Former Penn coach Fran Dunphy was known for his short bench, especially during the Ivy League season. Outside of Dunphy's seven-man rotation, the only player who saw four or more minutes per game last year was Tommy McMahon (8.8 mpg).
Coming into this season, new coach Glen Miller seemed bound to switch this top-heavy lineup. In the non-conference schedule, nine players were averaging double-digit minutes, but last weekend for the start of Ivy League play, Miller seems to have grown out his Dunphy-esque moustache.
Against Cornell and Columbia, Miller cut his rotation, using seven different players for over ten minutes in either game, while four of the starters averaged over thirty.
Dunphy's 2005-06 squad stormed out to a 7-0 record in the first half of the Ivy slate, but stumbled down the stretch - losing two of the final seven.
It's not clear that fatigue was a direct cause, but the team certainly didn't win with the same ease it did early on.
Miller's lineup continues to change (he recently replaced McMahon with sophomore Kevin Egee in the starting lineup), and he hopes to get bench players extended minutes in the future.
"We've always said we like to play a large rotation," Miller said. "You'll continue to see guys come off the bench and hopefully their minutes will increase. We'd like to get our starters' minutes down to the low 30s so they're fresh and can play full speed."
Miller doesn't believe the team relies on only two off the pine, but hopes to see a wider rotation.
"I wouldn't say we have mainly seven, if we can go nine or 10, 11 deep we'll go nine, 10 or 11 deep."
Day of service. The weekend before Martin Luther King day, the Quakers went to work on the charity stripe.
Penn went a combined 25-for-29 from the free throw line for an 86-percent clip.
For the season, the Red and Blue had been shooting 66 percent from the line, and had only once shot over 75 percent in a single game.
But then came the 10-for-10 performance against Cornell, and the 15-for-19 effort the next day at Columbia.
Miller didn't have much of an explanation for the uptick.
"We've certainly been working hard on it," he said.
The success was spread around, as Stephen Danley (4-for-4), Mark Zoller (6-for-6), Mike Kach (3-for-3) and Brian Grandieri (3-for-3) were all perfect in both games.
A little nylon. The lead may have been 11 already, but Grandieri's half-court shot to end the period against Columbia was a was a great moment for Grandieri, and his celebrating teammates.
"I don't know what I was thinking. We thought we just won the NCAA Tournament, with those antics. I've never even hit a halfcourt shot in my life."
While Penn could have gotten complacent after that play, the shot from deep proved a motivator for the team.
"It gave us a lot of emotion going into the second half," the junior added. "In hindsight it was maybe a good thing for the team, because we reacted well."
Feeling good. For the first time this season, the Quakers are 100 percent, or as close to it as a team can be this far into the season.
Kach and Grandieri are just about over their foot troubles, and while Darren Smith is still out with a separated shoulder, the top six players are all in good shape.
Senior forward Mark Zoller tweaked his ankle against Cornell, but is in good shape and practiced yesterday.
