Penn ready to defend record

Quakers put 7-0 mark on the line The perfect 7-0 Ivy League record of the Penn men's basketball team stands out sharp as black and white. This weekend the Quakers will add a little color to the dreary winter months, travelling to New England to take on the Big Green of Dartmouth tonight (6 p.m., WOGL 1210-AM) and the Crimson of Harvard tomorrow (7 p.m., WSSJ 1310-AM, WCZN 1590-AM, WXPN 88.5-FM). Judged simply by their records, neither of these two squads appears to pose much of a threat to the Penn steamroller. The Big Green (7-13, 3-5 Ivy League) got off to a horrendous start, winning just one of its first 13 games. The Crimson (8-12, 4-4), meanwhile, had similar troubles, beginning the season with an unimpressive 5-9 mark. Since their poor starts, both Dartmouth and Harvard have picked up the pace considerably, playing some of their best basketball of the year over the past few weeks. In that time, the Big Green has won six games in seven while the Crimson has emerged victorious in three of its last four Ivy contests. The Quakers faced both of these teams earlier in the season, drubbing Dartmouth and Harvard by a combined 36 points in early January. But the combination of entering the road games as a heavy favorite, and facing a team that has seen all its tricks, could work to Penn's disadvantage. "Every time you play a league game the second time around they're ready for you," Quaker junior guard Matt Maloney said. "They know the personnel better, and the coaches do a pretty good job of scouting the systems anyway. The players know our instincts better, and I think they're just going to come out and play. It's their home court and they don't want to lose. They realize that in order for them to win in the league, we have to lose." Tonight, Penn will face off against Dartmouth, whose strengths lie in shooting and spreading the floor for back-door opportunities. The Big Green's return to respectability after its atrocious early performance has been keyed in large part by two players. Senior forward Gregg Frame, for one, is second in the league in scoring, second in assists and eighth in rebounding. Frame's performance is no surprise after three successful seasons, and the rock-solid Big Green captain has taken on the leadership role for the young team as well. "That kid Gregg Frame is as good a player all-around as there is in our league," Quaker coach Fran Dunphy said. "He really presses Jerome [Allen], Matt [Maloney] and Barry [Pierce] for all the attention they get." More surprising is the effort turned in by freshman forward Sea Lonergan thus far. Lonergan has chipped in 11.6 points per game on 52.6 percent shooting from the floor. That figure is good enough for second in the league. Tomorrow night the Quakers (17-2, 7-0) will be lucky enough to pay a visit to the only player ahead of Lonergan in field-goal percentage, Kyle Snowden, at the Briggs Athletic Center. Snowden, like Lonergan, is a freshman forward and has scored 11.2 points per game for the Crimson. In addition, his 7.4 rebounds per game places him third in the league. Harvard coach Frank Sullivan has been pleasantly surprised by Snowden's outstanding campaign. "I think when it comes to freshmen, you're always a little bit cautious about having high expectations for them," Sullivan said. "I think there's a freshman each year who kind of emerges -- that's Kyle this year. I think it was Tim Krug last year. He came on and had a terrific freshman year. I think our expectations for Kyle were that he would be a contributor. I don't think we expected that he would be one of our most significant players." Fortunately for the Quakers, Snowden's playing status is currently day to day. After suffering a severe ankle sprain Thursday in practice, he sat out last weekend's games against Cornell and Columbia, which the Crimson split. Fortunately for Harvard, however, freshman forward Chris Grancio picked up the slack in Snowden's absence. Grancio scored 27 points and grabbed eight rebounds in last weekend's games. Aside from the dynamic freshmen duo, the Crimson is guided by sophomore forward Darren Rankin, the team's leading scorer, and senior point guard Tarik Campbell. Campbell, Harvard's captain, has scored 7.0 points per game despite playing with a severely strained ligament in his shooting hand. His quickness and playmaking ability, though, give opposing defenses fits. Campbell is leading the Ivy League with 6.5 assists per game and is closing in on the Crimson career assist record. Some of Harvard's troubles this season have stemmed from poor shooting, as the Crimson has managed to hit on less than 40 percent of its shots in Ivy League games. However, that flaw has been largely offset by outstanding rebounding. In one stretch, Harvard outplayed its opponents on the boards in 14 of 19 games. Clearly, both the Crimson and the Big Green have their strengths. Still, they face a Penn squad that has played especially well of late. Last weekend, the Quakers played what might have been two of their most balanced games of the season. Penn rolled past Brown and Yale, putting together solid all-around efforts in both games. The Quakers were led against the Bears and the Elis by a rejuvenated Jerome Allen. Apparently fully recovered from his strained right shoulder, Allen poured in 47 points in the two games. The play of Maloney, Allen's backcourt mate, also showed encouraging signs for the Quakers. Maloney has provided steady play throughout the season, but his shooting, especially from three-point land, has left something to be desired. Last weekend Maloney may have turned a corner, connecting on 6 of 11 treys. Three-point shooting, though, is not Maloney's primary concern. "My shot's always been steady throughout my career," Maloney said. "It really is just a tiny part of my game. I really concentrate on other things on the floor, like getting assists and creating shots for other players on the team?.Shooting the ball is just something I happen to do well. I can't really put all my eggs in that basket. Anyone can not shoot the ball well for a length of time, so I just pride myself on doing other things well." But with or without hot shooting from Maloney, the Quakers have still been able to beat every Ivy foe by a double-digit margin. However, on the road in the Ivy League, with back-to-back contests, upsets are prone to happen. "It's a long trip, but we've been there before," Dunphy said. "These players know what it's about so they know how to prepare themselves for it. There certainly won't be any surprises."

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.