A FRONT ROW VIEW: Big-man rotation is the guts of Penn M. Hoops

Unbelievable. There is no other way to describe the Penn men's basketball team's stellar performance so far this season. Unbelievable. There is no other way to describe how bright the Quakers' future now looks. After witnessing the dismantling of a talent-rich Southern California team and what should have been a victory in the hostile St. John Arena of Ohio State, I must confess that I was dumbfounded. Even I, the eternal optimist (let's be serious, I root for the Los Angeles Clippers – 'nough said), did not, could not, have predicted that Penn would be this good, this early in the season. Of course I knew the Quakers ended last season with 13-consecutive regular-season wins, but come on, those were only against Ivy League teams. But then I saw Penn in action for the first time this season in the Los Angeles Sports Arena. The Trojans supposedly possessed a dominating frontcourt. The Trojans supposedly were loaded with one of the best recruiting classes in the country. I'm not sure if all of the press was wrong about Southern California, or if the Quakers were just that good. The potent Trojan frontcourt was disarmed by the Penn two-three zone. One of the nation's top-recruits, 6-11 center Avondre Jones, was stopped cold as he did not connect on even one basket during the contest. Although Southern California all-American hopeful Lorenzo Orr did score 20 points, most of those came in the second half, after the Quakers already had put the game to rest. The point here is that the Penn frontcourt, once considered the team's most glaring weakness, was able to more than hold its own against talented big men. The Quakers proved that they can play with any size frontcourt in the nation. This trend continued on Monday evening as Penn played against Ohio State. The Buckeyes also were suppose to possess an offensively potent frontcourt led by 6-9 junior forward Lawrence Funderburke. However, the Quakers did a good job of mixing up two-three zones and man-to-man defenses to limit Funderburke, and his frontcourt teammates, to only 26 points while shooting an uncharacteristically low 42 percent from the field. The Penn frontcourt never received any attention last season, accept when it was blamed for Quaker losses. But this season, all of the Penn faithful will become much more familiar with Eric Moore, Shawn Trice and Tim Krug. These three, and an occasional appearence by sophomore Bill Guthrie, will give the Palestra something to cheer about. Oh sure, everyone still will see the Quakers' awesome backcourt score seemingly at will, but the team's biggest improvement coming into this season is its ability to stifle the opposition's frontcourt while also scoring points themselves. Last season, the big-man rotation of Moore, Andy Baratta, Krug and Trice contributed almost a negligible amount of points to the Penn cause. But to date, these statistics seem to be changing even though Penn has faced two of the nation's premiere frontcourts. I can already hear the Palestra crowd chanting "Kruuuuuug!" Get ready Penn faithful, because starting in just a matter of days the Quakers will be heading to an arena near you. Then you too can scream every time Jerome Allen launches a three-pointer, and also every time Moore keeps the opposing center from scoring or getting an offensive board. Pay close attention to the game and you'll see where the game is really won. It will be won in the trenches, where the frontcourts meet to do battle. It will be won when Moore and Trice consistently get in perfect position to box out the opposing big men. It will be won on the boards, where the Quakers did a job on Southern California when they outrebounded them 36-28 even though the Trojans towered over Penn. The majority of the Quaker points still will come from the big three (Allen, Matt Maloney and Barry Pierce), but the guts, maybe not the glory, will come from the big-man rotation. Look out, because although the frontcourt was once Penn's achilles heel, it now will be a key contributor on the Quakers' road to March Madness. Joshua Friedman is a College junior from Beverly Hills, Calif., and a sports writer for the Daily Pennsylvanian.