When the Penn men's basketball team began its Ivy League campaign last season at Yale, it was defending a 23-game league winning streak.
The Quakers lost, 54-52, signaling the end of their stranglehold on the Ancient Eight.
This year, the Red and Blue (7-7) enters tonight's league opener against Yale at the Palestra on a more modest three-game winning streak.
Penn knows it cannot afford to take any team lightly if it wants to regain its league dominance and contend for a berth in the NCAA Tournament.
"We can't go in there and expect a team like Yale to just lay down for us," sophomore Ibby Jaaber said. "Last year they did kind of sneak up on us."
Penn Coach Fran Dunphy believes last year's loss came, in part, from rust due to having played only one game in 16 days leading up to the league opener.
This season, Yale finds itself in a similar situation. The Elis' game originally scheduled for last Saturday against Brown was postponed due to snow, meaning they haven't played since their contest against Saint Peter's, Jan. 15.
During Yale's 13-day hiatus, the Quakers have reeled off three consecutive victories, including Tuesday's 67-59 triumph over Big 5 rival Saint Joseph's.
After a rough patch in December, Penn's confidence -- along with its shooting touch -- seems to be peaking at the right time.
"It's kind of like a different environment in the locker room," Jaaber said. "You can tell everybody's pumped now, everybody's holding their head high and everybody's excited about what's coming."
What's coming is a formidable Elis squad which boasts an excellent starting backcourt in seniors Edwin Draughan and Alex Gamboa.
"We think that their guards are as good as any guard combination in the league," Dunphy said. "They can score and they know how to play and that's a tough combination."
Gamboa and Draughan are indeed a veritable scoring threat. Draughan, a second team All-Ivy selection last year, is currently second in the league with 15.4 points per game. Gamboa, a former Ivy League Rookie of the Year, is netting 11.6 points and dishing out 3.1 assists per game.
The Quakers, however, will be prepared for Yale's backcourt duo, according to Jaaber, because they have several similar players on their team. Lorenz Manthey, who in Jaaber's estimation is a "wonderful shooter," plays the part of Gamboa in practice, while North Carolina transfer Adam Franklin and David Whitehurst imitate the slashing Draughan.
Dominick Martin, Yale's 6-foot-10 center, must also figure prominently into Penn's defensive scheme as he is third in the Ancient Eight with 15.3 points per game and scored a career-high 20 points against the Quakers last year.
Despite Penn's depth at the forward position with Steve Danley, Ryan Pettinella, Mark Zoller and Jan Fikiel, Dunphy is not sure which matchup will ultimately prove to be most crucial for the Quakers.
"I think our frontcourt has to play well," he said. "But I would say the same thing about our backcourt too, that Begley, Osmundson and Ibby need to really have a great weekend for us."
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Senior Gamboa gives Elis true point guard
Not many Ivy League teams can say they have a true point guard on their roster.
But no Ivy team can say it has a true point guard who has been starting for the last four years.
Except for Yale.
When the Elis open their 2005 Ivy League season at the Palestra tonight, they will attempt to make a final run at the Ivy title with their trio of seniors Dominick Martin, Edwin Draughan and Alex Gamboa.
And while Martin and Draughan frequently light up the box scores in points per game, it is Gamboa who is at the helm of Yale's offensive artillery.
"As a point guard, you're always going to have a great impact on your team and your teammates," Yale coach James Jones said. "Your job is to distribute the basketball and make other guys better. That's what Alex has done for us."
But Gamboa has done much more for the Elis than just feed passes to his teammates.
And the most amazing thing is that Gamboa has been successful from day one.
During the 2001-02 season, he led the Elis to an Ivy League championship -- albeit shared with Penn and Princeton -- while leading the team in three-pointers, free throws and assists.
"It was a blessing," Gamboa said about starting so early in his career. "You come into college, everyone wants to play right away ... I got that opportunity, and I'm really thankful for that."
