ANDY BARATTA: Hustle and heart

Four months after Andy Baratta laid in pain on the Palestra hardwood, he was perched above that same fabled floor. The Quakers had overcome a sluggish first half to defeat Princeton and clinch the Ivy title, and Baratta had overcome a serious injury that threatened his basketball career. He slowly cut the net and gave a farewell wave, then disappeared into the mass of humanity as he had often disappeared from fans' consciousness while relegated to the bench. Baratta's final home game was his first start of the season. It was a senior night tribute to the 6-foot-8 center whose limited playing time mocks his importance to the Quakers. Baratta played the first 5 minutes, 9 seconds before finding his spot on the bench. He did not return until four seconds remained, when he replaced captain Barry Pierce, Penn's other senior and more visible leader. It was a fitting Palestra end for Baratta, a true team player. He did not contribute with the fury of Matt Maloney, and certainly not with the grace of Jerome Allen, but his presence was felt. "No matter how many minutes he plays, he always gives you whatever he has," Penn coach Fran Dunphy said. "He doesn't know it, but that's where he can teach other kids a lot of things about life and the game." What Baratta has brought throughout his career is leadership through hustle and heart -- maybe sometimes too much for his own good. Against Yale, he dove for a loose ball with disregard for the cumbersome brace on his right leg and the torn anterior cruciate ligament it protects. "I just try to work as hard as I can every time I have an opportunity to do so," Baratta said. "And if that's being a leader, so be it." Now, as he stood on the ladder after the Princeton victory cutting down the net, the Palestra stood in stark contrast to a November practice that took on a somber tone. The Quakers were running a 3-on-3 drill. Baratta came out from under the basket to meet his man on the wing. As his man went right, Baratta's right leg stayed planted and his knee buckled. He came crashing down in pain. Baratta thought his career was over. A tear came to his eye. He spotted one in coach Fran Dunphy's too. "Basketball has been an overriding element in the first 22 years of my life," Baratta said. "To think that's going to be over for the rest of my life is a pretty daunting fact to face." But two weeks later he was miraculously back practicing. He'll have surgery after the season to repair the torn ACL. Since his return, the center who had started the first 13 games of the 1992-93 campaign, has chipped in 3.6 points in 10 minutes per game off the bench. "When he got that injury, it put a damper on all of us as a team," said Maloney, Baratta's teammate and housemate along with Eric Moore. "He's such a leader. The way he works hard in practice. The way he does things on the floor. "He really accepts his role and does what he has to do for us to win. Last year when he started the first 13 games, and then coach Dunphy didn't start him, he really took it well and did what it took for our team to win." That means riding the pine during crucial points in the game, watching Allen, Pierce, Maloney and junior forwards Moore and Shawn Trice. Baratta accepts his role, although needless to say, he would like to be out on the court instead of rooting from the bench. "I don't think you're going to find anybody who wants to play more than Andy," Dunphy said. "While I'm sure he has a certain sense of frustration about not getting as many minutes, he hasn't gotten down about it or sulked about it." Should Penn falter tomorrow night against Nebraska in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at Nassau Coliseum, it will be Baratta's final game in an injury-plagued career for the Red and Blue. Since transferring from Clarion College near Pittsburgh, he has also broken the same leg twice to go along with his ACL injury. "It's tough to think about what my last game is going to be," Baratta said. "I hope its not Thursday and I hope its not Saturday, but I guess I have to be prepared for that, and Barry [Pierce] has to be prepared for that. I'm looking for our team to go further than Thursday and Saturday." Said Dunphy, "To me, his approach to the game, his dedication to the game, his work ethic at the game have been outstanding. I've certainly learned a lot from him. Hopefully our players have done the same thing."