Todres | Lack of senior leadership is dooming Quakers

Another weekend sweep at the Palestra is likely to leave Penn fans in consternation about the state of the program. Such has been the case after every bad outing at home, regardless of the context.

But if anything, the way in which the Quakers lost demonstrated exactly what is wrong with the program right now.

Sure, the team has a lot of problems, but they can all be boiled down to the same themes of inexperience and an absence of dependable upperclassmen. Sorry if I sound like a broken record.

First, consider how Harvard and Dartmouth won. Then, consider how Penn lost.

Dartmouth beat Penn almost entirely because of the effort of its senior forward Alex Barnett, who has emerged as perhaps the most valuable player in the league. Every time the Big Green needed a big play on offense or defense, he was there to deliver it.

The same can be said for Harvard's Drew Housman, the scrappy senior guard who willed his team to victory with a season-high 22 points after the Crimson's leading scorer, Jeremy Lin, sprained his ankle the night before at Princeton.

So Barnett and Housman, both seniors and bona fide leaders, marched their respective squads into the Palestra and carried them to victory.

And what about Penn?

The Quakers have three seniors - one who currently starts, though all three have worked their way in and out of the lineup this season.

Cam Lewis is a great athlete and a solid defender, but he is incredibly raw offensively - his range doesn't extend much beyond point blank. He can draw fouls and go to the line, but that's usually tantamount to a turnover, as he shoots 43.8 percent from the line.

Brennan Votel has better touch on offense but remains inconsistent, and he gets picked apart on defense.

Kevin Egee is a good role player and has the ability to hit big shots and play tight defense, as he has done over the past three games. But he is hardly the type of player that can take over a game.

All three of these guys have been loyal and devoted contributors to this program and do not deserve to be slighted. They're giving it their all day in and day out. But the reality is that they aren't Housman or Barnett or Ibby Jaaber or Mark Zoller.

Penn is suffering right now from a two- or three-year gap in the program's recruiting; Fran Dunphy's last three classes just didn't pan out, with the exception of Brian Grandieri. Injuries have plagued the current juniors, to be fair, but the seniors were not cut out to lead this team to a championship. In reality, they were expected to support Tommy McMahon - who left the team earlier this year - who was supposed to be the rock of this team as a senior.

Penn's current freshmen and sophomores have played many more minutes than normal for underclassmen at Penn with notable success. Jaaber averaged only 6.5 and 11.5 points per game in his first two seasons. Zoller did not become a real impact player until he was a junior.

I'm not saying that Zack Rosen and Tyler Bernardini are definitely going to approach the level of Zoller and Jaaber. But Penn's younger players need to be given time to develop and blossom into leaders that will have the ability to deliver every night and put a game away.

Until consistent and experienced leaders emerge, Penn will have little room for error.

The Quakers could not have asked for better looks offensively this weekend - they moved the ball inside with good chances to score time and time again and got to the foul line with ease. The shots just didn't fall.

All told, they probably should have scored 60 more points than they did over the last three outings - there were numerous missed chances at Princeton as well. The only real difference in all of these games was one or two more clutch baskets or free throws or rebounds.

And without reliable juniors and seniors to help put a game away, you can't get away with a senior forward going 2-for-8 from the line in a six-point loss.

Harvard and Dartmouth have go-to seniors with loads of experience in this league, so they won. The Quakers don't have players like that, and they won't for the rest of the season.

That doesn't mean the team is in decline. Penn's offense moves much better now than it did in January. The squad is hustling more, getting rebounds and bearing down on defense.

Some of their sophomores and freshmen have what it takes to dominate in this league and carry the team - just not yet.

Andrew Todres is a senior Political Science and History double major from New York. His e-mail address is todres@dailypennsylvanian.com

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