A FRONT ROW VIEW: Don't worry, it's in the bag

UNIONDALE, N.Y. -- Right now, on a plane high above the City that Never Sleeps (New York, that is), Husker star swingman Eric Piatkowski is just a little bit nervous. He knows his fourth-straight trip to March Madness will be one dance and out, yet again. Piatkowski and buddies had to be scratching their heads in complete amazement when the Cornhuskers saw "Pennsylvania" as their first-round opponent. Later, after they actually figured out Penn is not a team that plays in the Big Ten, and is situated in Philadelphia, they must have started to worry. Not because of the Quakers' location, mind you. Nebraska coach Danny Nee and his charges have to know by now Penn has the best winning percentage and fewest losses of any team in the nation, and that the Quakers' two losses were close games to the finish. Nee and Piatkowski also have to know Penn nearly disposed of overrated-No. 3 seed UMass last year, and that the Quakers sole drive this season has been to win at least one game in the Big Dance, baby. To put it another way, Nebraska must know history, talent and determination are not on their side. Because of that fact, the Huskers will lose -- again. Penn 79, Nebraska 73. There are a plethora of reasons why the Quakers will move on to the Terrific 32 (I own the rights to that phrase), starting with the names Matt Maloney and Jerome Allen. Penn's dynamic duo is clicking on all cylinders heading into tomorrow night's game, and conventional wisdom (read: Dick Vitale and Bill Raftery) says the teams with the strong guard play will win come tourney time. You think North Carolina would have won it all last year if Donald Williams wasn't unconscious during the Final Four? Back to my point. Penn's guards are simply better than Nebraska's backcourt tandem of Jamar Johnson and Jaron Boone. They are nice role players, with stats that are complementary to Piatkowski's, but they are not the go-to guys when the Huskers are in a pinch. Not so with Penn. Maloney has rediscovered his long-distance touch, scoring 64 points in the Quakers' final three games, and when he is on, there is no better shooter around -- anywhere. Jerome Allen is simply, Jerome Allen, the best all-around player in the Ivy League, as his second-straight Ivy League Player of the Year award demonstrates. He can penetrate, dish the ball off, rebound on both ends of the court and play hellish defense for 40 minutes a game. Not to mention if his outside shot is falling, like it did against Columbia, the Huskers are in for a long night. So Nebraska must have a powerful inside game, right? Maybe not. The big man inside for the Huskers is 6-foot-7 Bruce Chubik (ugh), who converts 56 percent of his shots for an 11.7-point average. He also pulls down 7.3 boards a game. He will be Eric Moore's assignment. And as Moore has shown all season, while his offense has been inconsistent, his defense has always been solid (which can be said for the entire Quaker team, by the way). Moore will use his strength to push Chubik out of his range, rendering him ineffective offensively and keeping him out of position on the boards. To Nebraska's strengths. Or strength. The whole team is centered around Piatkowski, which is not a bad thing. The Big Eight tournament MVP and all-conference selection is indeed on a roll this year, averaging 21.5 points and 6.2 rebounds a game. But Piatkowski will be held in check by Penn's defensive stopper -- Shawn Trice. Trice has been the man all season on defense as his quickness has enabled him to neutralize smallish forwards who like to shoot from he outside. (Just ask Chris Mooney.) His hand and foot speed are his assets, as his 43 steals on the season illustrate. He will make sure Piatkowski does not go crazy. Besides personnel, there are some intangibles that also tilt the game in Penn's favor. Just look at Nebraska's recent tournament history. Each of the last three years the Huskers have made it to the NCAA Tournament, and each time, they have been left holding the glass slipper while someone else was dancing the night away. What does that mean? Some would say the three-year losing streak has taught Nebraska what it takes to win. I don't buy that. I just think it means they know how to lose -- and know quite well by now. Just ask the Princeton Tigers, they of the four-straight NCAA losses, if losing three times helped them the fourth time. The Cornhuskers have a lot of pressure on them to succeed, which is why they will choke against Penn. Another thing to take into consideration -- how a team has played of late. Yes, Nebraska is hot. It probably played its way from a No. 10 seed to a No. 6 by beating Missouri and Oklahoma State en route to capturing the Big Eight tournament title. People say that gives them an extra edge, but I say the opposite. Nebraska has expended all its energy in the Big Eight tournament -- who knows what it has left? Besides, just because a team wins its conference tournament doesn't mean it gets an automatic berth in the Sweet Sixteen. Just look at last year. Georgia Tech beat eventual-national champ North Carolina in the ACC finals, leading everyone to pick the Yellow Jackets to go to the Final Four. Then they promptly fell back to earth by losing in the first round to Southern. Ouch. Seton Hall stormed through the Big East tourney like it could never be beaten, and even yours truly had the Pirates winning it all. But they got bounced by Western Kentucky in the second round. So conference-tournament momentum is not as important as you may think. Oh by the way, the Quakers are pretty hot, too. And they have had over a week now to rest up and regain extra mental edge for tomorrow night's game. Who says Penn will be rusty? The Quakers had 11 days rest between Haverford (which was not really a game anyway) and the US West Tournament, and the Quakers shook off the rust long enough to win the title by defeating Washington on its home court (where the Huskies later beat Arizona), and a strong Georgia team that upset Kentucky a few weeks later. So a long layoff will not affect the Quakers. Another thing that plays into Penn's hands. No Nebraska starter stands taller than 6-7. So the Quakers will actually go into a game with a nationally-ranked team not facing a height disadvantage. It will be easier for Trice, Moore, Tim Krug and Andy Baratta to fight for boards and even chip in a few buckets here and there. The fact is if the Quakers are to go anywhere in the Big Dance, they can't come up against a team with a strong big man, or they will be eaten alive. So Nebraska is perfect. The Quaker trio of Maloney, Allen and Barry Pierce can play with anyone in the country, especially if the other team doesn't have anyone the size of Eric Montross or Yinka Dare. One last thing will guide Penn to victory. While both teams are undefeated at neutral sites, which is what Nassau Coliseum technically is, it will more likely be a home game for the Quakers. There are more Penn people in New York than in West Philly, so the alumni will close down Wall Street for the day and trek out to the Island for some Quaker hoops, so chances are that Penn's school anthem "The Red and Blue" will be much louder than Nebraska's singing of its school tune, "I like to eat lots of corn." (Never heard that one before??get ready). So you can see why Piatkowski is justifiably nervous. He knows his college career will be over tomorrow night. Dan Feldman is a College senior from Dallas, Texas, and former Sports Editor of The Daily Pennsylvanian.

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