Dunphy vs. Miller: A nonconference comparison

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A big knock on Fran Dunphy has been that he's been dominant inside the Ivy League but not as good against noncoference opponents. Many hope that Glenn Miller will have more success outside the Ancient Eight, particularly against major conference programs.

So I decided to take a look at how the two coaches have done against common nonconference teams. Here's what I found:

- The two have 14 common opponents (Army, Boston College, Canisius, Holy Cross, Lehigh, Navy, New Hampshire, Providence, Quinnipiac, Rhode Island, Rider, San Francisco, St. Mary's and Texas).

- Dunphy is 20-10 against these teams, meaning he won 67 percent of his games. Miller is 12-25 (44 percent).

- Miller is the only one to beat Providence, Rhode Island and Rider. Dunphy hasn't beaten a nonconference opponent that Miller hasn't also beaten.

- Over half of Dunphy's wins (12 to be exact) against these common opponents have come against Lehigh, a team that Miller has beaten twice in two tries. If you take away his 13 games against the Mountainhawks, his winning percentage is very similar to Miller's -- 47 percent.

So what does this all mean? Well, it seems to suggest that Miller could be better than Dunphy outside of the Ivy League. Dunphy has a better record against these common opponents, but his wins have all come against teams from minor conferences (New Hampshire, Holy Cross, Quinnipiac, Lehigh, Army and Navy). Miller has played the better teams in this group (Providence, Rhode Island, Holy Cross) more often and has actually beaten them. Let's not forget, that Miller did it with much less talented players.

Hopefully, Miller can lead Penn to the most important nonconference win of all -- an NCAA Tournament victory.