COLUMN: Ivy sports is wheel of fortune

Scott Miller, Commentary With only prestige forming the basis of recruiting, Ivy squads are essentially constrained when trying to lure top-notch athletes to come to their institutions. That much is obvious. But what might not be so clear is the reality that incoming athletes might not see respectable playing time until their predecessors have graduated. Not-so-ironically, the two most popular sports at Penn have been pristine examples of this dilemma -- men's basketball and football. In the case of these two teams, the results reflect two different problems associated with this system. The Quakers have had a successful football team, to say the least, in the the 1990s -- garnering three championships and winning 23 consecutive games at one point. Two-sport star Mark DeRosa then decided to revoke his two final years of football eligibility to play professional baseball. As a direct result, Penn's program suffered tremendously. DeRosa was essentially redshirted his freshman season, and had all four years of eligibility ahead of him when he took over for Jim McGeehan in 1994. He knew this would be the case when he was recruited. The Quakers seemingly avoided the cyclical problem by bring in in an excellent quarterback just as their current one was leaving. But when DeRosa split the Penn scene, Penn football coach Al Bagnoli had no choice but to use DeRosa's backup, Steve Teodecki. When he failed to perform to expectations, there were Tom MacLeod and Brian Russell, who also failed to give the Quakers the appropriate leadership. Thinking DeRosa would stick around for a couple more years, Bagnoli obviously didn't plan on recruiting excellent quarterbacks, especially since the ones he recruited for this season probably wouldn't have seen much in the way of playing time until the fall of 1998. By breaking the circle, DeRosa's departure was the biggest loss the team faced in 1996. The men's basketball team is probably a clearer example of the athletics cycle. Basketball coach Fran Dunphy created one hell of a team for himself, culminating with the famed starting five of two years ago. From the time Jerome Allen was a rookie until the time this year's freshmen stepped foot on the Palestra hardwood, no recruiting class appeared that stellar. After all, what did Dunphy have to offer other than plenty of time on the pine? Ira Bowman and Tim Krug, 1996 graduates, were the only players to see significant minutes, and surely Dunphy wouldn't have used them if his starting five had superhuman stamina. After one transition year, however, Dunphy was able to promise his recruits legitimate gametime minutes. While Paul Romanczuk, Frank Brown and, to some extent, Jed Ryan did see some good time last year, their time in no way compares to the amount of time Matt Langel, Michael Jordan and Geoff Owens see this year. And as predictable as the Ivy League is, Dunphy will have another awe-inspiring recruiting season in three or four years. While the case can be made that there are perennial Ivy League champions, like Penn and Princeton in basketball, the fact is that the two teams trade off little championship streaks. Since the inception of the formal Ivy League in 1957, only three times has Penn or Princeton taken the crown from another team and not supported it without at least a repeat championship. Why only Penn and Princeton? The fact is that Ivy League basketball is synonymous with Penn and Princeton and no other teams -- giving an obvious recruiting advantage. To conclude the illustration, Dartmouth football, after building a championship, graduates 24 seniors and will probably fail to stay aloft. Meanwhile, the Quakers will win the Ivy League next season after finding a Division I quarterback and returning a solid core of players at every other position. In basketball, the Quakers are rebuilding while Princeton stakes its claim to the top. In this case, however, it remains to be seen if Penn's rebuilding squad is better than what Princeton claims as a championship squad.