Make-or-break at the Palestra

The Penn-Princeton weekend.

For opposing Ivy League men's basketball teams in the past, those four words usually constituted the metaphorical fire bell in the night -- portending doom, destruction and two losses in the Ancient Eight.

This season, however, represents a brave new world in the Ivy League -- tonight and tomorrow, Yale will invade Princeton and Penn, respectively, as a first-place team.

Instead of staring at two almost-certain losses, the Elis possess the near-unprecedented opportunity to emerge from the homes of the two "P's" with a stranglehold on the Ivy League race.

"I expect them to be very hard, very intense," Penn guard Duane King said of his team's games this weekend.

"We're a team that has had success in the past, and people want to show that they can beat us," Penn coach Fran Dunphy added. "I think that's what we're going to face over the [next] two nights."

Penn needs to beat both a tough Brown squad tonight and Yale tomorrow and also hope that one of the Elis' three other remaining opponents can defeat them. This would return control over the Quakers' fates to their own hands.

Of Yale's three other opponents, the most likely candidate to help the Quakers out would be Princeton, which is why fans and players alike will listen intently when out-of-town Ivy League scores are announced over the public address system at the Palestra tonight.

The Quakers, however, feel that they should not overly concern themselves with tonight's game at Jadwin Gym.

"You can't really think too much about what you can't control," said Penn coach Fran Dumphy. "We're worried about Brown [tonight] and Yale [tomorrow] night."

While it is prudent for the Quakers to not take either of this weekend's opponents lightly, they also have reason to be confident heading into the most critical games of their season thus far.

Penn hopes to continue the powerhouse style of basketball that it has displayed in the past week and a half in blowout wins at Princeton, and at the Palestra against Harvard and Dartmouth.

The Quakers have not lost since their close defeat at Yale in New Haven, Conn., two weeks ago, and King feels that, while rematching with the Elis and the Bears at the Palestra will be helpful, it has been Penn's renewed attitude -- more than any home court advantage -- that has carried it recently.

"It's more of what we've done as a team," he said. "We're more focused now. Our backs were against the wall, so now we're kinda fighting to get ourselves in a better position to go play postseason."

Nevertheless, Dunphy hopes that the Palestra will also play a positive role in his team's fortunes this weekend.

"I hope that we will have a terrific crowd for both games, Brown and Yale," he said. "I hope that we have a home court advantage, and we take stock in that."

Dunphy, however, cautioned against overrating what playing Yale and Brown at home will do for the Quakers.

"The game is still going to be 94 [feet] by 50 [feet] out here," he said.

Both Brown and Yale will bring dangerous games to the Palestra hardwood. Each team -- especially Yale -- was successful against the Quakers in the post two weeks ago, and the Elis were able to shoot out the lights in the second half versus the Penn defense, hitting 69 percent of their shots.

Though that defense has tightened considerably in the team's recent surge, it will have to be especially vigilant this weekend.

"You want to play the best defensively [that] you can," said Dunphy, who also emphasized the need for guard Andrew Toole to avoid the foul trouble he found himself in at Yale. "That's the way you win games."

"I hope we can win, and I know we can win," King added. "I just hope we go out there and do what we have to do to win."

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