SPORTS COLUMN: Brown, Yale are best of rest

Meran's Law, 'Fall 95 Let's get this straight right from the start. No one is going to confuse Yale's Payne Whitney Gym or Brown's Pizzitola Center for Cameron Indoor at Duke or UMass' Mullins Center. When one thinks of a tough road basketball schedule, Brown and Yale usually are not resting on the tip of the tongue. But considering Penn's 32-game league winning streak and the remaining schedule for the heavily favored two-time defending undefeated champs, it does not get any tougher. As hard as it is to believe, the Bears and the Elis may be the best of the rest in the Ivy League. With only six Ivy games left on the five Quakers seniors' home court, winning easily at the Palestra should be the usual pattern. And this should be the case on the road too. But if there could be a place where the class of the league could see one slip away, it may be on the icy roads of New Haven or Providence. I mean, what could be more boring than taking on these two perennial underachievers in the midst of a schedule featuring road dates at Michigan, Massachusetts and Villanova. Knocking off Brown or Yale certainly isn't much to boast of. However, if you turn the tables around, halting the Quakers' streak would more than make the season for either one of these teams. That's just part of what makes this weekend dangerous. Believe it or not these two foes are the only Ivy teams aside from Penn to have a winning league record. Each already possesses one loss, but their respective defeats came at the hands of each other. After splitting games amongst themselves, both teams easily handled Cornell and Columbia. The Elis and Bears are the only teams besides Penn that do not lay claim to a losing record out of conference. While Yale's 7-7 mark and Brown's 8-8 record are far from staggering, they are somewhat respectable. Respectable enough to possibly be able to give the Quakers a close call. An article in yesterday's Sports Illustrated states the Quakers are "headed for an unprecedented third perfect Ivy League season in a row," it should not be forgotten the last two had their share of heart-pounders along the way. Two years ago Penn nearly dropped a contest at New Haven, squandering a big lead before holding on for a 51-50 win. Later in the year at Princeton, another one-point victory was preserved when a Rick Hielscher basket was waived off after the buzzer sounded. Last season, it was Harvard that provided the scare. A Tim Krug block in the final seconds proved to be the difference in the Quakers' third one-point win during the impressive streak. The one thing all these thrillers had in common was they took place away from the friendly confines of the Palestra. That brings us to the subject of Ivy road trips. Where else in the country do teams have to travel so far by bus to play back-to-back road games against league opponents? People simply do not understand the grueling effect this kind of schedule has on a basketball team. While the Friday-Saturday weekends were set up because of the emphasis on academics in the Ivy League, these rigorous trips always go a long way in wearing out the teams. With all the experience the veteran Penn squad has in making these trips, it should be well prepared for the challenge. It was equally prepared, however, in each of the three games that wound up decided by a single point. These things happen. In the wacky world of college basketball, upsets abound. The Ancient Eight is no exception. While the Quakers have avoided the upset bug 32 straight times and have five seniors starting, on any given night?well, you know how it goes. There's no doubt Penn is better than each of these two teams by a high double-digit margin. The Quakers will be heavy favorites in both contests and no one will be surprised if they win both. Not Yale. Not Brown. Not any sane person in the country. But keep in mind that no matter how much better Penn is than any other Ivy team, all the hype can sometimes cause a team to become just complacent enough to find itself in a dogfight. This weekend may be the largest threat to the winning streak ever. Still, it may not even pose that much of a danger. When Jerome Allen, Matt Maloney and the rest of the Quakers are matched up with the likes of Yale's Gabe Hunterton and Brown's Eric Blackiston, the team with the significant advantage is clear. It is not Yale. And it is not Brown. Andy Meran is a Wharton junior from Boca Raton, Fla., and a sports writer for The Daily Pennsylvanian. He is also the DP's King Swami and damn proud of it.