M. Hoops selected to repeat Ivy crown

No Ugonna Onyekwe.

No Koko Archibong.

No problem for the Penn men's basketball team.

The Ivy League preseason media poll, which was released yesterday, picked the Quakers as the favorites to win what would be their third straight Ivy League title.

"If this is an indication of the respect [people give us] as a program, I'm pleased with that," Penn coach Fran Dunphy said.

A year ago, Penn dominated the Ivy League, going a perfect 14-0 before falling to Oklahoma State in the NCAA Tournament.

However, this is a very different Penn team. Aside from Onyekwe -- who was twice named Ivy League Player of the Year -- and Archibong, the Quakers also lost starting point guard Andrew Toole and sixth man David Klatsky.

Senior swingman Jeff Schiffner -- a first-team All-Ivy performer last year -- and junior guard Tim Begley are Penn's only returning starters.

The Quakers' losses explain the tightness of the vote for No. 1 in what most believe will be a wide-open league. Penn received 114 points and eight of the 16 first-place votes -- opposed to 11 in 2002. Princeton and Yale are tied for second place with 107 points apiece. The Tigers received five and the Elis three first-place votes as no other team received a nod for the top spot.

Princeton finished 10-4 in the league a year ago while Yale was 8-6. The Quakers had a historic tie atop the Ivies with those teams two years ago, when all three finished with 11-3 league records. The Quakers won the playoff to advance to the tournament that season.

Lagging not far behind the top contenders were Brown and Cornell, who tied for fourth place in the poll with 73 points. The Bears came very close to ending the Penn-Princeton stranglehold atop the Ivies last season -- the Tigers or Quakers have won the Ivies every year since 1988. Brown went 12-2 in Ivy play with their only losses coming to Penn by a combined 11 points. However, Brown lost two first-team All-Ivy players from that team.

Cornell only had a 4-10 league record a year ago but are considered a dark horse for the league title with second-team All-Ivy guard Ka'Ron Barnes returning to a team that lost few contributors.

"I think it's great, the balance in the league," Dunphy said. "A lot of teams can be there at the end. I just hope we're one of them."

Harvard placed sixth and Dartmouth seventh while Columbia -- after going winless in the Ivies last season -- was picked for last place.

Despite Penn's status at the top of the league in November, the Quakers' coach knows that it will not help them when Ivy games start in January.

"It's no guarantee you're going to win," Dunphy said.

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