A FRONT ROW VIEW: Bowman and Krug provide Penn a spark

A local kid and a transfer. A 6-foot-9 power forward and a 6-4 swingman. A shot-blocker with a sweet touch and a ball-hawk with a streaky jumper. An odd couple they may be, but Ira Bowman and Tim Krug have combined to form a devastating duo for Penn's Ivy League opponents. This weekend's games against Cornell and Columbia were just the latest examples. They took different paths in reaching this point, but their on-the-court stories are similar. Go back in time to Tim Krug at the Red and Blue Game in 1992. He was everywhere, blocking shots and nailing threes. Then came two somewhat frustrating seasons. Krug broke a backboard and Rick Hielscher with comparable ease, but whether it was a failure to help out on defense or an ill-conceived shot at the offensive end, Krug just seemed out of the game at times. Now go back to last season, when Ira Bowman toiled in the obscurity of his mandatory season off after transferring from Providence. I was lucky enough to see him practice and was awed by his quickness and -- ironically -- three-point range. My hopes were as high as Shawn Trice's old socks. But the season began strangely for Bowman. Always impressive defensively, he nonetheless gave up the occasional easy hoop. And offensively he was a mystery. Poor shooting and difficulty in the half-court game plagued him. In looking for a turning point in the Bowman-Krug connection, there are any number of candidates. For me the choice is obvious. In the Quakers' worst performance in years, in their most lopsided loss since 1988, it was Bowman and Krug who continued to challenge UMass with the game out of reach. Since that time, Bowman and Krug have gotten their minutes at the same time with increasing frequency. Although Penn coach Fran Dunphy recently asserted he is not "bright enough" to anticipate the effectiveness of this strategy, its consequences have been obvious. While no one expected Penn's bench to extend much beyond these two players, few could have anticipated them having such a clear and connected impact. These days the starting five may not be the Quakers' best lineup. They are steady and methodical in establishing Penn's halfcourt game, and for the first few minutes of each contest the night is theirs. Then the fun begins. When Bowman and Krug enter a game together, the defensive shift is dramatic. The first test for Penn's opponents is Bowman's one-man half-court press. Bowman is a frustrating flurry of hands and feet to the man he is guarding and is simply unbeatable on the perimeter. The spontaneous ovations for Bowman's defense are unlike anything I have witnessed before. Should the Quakers' foes get past Bowman, they are often met by Krug's ever-improving shot-blocking. With Bowman acting as the sparkplug, Krug seems to pick up his intensity by a notch or three. The aggressiveness of the defense of Bowman and Krug leads to another change in the Quakers' game. Spurred by turnovers and rejections, Penn's fast-break has become a thing of beauty. Often started by somewhat overlooked but nonetheless brilliant passes from Jerome Allen and Matt Maloney, the Quakers' version of Showtime has been punctuated most often by emphatic slams and weaving layups from -- you guessed it -- Ira Bowman. Few teams run as disciplined a break, and few are as proficient in getting back on defense. Five-point leads become ten-point leads, and ten-point leads become thirty-point leads -- all instigated by the unlikely combination of Tim Krug and Ira Bowman. The starting lineup, of course, does have its advantages. Against higher-profile, more athletic teams, its discipline and poise allow Penn to compete on any level. For a short-term spark, however, the value of the Krug-Bowman connection has become enormous. It is conceivable that Fran Dunphy truly does not insert Bowman and Krug into Penn's lineup at the same time by design. If so, then hey, Fran -- don't get any "brighter." Jason Liss is College senior from Dalton, Mass., and a sports writer for The Daily Pennsylvanian.

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