His season culminated with honorable mention All-Ivy honors, and Gamboa became only the fifth Yale player to be named Ivy League Rookie of the Year.
However, Gamboa never made it to the NCAA tournament. The Elis fell to the Quakers in the championship game of a three-team playoff.
Over the next two years, Gamboa continued his impressive play. He now ranks ninth all-time in school history with 112 three-pointers.
However, the same success cannot be attributed to his team. With a talented core of starters, Yale underachieved the last two seasons, finishing fourth in the league both years.
Now, Gamboa must respond to the pressure of having one final chance to restore his team to the glory it experienced his freshman year.
"It's my last shot at winning an Ivy League championship and going to the NCAA tournament," Gamboa said. "It's the most important thing in my life right now."
Gamboa might have had a greater chance to play in the NCAA tournament had he chosen to attend one of the West Coast schools that recruited him, such as Santa Clara or Portland.
But according to the Reno, Nev., native, the decision to showcase his talents at a school almost 3,000 miles from his home was a "no-brainer."
"I had a great bond with some of the players, especially the guys who all graduated last year," Gamboa said. "It was just a really easy decision for me."
This season, Gamboa is already off to a hot start. He leads the team in steals and free-throw percentage, missing only five shots from the charity stripe all season.
Yet Gamboa still maintains that his role as a point guard centers around making assists.
"I think being a point guard, that's my first responsibility," Gamboa said. "It's not a secret that Dominick and Edwin are the first two options offensively."
When asked about his personal game, Gamboa remained modest even though he is off to his best start yet on the scoreboard, averaging 11.6 points per game.
"I'm a perfectionist ... I'm never fully happy with how I'm playing," he said.
Yet Gamboa was still able to set basketball aside during the summer of 2003, when he studied in Spain and went to the Running of the Bulls in Pamplona.
"I really like to travel. I've been to the Netherlands, Switzerland, Spain," Gamboa said. "I plan on doing that after I graduate, too."
But even though Gamboa has traveled across Europe, he has still yet to make his most important trip, which is marked down in March for the final time in his career.
The Quakers lost, 54-52, signaling the end of their stranglehold on the Ancient Eight.
This year, the Red and Blue (7-7) enters tonight's league opener against Yale at the Palestra on a more modest three-game winning streak.
Penn knows it cannot afford to take any team lightly if it wants to regain its league dominance and contend for a berth in the NCAA Tournament.
"We can't go in there and expect a team like Yale to just lay down for us," sophomore Ibby Jaaber said. "Last year they did kind of sneak up on us."
Penn Coach Fran Dunphy believes last year's loss came, in part, from rust due to having played only one game in 16 days leading up to the league opener.
This season, Yale finds itself in a similar situation. The Elis' game originally scheduled for last Saturday against Brown was postponed due to snow, meaning they haven't played since their contest against Saint Peter's, Jan. 15.
During Yale's 13-day hiatus, the Quakers have reeled off three consecutive victories, including Tuesday's 67-59 triumph over Big 5 rival Saint Joseph's.
After a rough patch in December, Penn's confidence -- along with its shooting touch -- seems to be peaking at the right time.
"It's kind of like a different environment in the locker room," Jaaber said. "You can tell everybody's pumped now, everybody's holding their head high and everybody's excited about what's coming."
What's coming is a formidable Elis squad which boasts an excellent starting backcourt in seniors Edwin Draughan and Alex Gamboa.
"We think that their guards are as good as any guard combination in the league," Dunphy said. "They can score and they know how to play and that's a tough combination."
Gamboa and Draughan are indeed a veritable scoring threat. Draughan, a second team All-Ivy selection last year, is currently second in the league with 15.4 points per game. Gamboa, a former Ivy League Rookie of the Year, is netting 11.6 points and dishing out 3.1 assists per game.
The Quakers, however, will be prepared for Yale's backcourt duo, according to Jaaber, because they have several similar players on their team. Lorenz Manthey, who in Jaaber's estimation is a "wonderful shooter," plays the part of Gamboa in practice, while North Carolina transfer Adam Franklin and David Whitehurst imitate the slashing Draughan.
