Everything but the ring

Diana Caramanico doesn't like to talk about herself. She's not shy. Have a conversation with her, and you'll hear many things. She'll tell you how badly she wants the Penn women's basketball team to bring home its first-ever Ivy League title this season. She'll tell you all about how much she loves her teammates, about how she enjoys every moment she spends inside the Palestra and about the incredible passion she has for the game of basketball. But if you didn't know any better, you would come away from that discussion without learning that Diana Caramanico is the best thing to ever happen to the Quakers women's basketball program. The greatest player in Penn history would not have it any other way. "I just think of us as a team, and I'm just part of it," Caramanico said. "I don't know what else to say." Caramanico may not want the spotlight, but with the resume she has compiled at the Palestra over the past three seasons, it's impossible to avoid it. The numbers are simply astounding. Last season, Caramanico ripped the Penn record book apart, stamping her name at the top of nearly every list. One thousand eight hundred and eight career points, 697 career field goals, 694 points in a season, 268 field goals in a season, 334 rebounds in a season and 41 points in a game. Her 24.8 points per game average was second in Division I last season. And with the numbers, of course, came the honors. Associated Press honorable mention All-America, two-time Ivy League Player of the Year, two-time Philadelphia Big 5 Player of the Year, unanimous first team All-Ivy selection, unanimous first team All-Philadelphia Big 5, District I GTE Academic All-America and District I Kodak/WBCA All-America. Yet Caramanico would trade every one of these distinctions for a single Ivy League title and a berth in the NCAA Tournament. It's something you hear all the time in sports. "The numbers mean nothing without a championship." "Individual accomplishments are nice, but the team is the only thing that matters." "If we won the championship and I didn't score any points, I'd be happy." It's one of the most cliched notions in sports, so established that it has become part of the fabric of sports. Yet somehow, when you hear Caramanico say things like that, it's easier to believe her. She's embarrassed standing alone in the spotlight. She wants her teammates there with her and knows that the best way for that to happen is to bring home Penn's first league championship. "I think she does get embarrassed. A TV crew came last year to do a story on her, and she looked at me as if to say, 'Please send someone else with me so I'm not the only story,'" Quakers coach Kelly Greenberg said. "I think she's gotten more comfortable with it, but I think Di, having all these records and everything, knows that this year all she really wants is the Ivy League title." It's not just that Caramanico wants to keep the focus on the team. Modest almost to a fault, she blushes, appears uncomfortable and tries to change the subject whenever someone tries to heap praise solely on her. "The best way to kid Di, we always say, is that whenever she goes somewhere, we say, 'Hey, there goes an All-American.' And she'll get embarrassed," said Penn men's basketball player Geoff Owens, who has dated Caramanico for the past three years. "It's so refreshing to see someone like that, and it says so much about her as a person. "She has accomplished so much, and I think everyone she's ever been in class with and most of the people she's come in contact with would have no idea of what she's accomplished. I think that's really great." The Ivy League Rookie of the Year in 1997-98 and Ivy Player of the Year as a sophomore in 1998-99, Caramanico has just continued to improve throughout her career. Last year's numbers were the most impressive, but there is only one that she really wants to improve upon -- 18. It's the number of wins Penn piled up, the most in the program's history. But it just wasn't enough, as the Red and Blue's 9-5 Ivy League record was only good for second place behind Dartmouth. In her fourth and final season in a Quakers uniform, Caramanico will settle for nothing less than an Ivy League championship. The honors are sure to come, just as they have for the previous three years. But the All-Ivy, All-Big 5, All-America and All-Everything Else accolades simply do not measure up to the importance of an Ivy title in Caramanico's mind. "I know what we're capable of, and I know what we can do," Caramanico said. "Yeah, there is pressure on us to do that, but I think we know what to expect and we're more comfortable with it." That was not always the case. In fact, in the time Caramanico has been at Penn, the program has gone from the depths of the Ivy League basement to twice being picked by the media as the preseason favorite to win the title. Four years ago, when Caramanico was deciding where to attend college, a league championship was not even on the Quakers' radar screen. Penn compiled a 2-14 Ivy League record in 1996-97 -- consistently losing league games by 20 or more points -- and had not had a winning mark since the 1990-91 season. Everything that has happened since that time -- including drawing over 2,200 fans to last year's game against Harvard when no more than 100 would show up in previous seasons -- cannot be solely attributed to Diana Caramanico. But with her arrival in 1997, a new era in Quakers women's hoops began. In as many ways as one player could change the face of a struggling program, she has done so. Despite the program's lack of a winning tradition four years ago, the then-senior at Germantown Academy chose Penn over nearly 70 other colleges that expressed interest. The closeness to her home and the chance to play in the Palestra nearly every single day were two of the deciding factors. "To be honest, with basketball, I was just hoping I could get some playing time," Caramanico said. "I thought that [Penn] was a place where I could compete. I didn't expect to start or play all that much. I just wanted to be able to compete when I actually got into a game, and I felt like I would make it off the bench somehow." She certainly found her way to the floor -- starting all but two games and leading the team with 20.2 points per game in her freshman year. She was well on her way to establishing herself as an offensive force, the likes of which the Ivy League was unaccustomed to. Under coach Julie Soriero, Penn finished with an 8-6 Ivy League record in each of Caramanico's first two seasons. With the arrival of Greenberg and her new fast-paced style, as well as the positive atmosphere she brought to the program, more was expected last year. And Caramanico and senior guard Mandy West helped lead Penn to its best record ever. Now Caramanico has one last shot, and it seems to be the Red and Blue's best shot ever. She has helped shape the Quakers from doormats to contenders and now to favorites. As she enters her final season at Penn, one item is still missing from her list of accomplishments, and she simply does not want to graduate without an Ivy title. Diana Caramanico's story is really just a story about love for the game of basketball. She has played it since she was little; she has dominated her opponents for the past three seasons; and she hopes to keep playing next year -- either in the WNBA or overseas. And this passion for basketball is what drives her to compete. It's the reason she sometimes spends up to 10 hours in the Palestra in a single day -- even doing more homework there than at home or in the library. "She comes to practice every single day with a new excitement for the game of basketball," Greenberg said. "She's never like, 'Oh, we have practice.' She's more like, 'I love it'.... Her excitement is truly remarkable." Caramanico is now in her second season as a captain, and it will be this excitement -- this passion she brings to the floor -- that will help guide Penn this year. And if it can take the Quakers to a title, Diana Caramanico's list of college basketball accomplishments will finally be complete.

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