COLUMN: '95 Penn was up against greats

Penn had even bulked up its schedule to impress the committee, adding national powers like then-No. 1 UMass and Michigan, in addition to perrenial top-caliber foes like Villanova and Temple. Throw in a first-place finish in the ECAC Holiday Festival plus a cameo in the Preseason NIT, and Fran Dunphy & Co. felt they had put together a schedule which could hardly be labeled as "Ivy League." But the committee couldn't overlook the Quakers' first-round exit in the NIT against Canisius, a blown fourth-quarter lead against St. Joseph's and an overtime game at Lehigh. The result was a No. 12 seeding in the East Regional and a date with Alabama, then ranked No. 20 in the nation. It was an intriguing matchup between one of the nation's best backcourts -- Penn's combo of Jerome Allen and Matt Maloney --Eand one of the nation's top frontcourts. Both Quakers fans and members of the national media began to predict an upset. If Allen and Maloney could get hot, the argument went, Penn would have a real chance to knock off the Crimson Tide. Everyone knows the ending by now. Despite Allen's heroics, which sent the game into overtime, 'Bama pulled out the win, 91-85, before getting bounced by Final Four-bound Oklahoma State in Round 2. As Penn said goodbye to its greatest ever recruiting class, it was hard to find that silver lining. But with a couple years worth of perspective, maybe we didn't realize just how good that Alabama team was. We knew the key to the game was going to be the production of the Tide frontcourt. And when Penn centers Eric Moore and Tim Krug failed to contain Antonio McDyess in the paint, they made the Alabama middleman an overnight millionaire. McDyess entered the tournament a nice young prospect, but exited Baltimore Arena a NBA lottery pick. The 6-foot-9 sophomore center humiliated Moore and Krug, scoring 39 points and grabbing 19 boards in the best performance of his two-year collegiate career. One game later, in a losing effort against fellow lottery pick Bryant Reeves, McDyess added another 22 points and 17 rebounds. And three months later, the Los Angeles Clippers selected McDyess with the second-overall pick in the draft, before sending him to the Denver Nuggets in a draft-day trade, based almost solely on those two games. McDyess didn't disappoint his Mile High suitors, averaging 13.4 points, 7.5 rebounds and 1.5 blocks per game. But McDyess wasn't the only future NBAer in the 1995 'Bama frontcourt. Both of the Crimson Tide's starting forwards -- Jamal Faulkner and Jason Caffey -- were drafted as well. Caffey even earned a NBA championship ring as a backup forward for the Chicago Bulls. And two-and-a-half weeks ago, the Vancouver Grizzlies picked Alabama's fourth forward, Roy Rogers, with the 22nd overall pick. Given the chance to start as a senior, Rogers established himself as the premier shot-blocker in the nation. Rogers's 156 rejections were a school record. His 14 swats in a single game tied an NCAA record, and he also broke Shaquille O'Neal's Southeastern Conference record for blocks in a season. Now that four forwards have been drafted from one college team in a two year span, a little reevaluation of Penn's near-upset may be necessary. The question that you should be asking yourself is: How the heck did Penn even make it to overtime? It's not as if Alabama's guards were that bad. In fact, Marvin Orange, Artie Griffin and Eric Washington formed one of the better shooting backcourts in the nation. It's not as if David Hobbs can't coach. It's not as if the Baltimore Arena was decidedly pro-Penn. The only palatable answers are that the Quakers were just plain lucky, the Tide underachieved or the selection committee underestimated the Ivy Leaguers. Since Alabama actually put together a solid game, you can't argue underachievement. And if Penn had any luck, it was certainly bad luck. After all, they caught McDyess at the peak of his career. The near win only served to validate the fans' original thought -- the seeding was not indicative of the Quakers actual talent level. Only in the backward arena of NCAA sports could "Ivy Leaguer" be turned into a put-down.