Penn's word of the week: consistency

With an Ivy weekend on tap, M. Hoops needs to stop being erratic. In previous seasons, Penn could count on returning from its annual New York road trip with two victories. The Quakers have defeated Cornell 11 straight times, while they have topped Columbia eight consecutive times. Yet this season has seldom seen expected results for Penn in both negative and positive senses. Monday's loss to Lafayette was another glaring reminder that the Quakers have yet to develop the consistency for any game to be considered a definite win. "This year we have to play well to win the game," Penn coach Fran Dunphy said. "Any team on our schedule could beat us on any given night." Yet despite Penn's struggles this season, a loss to Columbia would certainly be a big surprise. Columbia head coach Armond Hill still sees the Quakers as one of the favorites in the league and a level above his own team. The Lions, while performing better than last season's 7-19 finish, have given little indication that they are willing to give up their spot at the bottom of the league, as they enter the weekend with a 5-11 record, 0-4 in the league. "We are making progress," Hill said, "I'm pleased -- no I don't want to say that. I'm not as upset as I could be." The one thing Hill does have going for him is the play of junior guard C.J. Thompkins. The junior shooting guard has developed into the Ivies' best scorer, leading the league with 21.6 points per game. Yet Hill is not afraid of his team relying too much on Thompkins. "When Penn had Allen and Maloney, didn't it rely on them?" Hill said. Unfortunately, the Columbia coach has yet to find the complement to Thompkins that would elevate the Lions' chances against Penn this weekend. Sophomore Gary Raimondo, despite averaging 11 points per game, has not built much on a solid freshman season. Hill instead uses a perimeter approach in which even his big men go outside to shoot three-pointers. The Lions take almost half their shots from behind the three-point arc -- almost 25 per game. Columbia does not appear to have the strong offensive-rebounding, inside game which has hurt the Quakers this season. The Lions have been out-rebounded by seven boards per game. Yet Dunphy sees no benefit to playing a perimeter team. "I don't look at it that way," Dunphy said. "Each game takes on its own personality." The game against the surprisingly-successful Big Red promises to be a more difficult matchup. So far Cornell has racked up a 10-6 record overall and a 2-2 league mark, with both wins coming against Columbia. Coach Scott Thompson, in his first year at the helm of the Big Red, does not know what to expect in his first game against the Quakers. "I've never even seen a Penn-Cornell game," Thompson said. "I know Penn has a tremendous basketball tradition. We're just feeling our way, trying to build a basketball tradition at Cornell, where there wasn't much of one in the past." So far this season, junior college transfer John McCord has done his best to make Cornell history in his first -- and only -- season playing for the Big Red. The 6-foot-6 inside force has averaged 17.8 points and 8.6 rebounds while hitting 56 percent of his shots. While it might seem McCord came out of nowhere, Dunphy knew about his talent even as McCord sat out last season after transferring. "Obviously we are going to have to try to get help on him on the interior," Dunphy said. What makes Cornell such a dangerous team is their three-point shooting. While Columbia bombs at will from downtown, Cornell is much more efficient, hitting over 40 percent of their shots to rank highly on the national list. Senior guard Alex Compton, who started his collegiate career at St. Joseph's, has emerged as the top three-point shooter in the Ivy League this year, nailing an impressive 49 percent of his treys. Penn will have to improve upon its latest effort defensively against Lafayette, or McCord and Compton will have the chance to put their considerable offensive talents on display. Penn had been playing solid half-court defense until Lafayette broke through for 83 points. "We did not do a good job of keeping them off the backboards or stopping their offense," Dunphy said. Right now, Penn is trying to find the right balance among his eight main contributors. Dunphy said it sometimes appears as if each time Penn takes a step forward, they take two steps back. While Penn's up-and-down play could be attributed to its youth, Dunphy is not buying that excuse. "Often, you listen to how young teams are inconsistent," Dunphy said. "But you just have to play and you can't have excuses. If we are inconsistent because we are young, there are not too many people who will cry for us."