time the Quakers will head to Brown tomorrow. Yale (5-10) and Brown (6-9) have already met twice, with Brown winning both. Princeton, of course, will be making the same road trip, only on opposite nights.
Penn travels to Princeton on Feb. 10. But first things, well, you know.
"This is what we've been waiting for, forever," Quakers junior forward Tim Begley said. "Maybe the reason we start so late is because our conference play might mean a little more than other conferences. Some teams can lose their first game or two and say they'll get back in the thing. If we lose the first game or two, you pretty much can call it a done season. You don't want to fall behind at all."
Even if, 2 years ago, the Quakers started out 2-3 and still managed to get into a three-way playoff, which they won by beating Yale.
They would just rather not go through that again. At least if they can help it.
"This is going to be a tough early test for us," senior guard Jeff Schiffner said. "Hopefully, we can look at it Sunday and say that was real good for us.
"Every team points to the Penn-Princeton weekend. And until somebody dethrones us, we're going to [wear] that bull's-eye. That's not any kind of crutch. We feel good about that. But a month from now, we want to look back and say it was the start of something big."
Added Begley: "The fact of the matter is, we have to play [these teams] sooner or later. Sure, if we drop two, we can always say it was too bad we didn't get to play them later. But, if we win two, we can say we got our toughest weekend out of the way."
This was supposed to be a transition season in West Philadelphia. It might be time to rethink that. The Quakers beat St. John's and Manhattan in New York to win the Holiday Classic. And most of their losses have come against high-quality opponents.
"Every game is important, but this is our ticket to the final goal," said coach Fran Dunphy, who has been to the NCAA Tournament seven times in the last 11 seasons, including four of the last five. "I think we're very antsy to get going.
"We've done some really good things, but we've had some stretches of inconsistency. If we continue to do that, we probably won't reach our final goal. In our league, if you do well against Penn and Princeton, it's certainly going to help your chances at the end."
For Penn, the end is March 9, at home against Princeton. Gentlemen, rev those engines.