Dominick Martin, Yale's 6-foot-10 center, must also figure prominently into Penn's defensive scheme as he is third in the Ancient Eight with 15.3 points per game and scored a career-high 20 points against the Quakers last year.
Despite Penn's depth at the forward position with Steve Danley, Ryan Pettinella, Mark Zoller and Jan Fikiel, Dunphy is not sure which matchup will ultimately prove to be most crucial for the Quakers.
"I think our frontcourt has to play well," he said. "But I would say the same thing about our backcourt too, that Begley, Osmundson and Ibby need to really have a great weekend for us."
==============
Senior Gamboa gives Elis true point guard
Not many Ivy League teams can say they have a true point guard on their roster.
But no Ivy team can say it has a true point guard who has been starting for the last four years.
Except for Yale.
When the Elis open their 2005 Ivy League season at the Palestra tonight, they will attempt to make a final run at the Ivy title with their trio of seniors Dominick Martin, Edwin Draughan and Alex Gamboa.
And while Martin and Draughan frequently light up the box scores in points per game, it is Gamboa who is at the helm of Yale's offensive artillery.
"As a point guard, you're always going to have a great impact on your team and your teammates," Yale coach James Jones said. "Your job is to distribute the basketball and make other guys better. That's what Alex has done for us."
But Gamboa has done much more for the Elis than just feed passes to his teammates.
And the most amazing thing is that Gamboa has been successful from day one.
During the 2001-02 season, he led the Elis to an Ivy League championship -- albeit shared with Penn and Princeton -- while leading the team in three-pointers, free throws and assists.
"It was a blessing," Gamboa said about starting so early in his career. "You come into college, everyone wants to play right away ... I got that opportunity, and I'm really thankful for that."
His season culminated with honorable mention All-Ivy honors, and Gamboa became only the fifth Yale player to be named Ivy League Rookie of the Year.
However, Gamboa never made it to the NCAA tournament. The Elis fell to the Quakers in the championship game of a three-team playoff.
Over the next two years, Gamboa continued his impressive play. He now ranks ninth all-time in school history with 112 three-pointers.
However, the same success cannot be attributed to his team. With a talented core of starters, Yale underachieved the last two seasons, finishing fourth in the league both years.
Now, Gamboa must respond to the pressure of having one final chance to restore his team to the glory it experienced his freshman year.
"It's my last shot at winning an Ivy League championship and going to the NCAA tournament," Gamboa said. "It's the most important thing in my life right now."
Gamboa might have had a greater chance to play in the NCAA tournament had he chosen to attend one of the West Coast schools that recruited him, such as Santa Clara or Portland.
But according to the Reno, Nev., native, the decision to showcase his talents at a school almost 3,000 miles from his home was a "no-brainer."
"I had a great bond with some of the players, especially the guys who all graduated last year," Gamboa said. "It was just a really easy decision for me."
This season, Gamboa is already off to a hot start. He leads the team in steals and free-throw percentage, missing only five shots from the charity stripe all season.
Yet Gamboa still maintains that his role as a point guard centers around making assists.
"I think being a point guard, that's my first responsibility," Gamboa said. "It's not a secret that Dominick and Edwin are the first two options offensively."
When asked about his personal game, Gamboa remained modest even though he is off to his best start yet on the scoreboard, averaging 11.6 points per game.
"I'm a perfectionist ... I'm never fully happy with how I'm playing," he said.
Yet Gamboa was still able to set basketball aside during the summer of 2003, when he studied in Spain and went to the Running of the Bulls in Pamplona.
"I really like to travel. I've been to the Netherlands, Switzerland, Spain," Gamboa said. "I plan on doing that after I graduate, too."
But even though Gamboa has traveled across Europe, he has still yet to make his most important trip, which is marked down in March for the final time in his career.
