A senior says goodbye

On Tuesday, Dan Solomito played his last home game as a member of the Penn men's basketball team.

Although during his years, he has been relegated to a bench role, the senior does not seem have any regrets about his four-year tenure as a member of the Quakers.

And as he ran through the tunnel at his last regular season home game, against Princeton, no less, Solomito did the same routine he's done countless times -- run out of the locker room, scream for about two seconds and smile before leading Penn onto the court.

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Dan Solomito's journey to Penn was atypical of a high schooler's usual trip to Penn.

Coming out of St. Andrew's in Florida, Solomito was heavily recruited by the Ivy League schools, and, the choice was narrowed down to the two top Ivy schools -- Penn and Princeton.

Solomito chose West Philly over Old Nassau because of several reasons, not least Penn's more up-tempo style.

"As far as basketball, program-wise, every kid likes to play basketball they want to play," Solomito said.

When he entered the University in 1998, Penn was returning Michael Jordan, Jed Ryan, Paul Romanczuk, and Matt Langel to a squad that had gone 17-12 the year before.

And so, Penn did not recruit as heavily that year, leaving Solomito as the only freshman on the team.

Solomito credits both Jordan and Langel -- Penn's starting guards in the '98-99 and '99-00 seasons -- as helping him through the early stages, especially since he was the only rookie player on the team.

"Mike and Matt really helped me out along the way," he said. "They took me under their wings, messed with me, treated me like a freshman -- then like a sophomore. It was definitely very helpful having them there."

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The chants began his freshman year.

Being the only rookie on a squad that blew out over half of its opponents during the season, Solomito received much attention from the fans toward the end of those convincing wins. And with such an easily chantable last name, the cheer became one of the most popular at home basketball games.

"It's great," Solomito said of the chants. "Look, this is what I've done all my life, what I've put more time and energy into than anything else I've ever done -- the chants are great."

Although the chants have continued throughout the years for Solomito -- easily one of the most charismatic and popular players on the Penn squad -- he still feels just as excited now as when he first started getting this fan-backing.

"It definitely feels nice when I can walk around school and someone says, 'Good game last night,' even though I only played two minutes," he said. "I love the support."

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This season has been somewhat bittersweet for Solomito.

Although the Quakers finished the regular season 24-6 and shared the Ivy League title, Solomito has only played in a handful of games.

"We're having a great season. I do my best to get through the tough days and the frustrating days," Solomito said. "But it's been four years of never getting over the hump."

Solomito has tried to make the best of his situation, using his years of experience to adapt to the role of a leader and teacher.

Penn freshman guard Tim Begley thinks that Solomito is a crucial part of the Quakers' strong season.

"He's taught me a lot. I've learned by watching him," Begley said. "He's a real asset to the team.

"He's a veteran in every sense of the word."

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It seems fitting that Dan Solomito hit the shot that gave the fans cheesesteaks.

On Feb. 16, he took a pass from Duane King and hit a three-pointer -- his only trifecta of the season -- to give the Quakers a 100-62 win over Dartmouth, and treat every fan with a ticket to free cheesesteaks at Abner's.

Solomito -- who has been a fan favorite in all four years at Penn -- became a fan favorite forever with one shot.

"I wouldn't be surprised if I see someone in 10 years and they remind me of it," he said. "My mom will have that copy of the newspaper forever."

Afterwards, Solomito showed up at Abner's, walked in and apologized to the man behind the counter making the cheesesteaks.

When he walked out, he led a "Let's go Quakers!" chant with the several hundred fans waiting in line.

It's an incident that might sum up his entire career -- not the best player out there, and not the most important, except in the culinary sense -- but the most charismatic and the guy who seemed to be having the most fun.

"It felt good, doing it for all those people," Solomito said. "No matter what the situation was, the fans always supported me."

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Solomito entered his final game at the Palestra, a 64-48 victory over Princeton that gave Penn a share of the Ivy title, with only 32 seconds to play.

And the other four Penn players on the court knew their role.

Jeff Schiffner swung the ball to the corner, and Solomito drove for his final home points of his Penn career -- a dunk.

Well, almost. The official scoresheet recorded it as a layup, and Solomito even joked about the play.

"I don't know if you could call that a dunk," he said. "[Penn teammate] Conor Tolan said in the locker room, 'Other guys out there were throwing it down, you were throwing it up.'"

After the game was over, anyone could tell that Dan Solomito didn't want to leave. He wandered around the Palestra even after the place was almost empty even though he played only a small role in Penn's victory.

Solomito probably won't play much in the Ivy League playoff or the NCAA Tournament, if the Quakers make it that far.

But he probably won't be too distraught.

"I'm just going to keep going my hardest and doing everything I can to help us win, even if I don't play much," Solomito said. "It's been my attitude for four years.

"To take any other wouldn't be worthwhile."

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