1993-94 IVY LGEAGUE M. HOOPS STANDINGS: Penn ready for Yale, Brown and elements

After a one-month hiatus, it is once again Ivy League road trip time for the Penn men's basketball team. The itinerary for the weekend possesses all the elements of an odyssey, even though the opponents are not the most glamorous on the Quakers' 1994-95 schedule. It will be an odyssey of hotel rooms and gloomy New England winter weather, of approximately 12 hours on a bus and a lot less time than that to sleep. By the way, there will also be a couple of basketball games. Yale (7-7, 3-1 Ivy League) and Brown (8-8, 3-1) are the latest two obstacles to Penn's quest for an unprecedented third straight perfect Ivy League season. Behind inspired guard play, the Elis and Bears have taken the early lead in the race for second place behind the Quakers (11-3, 3-0). After splitting with each other, both teams swept Cornell and Columbia last weekend. In the grand tradition of Ivy League road trips, the actual games will be merely part of the equation. On this same road trip last year, Penn breezed past Brown Friday night. The bus ride to Yale was halted by a snowstorm, so the team had to scramble for hotel rooms in Providence. Most teams prefer not to travel on game days, but the Quakers had no choice. Nonetheless, they then beat the Elis in a romp. "You don't really think about it that much," Penn coach Fran Dunphy said of the potential trials and tribulations his team faces every trek up north. "It's just something that goes with playing in the Ivy League. Every team has to do it three times a year." Penn journeyed to New Haven immediately after practice last night. The Quakers will have a walk-through and a brief strategy session this morning before taking the court in Yale's Payne Whitney Gym (7 p.m.) There Penn will face a Yale team that has defied the experts once again in the initial stages of league play. Last year the Elis were predicted to finish seventh or eighth and ended up third. Yale rode its senior backcourt of Damon Franklin and Josh Jennings to its 7-7 record, but with those two graduating, not much was expected of the Elis again this year. So far, coach Dick Kuchen's squad has hardly missed its departed backcourt. Their replacements, junior Jim Kawahito and freshman Gabe Hunterton, were mostly responsible for the sweep of Cornell and Columbia last weekend. Hunterton, the most highly touted Ivy recruit since Jerome Allen, has lived up to his billing with three straight Ivy League Rookie of the Week awards. Like Penn's Allen and Matt Maloney, Kawahito and Hunterton are interchangeable. They routinely trade the point guard duties back and forth and complement the experienced front line well. "Yale defends very well," Dunphy said. "When you play good defense and have mostly veterans playing the game, you're going to be there against a lot of teams." Brown's backcourt of Brian Lloyd and Eric Blackiston will also test the Quakers Saturday at the Pizzitola Sports Center in Providence (7 p.m.). Lloyd has been the key to Bears victories more often than not. He scored 19 points in the second half three weeks ago when the Bears rallied from 18 points down to defeat Yale in overtime. He scored 33 points last weekend in the sweep of Columbia and Cornell en route to being named Ivy League Player of the Week for the second time. On paper, the Bears can't compare with Penn. Their best hope for a victory lies in catching the Quakers on an off night. But Penn will have had less than 24 hours to focus in on the Bears, and it may be fatigued after the journey from Philadelphia to New Haven to Providence. Stranger things have happened during Ivy League road trips. "It's a challenge playing back to back games, no doubt about that," Penn senior Scott Kegler said. "It's something that is unique in college basketball. We haven't fallen victim to it in the past. We've just been able to go in with the right attitude, and that's what makes us champions." All the hassles aside, Penn is 14-0 on Ivy League road trips dating back two seasons. For the five Penn seniors winding down their collegiate careers, road trips have provided some of their fondest memories off the court as well as on. Put this bunch of guys together on a bus for extended periods of time, and anything can happen. "We get away from campus and we're talking and laughing like you wouldn't believe," Kegler said. "It's just something you can never forget."

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.