Rewriting the books

Point guard Michael Jordan will play the final home game of his illustrious career tonight at the Palestra. There will be no comebacks for this Michael Jordan. There will be no more games at the Palestra. And unlike teammate and fellow senior Frank Brown, Jordan will have no fifth year of eligibility. Instead, when the final buzzer sounds after tonight's Penn-Princeton game, Quakers senior Michael Jordan will make his final postgame trek to the Palestra locker room. Except for the NCAA Tournament, his storied career at Penn will be over. But what a career it's been. Jordan's name is now a staple in the Penn record books. He is in the top five in school history in career points, three-pointers attempted, three-pointers made, assists and steals. But, somehow, those numbers fall short of revealing Jordan's true legacy. To get a better idea, let's go back to the 1996-97 season, Jordan's first in a Penn uniform. The Quakers were just a shell of the team that had won the previous four Ivy League championships. Jerome Allen and Matt Maloney -- two future NBA players who made up one of the top backcourts in Penn history -- had graduated in 1995. Without them, the remaining Quakers posted a less-than-stellar 17-10 record the next year. While that team was good enough to share an Ivy championship with Princeton, the vacuum of graduation would suck away the rest of the players that made up the dominant Penn teams of the mid-'90s. Into this untested roster came Jordan. He was viewed by many as the next Jerome Allen -- a little less athletic, a little more skilled. He was the guy who was supposed to carry the torch of Allen and Maloney, a torch held briefly by Ivy League Player of the Year Ira Bowman in '95-96. And Jordan did carry that torch. Sure, his hold on it was tentative during his freshman year, when Penn finished fourth in the league and two games under .500 overall. Sure, he may have nearly dropped it a few times in his 17-12 sophomore season. But Jordan kept that torch burning, and now his team has been able to brand two Ivy League titles into the record books. Back in April of 1996 -- five months before Jordan arrived at Penn -- his high school coach, Abington Friends' Steve Chadwin, gave Jordan possibly the highest praise a point guard can receive: "His best attribute is that he makes his teammates better," Chadwin said. And, time and time again, that became evident in Jordan's four years with the Red and Blue. True, Jordan will lead the team in scoring for the third consecutive year. But, more demonstrative of his impact on the team, Jordan will also top the team in assists for a third straight time. One gets the feeling that, if he needed to, Jordan could score 25 points a game. But instead, Jordan plays the role of distributor on offense and tenacious defender on defense. "There's stretches every single game we played here where he strapped the rest of the team on his back, scored a few baskets in a row or hit the shot we needed," Penn center Geoff Owens said. And Jordan is never more in his element than in the final minutes of the game. "When it comes crunch time and we need a tough basket, we're probably running everything through him," Penn coach Fran Dunphy said. But running everything through Jordan most often means that the Quakers point guard isn't the one taking the shot. While Jordan's slashing layups certainly are a large part of his game, more often, visions of Jordan drives and kick-outs to fellow senior and backcourt mate Matt Langel for a three-pointer will dance in the heads of Penn fans when they recall the Quakers' No. 23. Langel, too, will see his final action on the Palestra floor tonight. For four years now, his lethal outside shot has been the dagger for many a Penn opponent, as the Quakers' guard stands just two three-pointers behind Garret Kreitz for second all-time in Penn history. Langel will close his career with well over 1,100 points, a 40 percent three-point percentage and a place in one of the best backcourts to wear Penn's Red and Blue. Debates will rage over which duo was the best since Steve Bilsky and Dave Wohl graced the Palestra court 30 years ago, but Jordan seems to give the nod to his predecessors. "What'd they [Allen and Maloney] win, three championships together?" Jordan said. "We only have two." That, in a sense, sums up Jordan's definition of success. He'll be first team All-Ivy League for the third consecutive time and seems a lock to be Ivy Player of the Year, but Jordan is the first to dismiss his individual accomplishments. "All that stuff is all well and good and fine, but I just want to focus on going 14-0 and all the team goals," Jordan said. In many ways, Jordan has been married to this team since his first practice with the squad three and a half years ago. With his arrival came lofty expectations -- expectations that he would be the man to lead Penn back to the Big Dance. "For anybody to do what he has done, in terms of coming in and basically being a significant other from day one, is not the easiest thing to do in anybody's program," Dunphy said. When things have gone right for Penn these last four seasons, Jordan has often received the majority of credit. When things have gone wrong, the Philadelphia native has taken more than his share of the blame. However, Jordan tends to downplay his impact to Penn basketball. "I'm just a member of this team," Jordan said. "I didn't carry the team." But most would agree that the Quakers would have much less of a chance of celebrating back-to-back championships without Jordan at the point. "[Jordan] was a star in every sense of the word -- his personality, how he played on the court," Owens said. "He's just someone that will be sorely missed around here." But Jordan will not be the only player stepping foot on the Palestra tonight for the last time in a Penn uniform. Langel and Brown -- who has scored 404 career points himself -- will also be playing their last Palestra home games. "[Today is] not a fun day for me," Dunphy said, "see[ing] those guys walk out there and represent the last time they'll be playing in a Penn uniform at the Palestra."

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