Quakers will tango with Alabama in first round of Big Dance

Sunday night, 64 of America's best college basketball teams were assigned their dates for the Big Dance. For the third consecutive year, the Penn basketball team and coaching staff gathered with friends, family, the media and the Mayor of Philadelphia in Weightman Hall as the NCAA Tournament seedings and pairings were announced on national television. And for the third consecutive year, the Quakers learned very early in the show that they will be dancing in the East Region. Penn is seeded 12th in the East and will travel to Baltimore for a first-round matchup Thursday night with fifth-seeded Alabama. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:40 p.m. and the game will be televised by CBS. The Quakers, who completed the regular season with a 22-5 record, earned an automatic bid when they clinched the Ivy League title March 3. Penn becomes only the fourth Division I team ever to enter the tournament as a three-time undefeated conference champion. The Crimson Tide, of the Southeastern Conference, received one of 35 available at-large bids after a 22-9 season and a 10-6 record in the SEC. All the anticipation and excitement Sunday night reached a sudden conclusion, as the Penn-Alabama matchup was only the third game to be revealed. It was the second straight year the Quakers learned their fate quickly. Last year's contest with Nebraska was also announced in the first group of games. "It takes some of the fun out of it," Penn senior center Eric Moore said. "If it takes a while to come on to the screen, then everything builds up. But it really doesn't matter because it's not something we can change." The Tide, currently ranked 20th nationally, was expected by most to earn a fifth seed -- the only question was where. Mississippi State, another SEC team, was given the fifth seed in the West. It may have been Alabama's superior SEC Tournament showing which led the committee to keep the Tide east and ship the Bulldogs cross-country. "I really wasn't surprised at our seed at all," Alabama coach David Hobbs said late Sunday night. "I thought all along we were in line to get a five. I thought that we would have to beat Arkansas [in the SEC Tournament semis] to go any higher than that." As for Penn, many of the Quakers had expected a higher seed than 12. It has been speculated that the committee bumped the Quakers down from the 10th or 11th seed in order to avoid possible second-round rematches of Penn's regular season games with Massachusetts and Villanova, the East Region's second and third seed respectively. "I think we could have gotten a better seed, but we don't have any control over that stuff," Moore said. "We can't do anything about that. All we have control over and all we can do is beat Alabama." If the Quakers can do just that -- beat Alabama -- then they will earn a Saturday matchup with the winner of Thursday's Oklahoma State-Drexel game. The Cowboys are seeded fourth, while the Dragons are the East's 13th seed for the second year in a row. But before anyone thinks about that game, Penn must deal with the strong and athletic Crimson Tide. With two talented teams and two contrasting styles on the floor, the matchup should be one of the best of the first round. Let the dancing begin.

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