Broom in hand, Penn heads north

This weekend Penn looks to take care of Harvard and Dartmouth, despite Jed Ryan's being shelved for the weekend. The Penn men's basketball team continued its impersonation of a hospital ward as forward Jed Ryan broke his hand during Wednesday's practice. Just as Penn thought it would have its starting five back together for the first time in two weeks with the return of sophomore guard Matt Langel, Ryan's injury leaves the Quakers without half of its inside game for at least this weekend if not the rest of the season. What remains of the Quakers (9-9, 3-1 Ivy League) will take on Harvard (9-8, 3-3) tonight at 7 p.m. at the Ray Lavietes '36 Pavilion in Cambridge, Mass., and Dartmouth (6-12, 3-3) Saturday night at 7:30 p.m. at Thompson Arena. Ryan broke his right pinky finger, just above the knuckle, after catching it on teammate George Mboya's jersey in a drill during Wednesday's practice. The "freak accident" as both Dunphy and Ryan described it, left Ryan's shooting hand in too much pain to have any chance of being able to shoot, rebound or catch a pass. Doctors told Ryan that it will take three to four weeks to heal properly. Penn's final regular season game is scheduled for less than four weeks from now, March 3, at home against Princeton. "Four weeks doesn't sound real good, but I'm hoping for a lot sooner," Ryan said. "Your hand won't let you catch something if its broken. It's killing me right now watching practice." In addition to Ryan, sophomore Frank Brown will also be in street clothes this weekend. Brown continues to suffer from knee problems which resulted from his returning to action too soon after his knee was operated on last year. After initially saying that Brown's status was week to week, Penn coach Fran Dunphy confirmed yesterday that he doesn't expect Brown to return this season. Doctors have Brown rehabbing his knee three times per week at Society Hill Physical Therapy in downtown Philadelphia. "It's very frustrating sitting out last season and then sitting out half the year this season," Brown said. "They said I needed more rehab after the surgery. That was basically it. I'm just trying to encourage my teammates. " With Ryan down, Mboya and freshman Josh Sanger will be asked to pick up the work load inside, while Lamar Plummar will continue to see significant minutes on the perimeter with Langel coming off the bench. Dunphy will also probably need to dig deeper into his bench and throw Mike Sullivan or Jeff Goldstein on the floor for more than just the final minute. No matter who is on the court, the simple fact is that Penn cannot afford to come away with anything less than 2 victories. "We lose one of these, the team is in real trouble," Ryan said. Penn's biggest opponent this weekend is itself, as both of their opponents have shown inconsistencies over the season. Harvard comes in on a three-game losing streak, including losses to Yale and Brown last weekend. The Crimson is led by junior guard Tim Hill, who leads the Ivy League with a 2.2 assist-to-turnover ratio. A year ago, Hill hit a 19 foot jumper as time ran out in regulation to send the game into overtime. Harvard then took command of the overtime, winning 76-67. Penn will encounter a much different situation Saturday night when they meet a Dartmouth team which has shown dramatic improvement after what coach Dave Faucher termed a disappointingly poor start. Dartmouth is riding a three game win streak, including a weekend sweep of the Bears and the Elis. They are led by sophomore Shaun Gee, who leads the league in scoring at 17.3 points-per-game, and P.J. Halas, one of two seniors on the team. Faucher still figures his team has his hands full this weekend facing Penn and Princeton on back to back nights. Needing two wins while playing with depleted ranks means Penn has its hands full as well.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.