Culinary Satisfaction 101

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The last three times Penn scored 100 points in a game before tonight, the magic number was reached by a shot from the proverbial last guy on the bench. So as you digest your cheesesteak, here's a look back at those previous occasions when the Red and Blue faithful stormed Abner's en masse.

Two years ago, Penn came home to the Palestra after being swept in a pair of nailbiters at Yale and Brown, and took out its anger on Harvard in a 104-69 rout on Feb. 6, 2004. It was a bigger margin of victory than Stanford's win over the Crimson a few months earlier, and that Cardinal team was a No. 1 seed in that season's NCAA tournament. Anyway, Penn senior guard Pat Lang -- who literally never missed a shot in his college career -- had the honor of putting Penn past the century mark with a three-pointer from the right side of the top of the arc. It earned him the nickname "The People's Champion" from the shivering fans who snaked around the corner of 38th and Chestnut -- a title that went unchallenged until this evening, when Steve Danley made a serious run at it by standing in line for his cheesesteak while his teammates cut to the front.

In 2002, it was senior guard Dan Solomito who went down in cheesesteak lore on Feb. 16. His three from about as far to the left of the arc as Lang was to the right put the Quakers exactly at the century mark in a 100-62 win over Dartmouth -- oddly enough, Harvard's travel partner in the Ivy League's scheduling system. Solomito's fame became so ensconsed in Penn history that even after he graduated, the "Sol-o-mit-o" chant came forth from the Red and Blue Crew whenever Fran Dunphy emptied the bench.

Before that, you have to go back to December 7, 1996, when Penn faced Lehigh. That was current Penn assistant coach Matt Langel's freshman year. With seven seconds left in the game and the score 98-56, Quakers reserve guard Nate Allison -- described to me by a friend who was at Penn back then as being close to Solomito's level in the pecking order -- intentionally fouled Lehigh's Steve Aylsworth to stop the clock. Aylsworth hit two free throws, and Penn got the ball back. Penn guard Mike Dzik, another reserve, missed a three-pointer, but Allison tipped in the rebound to make the final score 100-56. That was the first ever "cheesesteaking," as the promotion did not exist the previous time Penn hit the century mark.

After Allison's feat, Fran Dunphy wasn't happy. "I don't want to ever get in a situation where you're forcing things to get culinary satisfaction," he said.

Allison's story became more interesting after that, according to a DP story written two years later. When the game was over, Allison handed out tickets to local homeless people, allowing them to get some free food along with the students. In the weeks that followed, he only saw 10 more minutes of playing time, and left the team at the end of the season after being asked to move down to the J.V. team.

This year was totally different. First, Brian Grandieri is one of Dunphy's primary substitutes. I figured history would dictate that the glory go to someone such as Joe Gill, Greg Kuchinski, or Kevin Egee -- especially after Egee was called upon to fix the basket at Penn's end of the floor while everyone else waited at the other end. Second, the basket that gave Penn its 100th point came from a free throw. That heightened the sense of drama and anticipation in the Palestra's stands, but it was still a far cry from the heroic efforts of Lang, Solomito, and even Allison.

To be honest, I didn't think Penn would hit triple digits tonight, even as the Quakers ran up the score. This is mainly because I didn't think Dunphy would want his team to inflict such a big defeat on one of his former assistant coaches, Fran O'Hanlon. Dunphy is just not the type to do that sort of thing. Which is fine by me, honestly, even if it deprives the fans of a free cheesesteak at times.

Having said that, Penn's offense simply could not be stopped tonight, allowing the Red and Blue to cap off in high style a weekend where their offensive firepower was on full display. And Brian Grandieri added his name to one of the most illustrious honor rolls in the history of Penn basketball -- the one with Cheez Wiz and onions.