Quakers to take on touring team in exhibition

Today's contest will allow Penn to finally test itself against an actual opponent. One of those opponents will be former Penn center Tim Krug. If you were wondering what the heck the USDBL team is, you're in good company. The Penn men's basketball team, which is slated to play an exhibition game against the mystery team tonight at the Palestra, hasn't got much more than a clue either. But when the ball gets tipped off at 7 p.m., it won't be just the USDBL squad that gets identified -- the Quakers will be showing for the first time what they are made of as well. USDBL actually stands for Upper State (N.Y.) Development Basketball League. "I think they are some guys who played at the college level, and now have guys that have played in Europe or are waiting to get to Europe," Penn coach Fran Dunphy said. Even if a profile was available on the squad, it looks like the exhibition squad will be rigging its lineup, as graduated Penn center Tim Krug will don the USDBL uniform for tonight only. Krug will also play for the Converse All-Stars on Monday night in the Quakers' second and final preseason exhibitions. But even without Krug, the USDBL players have given other schools difficult times. St. Joseph's beat them by only two points, and Drexel was winning by only one point at the end of the first half. The real story of the game, however, will not be who the exhibition squad is comprised of. It is more a story of what the Quakers have inside of them. Even though sophomores Frank Brown and Paul Romanczuk are sitting out, this will be the first time the Quakers will work together in a game situation. "The only people we've played against is ourselves," Dunphy said. "Jamie [Lyren] and Michael [Jordan] have been going against each other every day. Now we'll see how they play together." Brown is recovering well from knee surgery. He ran hard in practice this week and has been running drills. Dunphy said that he has already sat out his required four to five weeks and should be ready for the December 3 opener. Romanczuk is still in his six-week recovery and rehabilitation period after repairing a ligament in his wrist But those two injuries can only mean more playing time for the freshmen -- even if they are unsure of what their roles are as of yet. "I don't think it will be as much of a transition, since we've been playing with these guys a long time," rookie center Geoff Owens said. "Basically, we're not sure how much we're going to play right now, so we'll see." Lyren believes the exhibition games will provide the freshmen with a chance to adjust them to the pace and intensity of the college game. "I think some of the new guys are going to learn how hard they have to work in a game, how timeouts work and how substitution works out," Lyren said. Owens will have a chance to prove himself if he gets matched up with Krug underneath. "Tim's game has kind of evolved in the past six or seven months since he's been out of the Penn program," Lyren said. "He's put on some pounds, he's a little less mobile, he's a little more stationary on the blocks now." Despite all the experimentation that could run amok, Dunphy insists that winning the game will be a nice perk -- even if they haven't been able to size up the competition. "You'd like to play enough to win," Dunphy said, "but we need to find some combinations that work for us. And with Paul and Frank not being able to play, we're not the same team we're going to be in the middle of December."