Can I get a forward?

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Jay Wright of Villanova gets most of the credit nationally for playing a four-guard offense. After this weekend, it would appear as though Fran Dunphy wanted to show everyone 'Nova is not the only team in the city that can make do with just one big man.

But Wright doesn't play four guards willingly, and neither did Dunphy. An injury to Curtis Sumpter predicated the unusual Villanova attack. When Friedrich Ebede and Steve Danley went down Friday against Harvard, Dunphy chose to follow Wright's lead.

Both coaches saw this weekend how easily their smaller lineups can be overpowered. Dunphy's Quakers blew an 11-point to the taller Harvard duo of Matt Stehle and Brian Cusworth who scored at will against Danley and Mark Zoller, and thrived against Zoller alone. Wright's Wildcats were massacred in the paint today by a much larger Connecticut team.

But Villanova has gotten used to playing with that combination. Penn looked lost defensively.

Give Eric Osmundson and Ibrahim Jaaber credit for a solid job keeping Harvard and Dartmouth guards neutralized. And Zoller did about all he could playing his position and Danley's. But Penn was in serious trouble playing small for the entire second half Friday night, and if not for a few favorable calls would be on thin ice in the Ivy standings.

Dunphy says he put the best five players on the floor he could in that game. His lineup may have had the most basketball experience, but there is no getting around Harvard's height advantage, and that really hurt. It begs the question would Penn have been any worse with someone like Brennan Votel or Cameron Lewis out there? At least Dunphy could have saved the legs of his best players -- there was some serious fatigue the next night -- and maybe someone could have put a body between Stehle and the basket.

Given Ebede appeared to be hurt pretty bad Saturday night, there may be some major cause for concern if the Quakers are down to two big men. He's got great elevation, but I'd definitely never like to see the 6-foot-2 Jaaber jumping center again.