Lafayette is a different team under O'Hanlon

Luke DeCockLuke DeCockThe Daily Pennsylvanian Unfortunately, O'Hanlon's return was anything but triumphant as the Leopards fell to a clearly superior Quaker team. But that didn't diminish from the moment. As a seventh grader, O'Hanlon made his first visit to the Palestra, watching a St. Thomas More high school game. He played at the Palestra, he coached at the Palestra and, like Fran Dunphy, he talks wistfully of the moment he was given the keys. But O'Hanlon had to give the keys back when he took the Lafayette job, and it was as a foreigner that he entered the Palestra last night. Walking on to the court as the pregame clock counted down, O'Hanlon got a big grin from former cohort Gil Jackson before an alumni interrupted what should have been the touching reunion of O'Hanlon and Dunphy. "We'll talk later," said Dunphy, according to O'Hanlon, and it seems unlikely that the two could fit their thoughts into a short conversation, having played against each other in high school and college and coached together for six years. O'Hanlon then greeted the Penn managers before working the scorers' table. Walking back to the Lafayette bench, Ira Bowman flashed him a wide smile, and he spoke briefly with Tim Krug, who wished O'Hanlon luck in the future -- except against Penn. When he was announced as Lafayette head coach, the crowd -- including the recently graduated Scott Kegler -- responded with a hearty round of applause. One fan yelled "Yeah, Frannie." And O'Hanlon enjoyed the moment. "It's the best place to play basketball in the world," he said of his return. "As far as having been here for so long, it feels strange sitting on the opposing bench." The game began lightheartedly as the shot clock was set to an incorrect 45 seconds and O'Hanlon and the referees shared shrugs and wry smiles. As the game got under way, O'Hanlon showed an easy adaptation to the role of head coach, working the refs ("Day off, Joe? Is that what this is? A day off for you?"), following the example of his mentor by going with the early removal of his sport coat (with 18:42 to play: "It was hot out there.") and grimacing in frustration as the Palestra crowd drowned out his play call to point guard Craig Kowadla. From a variety of poses -- squatting, standing, sitting on the bench and at times kneeling in front of young Romanian center Stefan Ciosici while illustrating some point with his hands -- O'Hanlon agonized over his team's 15 first-half turnovers and showed a propensity to substitute frequently. But though his overmatched Leopards fell behind, losing 41-18 at the half, they came out aggressively in the second half displaying a refusal to give up. That never-say-die attitude had been noted by most observers as the biggest change from last year's team, and it was plainly evident last night. The new attitude included a hard foul by L.J. Bennett on a Bowman breakaway that was ruled an intentional foul. O'Hanlon couldn't believe the call, and after the game Bowman concurred. "It was something that looked harder than it was," Bowman said. "That's the attitude that coach 'O' has installed. They play hard, and they don't give up any easy buckets." Also evident was the potential held for the Leopards in the future. With some large, young kids that had clearly gotten O'Hanlon's message, it seemed that Lafayette had definite potential for improvement. "There aren't many people in coaching I respect more than Fran O'Hanlon," Dunphy said. "It's only a matter of time before his teams start to win a lot of games."