COLUMN: What a difference a year makes

Tom Magee, Commentary Before this season began, both players and coaches from the Penn women's basketball team were telling anyone who would listen one thing -- this year was going to be different. Regardless of last year's 3-23 train wreck of a season, regardless of the fact that they had graduated All-Ivy center Natasha Rezek, and regardless of the fact that their improvement rested on the shoulders of two heralded freshmen, the team was adamant. This year they were better, and they were going to prove it. Four wins and eight losses later, the team's tough talk has proven to be far more that just simple preseason rhetoric. The explosion of forward Michelle Maldonado as both a scoring and rebounding threat has more than made up for the loss of Rezek. That, coupled with some impressive play from both the freshmen and the returning players, has enabled this year's team to do more than just improve on last year. The team has given Penn basketball fans a legitimate cause for excitement. Granted, a 4-8 record is not going to turn the basketball world on its ear. The team still has tons of room for improvement. A decided lack of depth has made early foul trouble a death sentence. And Penn's youth and inexperience has resulted in an offensive scheme that can easily be described as -- if nothing else -- less than crisp. Still, the numbers don't lie. Not only has this year's team already surpassed last year's entire season win mark, but they've done it in convincing fashion. If anything, the Quakers have been jobbed out of more wins than losses. Last night's game against Villanova -- which the Quakers lost 60-51 --was the most the team has lost by all year. In last year's contest, the Wildcats annihilated the Quaker's, 86-43. Still, a loss is a loss, and coach Julie Soriero would be the first to admit it. Whether you lose by 50 or five, a one still goes in the wrong column. But a quick scan of the Quaker's stats for the season makes one cringe at the potential this squad has exhibited and failed to attain. Yes, potential is the most overused word in sports, and yes potential means jack when you step onto a basketball court. But the potential that the Quakers exhibit has been proven by each individual player in a game. Just never in the same game. Four of the Quakers' starting five are averaging double figures for the season, and the only one who has is not -- freshman guard Chelsea Hathaway -- is the efficient controller of the offense that has made such balanced scoring possible. Entering last night's contest, Maldonado was fifth in the nation in rebounding (11.6 per game). Junior guard Colleen Kelly leads the Ivy League with 28 three-pointers and she is averaging three a game, good for eleventh in the nation. The talent is there. So what keeps this year's team from tearing up their opponents with a steady balance of inside and outside game? Good question. The answer lies in two fundamental basketball principles that will probably be the difference. They are the difference between whether this year's team is remembered as improved or as a force to be reckoned with -- a lack of both consistency and depth. While each player has shown flashes of what they can do, no player -- with the possible exception of Maldonado-- has been able to step it up on a normal basis. Forward Deana Lewis, expected to be an inside threat, has at times seemed nonexistent in the Quakers offense. At other times -- as with last weekend's matchup against Brown -- she's scored upwards of 20 points. She is undoubtedly the team's emotional leader, but her teammates need her to be more consistent on offense, if they are going to put themselves into contention for a nice spot in the league standings. The two freshmen, more than anybody else on the team, have given Soriero and Penn fans a reason to be excited. Hathaway has done a great job of running the offense in her first dozen collegiate games and she's only going to get better. Forward Shelly Fogarty, though she had a slow start, has certainly come on as of late -- recording her first career double-double a week ago against Yale. Still, the two newcomers have shown the growing pains that were expected of them at times. Hathaway's turnovers, though they have been down of late, have often plagued the team in close games, and both players are shooting around 40 percent from the field going into last night's game. These inconsistencies, however, are only going to go down as the season goes on, and both players gain valuable experience. The lack of depth is perhaps the Quakers' biggest problem, one that can't be easily solved. If Kelly's shooting goes south, as has been the case the past few games, there is no one to pick up the slack. It is not unusual for the Quakers to play with only a six- or seven-woman rotation. The challenge for Soriero and her coaching staff is to help her players find a comfortable rhythm as the season goes on, and to find some bench support to supply her starters with the necessary rest. If she can do this, the Quakers would even surpass their own preseason goals.