M. Hoops in New York state of mind

Quakers aim to clinch title this weekend As the Penn men's basketball team prepares to do battle with Columbia and Cornell this weekend, Penn coach Fran Dunphy is waging his own personal war. What he is fighting is the danger represented by the sort of question he was asked yesterday at practice. The subject was the mentality of the team in the aftermath of Wednesday night's close loss at No. 9 Villanova. With no more glamour games to keep them on their toes, is there any danger of the Quakers looking past the five Ivy League patsies remaining on their schedule? Dunphy sighed. He has heard questions like that so many times over the past couple of seasons they make him sick. "To you, Villanova may be a marquee game," he said. "Our marquee game right now is Columbia. I don't know if I can speak for the players, but that's definitely how we as coaches feel." Then Dunphy looked over to his starting center, senior Eric Moore. Moore quickly nodded assent. "We're up for Columbia," Moore said. "We want to approach every game the same." Dunphy has made believers out of his players. To them, the NCAA tournament is insignificant right now. All that matters is tonight's game at Columbia (7:30 p.m., WGMP-AM 1210). After that, all that matters is tomorrow night's contest in Ithaca against Cornell (7:30 p.m., WXPN-FM 88.5). Penn clobbered the Lions and Big Red by a combined 65 points during a weekend series at the Palestra two weeks ago. Columbia is a only tad less hapless now than it was then. The Lions (4-18, 1-9 Ivy League) got their first Ivy win of the season a week ago with a 79-69 victory over Yale. In striving to end a terrible season on an upbeat note, the Lions have had to tighten up the operations a bit. Guards C.J. Thompkins and Claude Crudup have been out for the season for some time. Thompkins went down with an ankle injury in late January, and Crudup, the half-brother of Penn forward Ira Bowman, left after six games due to differences with the coaching staff. The result for Columbia coach Jack Rohan is a mere six players who see significant playing time. Four Lions played all 40 minutes in the win over Yale. In a rarity, Penn, which primarily employs a seven-man rotation, will actually have a depth advantage tonight. "We were up 15-2 against them last time and let them back into the game in the first half with sloppy play," Dunphy said. "We want to play a more complete game this time." Following the Columbia game, the Quakers (17-5, 9-0) will make the three-hour journey to Ithaca, where they will have less than 24 hours to prepare for the Big Red. Cornell will provide a stark contrast to Columbia. The Big Red (9-13, 4-6) has been treading water all season, but it still features one of the deeper benches in the Ivies. The depth is primarily due to the outstanding recruiting class coach Al Walker brought in this season. Cornell regularly goes nine deep and has more than a few players who can get the job done on the offensive end of the floor. The problem for the Big Red at the Palestra two weeks ago was it could not get the job done on the other end of the floor. Penn shredded the Cornell "D" for 101 points. Guards Matt Maloney and Jerome Allen combined for 37 points, and frontcourt subs Bowman and Tim Krug teamed up for 25. But the young Cornell squad has a better idea what to expect from Penn this time around. And Dunphy refuses to take anything for granted. It's just his way. "We have a lot left to do, and that starts with these two games," he said. "Our mission is not yet finished."

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.