COLUMN The Russians are coming

From Eric Goldstein's "Upon Further Review," Fall '95 Penn has jumped onto the bandwagon of college teams that prepare for the regular season by picking on touring foreign teams. At first glance, teams with names like Czech Nationals and Team Greece would appear to be world-class caliber squads. But do not be fooled by the names. These are neither Olympic teams nor standing national teams. In fact, they are nothing more than teams put together as a promotion for corporate sponsors. Companies, like Marathon Oil or Trans-Blok, put together these pro teams, stick their company logo on the uniform and send them around the world to play in exhibitions. Last night, St. Joseph's opened its season with an exhibition against Dinamo-Novosibirek. Dinamo, one of the more famous of these touring teams, proved just why they are so popular with American schedule-makers. They put up a good fight (giving the host Hawks some good competition) but, as usual, managed to lose (pleasing the home crowd). They played the part of the Washington Generals to the Hawks' Harlem Globetrotters. St. Joe's is in a similar position to our own Quakers. With the graduation of their top two players -- guard Bernard Blunt and forward Carlin Warley -- and the resignation of coach John Griffin, the Hawks are in a rebuilding year. But even with an inexperienced team and star point guard Mark Bass sitting out most of the game, St. Joe's topped Dinamo by 15 points. All of these touring teams are pretty equal talent-wise, so expect similar results when Volgograd visits the Palestra Saturday night. But the game should provide an interesting contrast between American and European styles of basketball. The American game is a far more athletic one -- there was not one dunk or fast-break by Dinamo the entire game. Despite the hype about basketball catching up to soccer as the world's most popular sport, the foreign talent cannot yet match that of American players. Sure, there are the few top hoopsters in Croatia, Lithuania and Greece that can compete with U.S. talents. But the Vlade Divacs, Toni Kukocs and Gheorghe Muresans of the worlds are truly the exceptions. There is a reason why Penn grads Eric Moore and Shawn Trice had to go to Europe to play at the professional level. Moore and Trice could not even match up against the Alabama frontcourt last year, but they are able to compete against the top competition in France and Sweden, respectively. In fact, in just his first pro game for Beauvois en france, Moore put up 35 points and pulled down 13 boards. Moore never put up anywhere near those kinds of numbers in his four years at Penn. Is Ivy League competition really tougher than the best France has to offer? Actually, Moore's French stats cannot be compared to his Penn numbers without a little footnote. The European style of basketball is a perimeter game, and big men are asked to shoot the rock along with the guards. Do not be surprised Saturday to see Volgograd forwards and centers spotting up behind the arc. The three-point shot is the centerpiece of the European attack. So a big player -- like Moore -- who can nail the outside shot with some amount of precision, is a very valuable asset. Against St. Joe's, 6-foot-9 bookend Dinamo centers Artam Egorov and Andrei Olbrekht did more outside shooting than the guards -- with far greater accuracy. It is that outside-shooting ability that allows these touring teams to keep pace with their far more athletic U.S. counterparts. While the Americans play an up-and-down, above-the-rim game, taking two points at a time, the Russians, when playing well, grab three points per possession. If the Volgograd perimeter players are on, it should be a competitive game. With Egorov and Olbrekht draining trey after trey, Dinamo actually had the score knotted at 40 at halftime. If the Russians go cold, forget about it. When the shots stopped falling, Hawks center Will Johnson went to work inside and helped St. Joe's pull away. If the game proves to be a bore, the language barrier should provide for plenty of entertainment. Make sure to get to the game early for the player introductions. Watching the public address announcer try to spit out "Tanaswitchouk Konstautin" was especially amusing. Sure, you've never heard of Aquarius-Volgograd. Maybe it's not the Preseason NIT. But between the new-look Quakers and the bombing Russians, Saturday's game should not be lacking in entertainment value.