Top-tier matchups have spelled disaster for Ivies

LEXINGTON, Ky., March 14 - Thirty-four different players have suited up for Penn since the 1999-2000 season. Not one of them has been a part of a Quakers victory over a team in the Associated Press Top 25 poll. In fact, since Nov. 23, 1998, not a single Ivy Leaguer has felt the elation of knocking off one of the nation's elite.

The streak stands at 56 games in a row, spanning from Columbia's loss to No. 23 St. John's the same night as Penn's 73-70 overtime win over No. 6 Temple, to Penn's 102-64 loss to then-No.2 North Carolina this January.

The Quakers get another shot today, their third of the year, and their 20th since the win over the Owls, when they take on Texas A&M;, ranked ninth.

During the Ivy League's losing streak, 26 of the other 30 Division I conferences have had at least one team record a win over a top-25 team. The only leagues not to are the Big South, Northeast, Ohio Valley and Southwestern Athletic Conferences.

"That number is a little shocking to me," said Mike Kern, who has covered Penn and college basketball for the Philadelphia Daily News for 15 years. "I hadn't realized it had been that long."

At least one man does not think there is much to the streak. And he might know.

Fran Dunphy coached Penn for 17 years, including the win over Temple in '98, before taking over the Owls job a year ago.

"It depends on cycles and college basketball and its strength and parity," Dunphy said in a telephone interview. "I wouldn't read too much into it."

To Dunphy, it's a matter of luck and timing that the streak exists.

"Most times we had some very good battles . and just couldn't get over the hump," he said.

Dunphy's successor at Penn, Glen Miller, said that at least in the Tournament, the Ivy League representative has gotten a lower seed, making it a little bit harder to pull off an upset.

The coaches may feel that it's more a matter of luck, but some who have been around the league for a while are not as certain.

According to Jake Wilson, who operates the Web site basketball-u.com, which covers Ivy League basketball, the league has some disadvantages but should get a win eventually.

"I think it comes down to matchups, and to some extent, luck," Wilson said in an e-mail.

He said that Princeton may have more of an advantage against ranked teams because of its unique offense, and that Penn tries to run its own relatively normal offense in these games, which may put top opponents in "a comfort zone."

Kern agrees.

"When you're just going to play basketball, which is what Penn plays, it's going to be hard," he said, contrasting it with the unique Princeton offense.

Wilson believes that eventually the laws of statistics will get the Ancient Eight a win, mentioning a few near misses in recent years.

"It's hard to imagine an Ivy team isn't going to beat a ranked team at some point in the future," he said. "Just looking at the percentages, it's bound to happen again eventually."

Kern also said that some Ivy team will eventually catch lightning in a bottle.

"I'm sure it's going to happen," he said.

A year and a half before the streak started, Princeton pulled one of the most memorable upsets in Ivy history, beating No. 4 seed and defending champion UCLA in the first round of the 1996 NCAA Tournament.

Miller, familiar with his Ivy League history, brought up that game yesterday.

"We hope the game comes down to a backdoor play like Princeton," he said.

Kern also stressed the inevitable nature of NCAA Tournament upsets.

"You know this weekend, there's gonna be two or three or four upsets," he said. "You don't know when, you don't know who."

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