Sweep or bust

Penn needs to win at Columbia and Cornell to stay in hunt for NCAA bid The Penn men's basketball team has been practicing foul shots on College Green all week. Contribute a dollar to "Swishes for Wishes" and one of the Quakers will take the foul shots for you. Their success could earn you a trip to New Orleans, and the proceeds will benefit terminally-ill children. For the worst free-throw shooting team in the Ivy League, any extra practice should help as Penn heads into one of the most crucial weekends in years. While the Quakers action on Locust Walk was (almost) all fun and games, Penn (14-9, 9-2 Ivy League) knows it will not be able to relax this weekend as it travels to New York to face Columbia and Cornell. Currently trailing Princeton by one game in the Ivy standings with three games left to play, the Quakers can not afford any mistakes. A loss this weekend could eliminate Penn from the title race if the Tigers manage a sweep of the Big Red and the Lions. "How can we not be focused?" swingman Ira Bowman said. "It's not a choice. We have to be focused." Perpetual cellar-dwellers in the Ivies, Columbia (7-17, 3-9) and Cornell (10-14, 5-7) are eager to play spoiler in the title race. The Lions defeated Yale and Brown last weekend, giving Columbia its first road Ivy weekend sweep since the 1992-93 season. The Big Red lost to Brown by four points but came back to demolish Yale. On paper, both Columbia and Cornell are weaker overall than the Quakers. However, these teams boast some of the top players in the conference. Big Red guard Alex Compton and Lions guard C.J. Thompkins were named Co-Players of the Week for their efforts against Yale and Brown. Columbia guard Gary Raimondo earned Rookie of the Week honors for the third-straight time. Tonight the Quakers will be focusing on Raimondo and Thompkins. Thompkins twice tied the Columbia record for three-pointers made in a game last weekend, hitting seven each night. He has connected on at least one long-range shot in 16 of the Lions' last 17 contests. Compton had a career-high 38 points against the Elis. The 5-foot-11 junior set a new Ivy record for three-pointers made in a league contest in the process, hitting on 9-of-11 shots from behind the arc. And Compton does not even lead the Big Red in scoring. Center Eddie Samuel, whose 13.6 points and 7.3 rebounds per game rank sixth and fourth in the Ivy League respectively, is Cornell's biggest offensive contributor. The Quakers must also focus on guard Brandt Schuckman, who has moved from the bench to the starting lineup since the last time these teams met. The 6-foot-2 senior has been deadly from long range for the Big Red, shooting .417 from three-point range in Ivy contests. Though both Cornell and Columbia shot poorly from behind the arc the last time the teams met, the Quakers are well aware of their opponents' three-point threats. Penn plans to take advantage of the resulting long-range rebounds with its transition offense. "All you can control is your effort," Bowman said. "Shots may fall, shots may not fall, but we're going to go out and try to concentrate on good team defense." Though Penn's 68.8 points per game offense leads the Ivy League, it is defense that has kept the Quakers near the top of the league standings. The Quakers are next to last in Ivy League field-goal shooting and foul shooting, making only 40.6 percent of their attempts from the floor and 63.6 percent from the line. Penn ranks dead last from beyond the arc, shooting only 32.7 percent. On the other end of the court, however, the Quakers are more dominant. Penn allows only 64.1 points per game and is second in field-goal percentage defense. "We run our offense as well as we can and take the best shots that present themselves," Bowman said. "We'll make our share of shots. The percentages haven't been that great to us, but the focus is on defense. We have to be able to go into other team's buildings and play well on the defensive end of the floor." As the number of games remaining on Penn's schedule dwindles, the Quakers have become more dedicated to success. "It's been increasingly more intense," freshman forward Paul Romanczuk said. "We feel the pressure of these next three games. We've picked up the intensity because we know the seriousness of this weekend." The Quakers will have an added challenge because they have to travel. The road has been unfriendly to Penn this season, particularly in Ivy League games. The Quakers' two Ivy losses -- to Dartmouth and Yale -- came in foreign arenas. Though the team says they are used to playing under pressure, leaving the Palestra definitely makes the game more difficult. "If they get that place rocking, get some fans in there, it's going to be a tough atmosphere," Romanczuk said. "We're going to have to take that as a challenge. We can't be looking past these people. We're going into their home and they want to defend their territory." The Quakers are even hoping for a little help from their opponents, because an upset of Princeton by either Cornell or Columbia would give Penn cause a tie atop the Ancient Eight standings heading into Tuesday's class with the Tigers. "People are really starting to feel a sense of urgency," Bowman said. "We're starting to understand that we have the opportunity to do something here and we can't let this slip away." The fun and games are over. Now it's time to play.

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