A FRONT ROW VIEW: Quakers already had season to remember

At the start of this season, coach Fran Dunphy had yet to watch the tape of Penn's loss to UMass in last year's NCAA Tournament appearance. I don't blame him. It was a painful loss that ended a glorious season. For many, it became the lasting memory of the 1992-93 campaign. In the offseason, diehard fans endlessly debated the could haves and should haves of that 54-50 loss. Solace came from projecting to this season and what the Quakers would accomplish. Surely by entering this season without losing a player to graduation, they would repeat and get to the tournament again. And then? You know how the story goes. The Quakers were expected to dominate the Ivy League. Surely they'd go undefeated. A 10-point league victory? Not enough. The Quakers should blow them all away. Expectations are mighty powerful. And when some of the major expectations were met last week, their toll was most apparent. · It seemed strange to a reporter new to the Quakers that Penn wasn't outwardly celebrating after beating Columbia to go undefeated in the Ivies. After all, he thought any 14-0 team would be jubilant. Clearly this guy didn't get it. Dunphy explained to the uninitiated. "This is a business-like group," he said. "They expect to win. They expect to do their job. They're not going to be celebrating a lot of things." Makes sense. And this guy obviously didn't see the celebration at the Palestra after Penn beat Princeton. But maybe if so much wasn't expected of the Quakers, they'd have more to celebrate. To realize that they've achieved. Not just that they haven't failed. · Jerome Allen didn't have to hesitate when asked if it was tougher to repeat this season. Yes, definitely. Because every team in the league was gunning for Penn. We sometimes forget that nobody handed the Quakers the title. They still had to go out and play. And win. That's something most of the top teams in the country couldn't do as they were upset in the final weekend of the season. The consensus among the Quakers is they won't fully appreciate what they've accomplished for another 20 years. They say it'll take a while for it to fully sink in. This season has taken on a been-there, done-that feeling. So the Quakers went undefeated in the Ivies this year. They've done that. They've done the tourney. And in the eyes of many, they will not have done anything unless they win a first-round game. In 20 years they'll also remember whatever happens Thursday. The problem is, barring an improbable NCAA championship, the 1993-94 season will end in a loss for Penn. It may be after a win or two or maybe more in the Big Dance, but inevitably the season will close with a defeat. There will be another unwatched tape. It's not fair that many will judge the success of this entire 24-2 season by a single game. · In reflecting on the expectations for this season Dunphy said, "Let's still remember what this game is about. It's played by kids and for them. In many ways it's not fair to put that much pressure on them but that's what we do." I'm still not certain who exactly the "we" is. But I think I'm part of it. As a reporter and a student. And "we" are still doing it. We're still heaping expectations on these "kids." These kids who have compiled Penn's best regular-season record since the 1970-71 season. Who achieved a ranking of No. 24 in Associated Press poll last week. Who were the seventh Ivy team to go undefeated. Who have the best winning percentage of any team in the tournament. Who for the past two seasons combined have the best winning percentage in the country. (The elite company: North Carolina, Kentucky and Arizona follow the Quakers.) It's reassuring to know players like Shawn Trice have an answer to all these expectations. "We don't play for anyone else but ourselves and that's the key. We stay within ourselves as a unit and we concentrate on what we have to do. And that's why we've been able to do it." · But it shouldn't take 20 years for Penn fans to realize all that this team -- all 13 players and four coaches -- has accomplished. Maybe Dunphy will have a tourney tape he can watch in the offseason. Either way we should remember that the Quakers are fortunate to have tapes of plenty of other games to watch. And savor. And tell their kids about. Rachel Cytron is a College senior from Mountain Lakes, N.J., and former Sports Editor of The Daily Pennsylvanian.

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