AT COURTSIDE: Dunphyt catches a glimpse of the future in NY blowouts

NEW YORK -- The future was this past weekend for the Penn men's basketball team. Freshman George Zaninovich watched from his usual spot on the bench Friday night as Ira Bowman, Tim Krug and Jerome Allen led a 21-0 run that put Penn on top of Columbia 42-8. Five minutes still remained in the first half. As the lead grew, the thought began to dawn on the Street & Smith honorable mention high school All American from Oregon. "I hadn't gotten to play in the first half yet this year," Zaninovich said. "I saw us get out to that early lead, and I began thinking about it a little bit. When [Penn coach Fran Dunphy] called my name, I was just happy to get a chance to go in there." During a weekend in which the Quakers won a pair of games by a combined 81 points, the two most pertinent questions in each contest were: 1) how many minutes would Penn's crop of little-used reserves see and 2) how would they fare once they got in there. The second one was especially interesting because three of Penn's five starters next year will come from a group of six freshmen and sophomores averaging a combined four minutes per game. Dunphy is well aware that the more time he can get his younger guys this year, the better off the Quakers will be next year. Last weekend Penn was home against a clearly inferior Harvard team. The Quakers had a 54-32 lead in the second half, but they allowed the Crimson to creep back a little bit. The result was a lot less playing time for the end of the bench than Dunphy felt it should have had. This weekend, then, was pleasing for him. "I'm grateful for the opportunity to see what we may look like down the road," he said. "That doesn't happen often, so in that respect it's nice to see what the younger guys will do." What he saw was mixed results. The Lions looked like the most inept team in the 104-year history of basketball when Penn was cruising to a 48-8 lead with four minutes to go in the half. But with Zaninovich, Nat Graham, Jamie Lyren and Vigor Kapetanovic in along with Bowman, Columbia suddenly sprang to life. The Lions outscored Penn 13-1 over the remainder of the half as the Quakers struggled to find a rhythm on offense. "That was disappointing," Dunphy said. "We'd like to think this may be our team for next year. Let's not play behind, let's play even or ahead of them." The second and third teamers stepped it up in the second half. Graham was especially impressive, knocking down two three-pointers on the way to a career-high 10 points. Donald Moxley added five points and four rebounds. Saturday in Ithaca, N.Y., Garett Kreitz, often Penn's last man off the bench, knocked in three treys for a career-high nine points in the second half. Over on the bench, the starters were busy enjoying what was almost a weekend off. They clapped and cheered and tried to suppress snickers when something went comically wrong. Mostly, they were one hundred percent behind their teammates. At one point late in the first half Friday night, the Quakers had a solid series on defense. Allen, sitting on the bench, stood up and applauded. Then he motioned for the other guys to do the same. Soon the entire bench was standing and clapping. "It's great to have the guys who have been here for a while and get the most chances to play support the guys who are going to be playing next year and the years down the road," Graham said. Dunphy called it another example of the personality of the older players coming through. "I hope they cheer like hell for those last guys who get in there," he said. "I think that's what a team is all about -- to celebrate and have joy about how these younger guys have played."

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