COLUMN: Ivy title not out of reach for M. Hoops

Miles Cohen, Commentary This is the feeling many Penn men's basketball players have been experiencing every time they hear or read about Princeton walking away with another Ivy title. As it stands right now, Penn has won five of its last six games and looks like a completely different team than a few weeks back -- a team that just might be able to declaw those annoying Tigers. The overtime loss to Yale three weeks ago had some Quakers fans falsely jumping to the conclusion that an Ivy championship was not going to be returning to the City of Brotherly Love. The 71-70 loss to the Eli marked Penn's sixth loss in seven games. At 4-8 overall and 1-1 in their conference, "rock bottom" might have been a good way to describe the feeling of Penn coach Fran Dunphy's troops as they headed back to West Philly. In only the first weekend of league action, the Quakers had already suffered a defeat. And what made the loss even worse was that it came at the hands of Yale, a perennial league cellar-dweller. Upon departing from New Haven, Conn., Penn snapped out its funk and took off on a winning streak. Three victories in a row over Lafayette, Bucknell and Drexel marked the first time in two years that Penn had put together back-to-back-to-back wins. Tack on two Ivy League victories and the Quakers are presently 9-9 with 10 games remaining in the Ivy season. "We want to win every game from here on out," Dunphy said. "We are still alive and we still control our own fate. And I think that is the position you want to be in and that is where we find ourselves and hopefully we can take advantage of it." Something which will bring an automatic lift to the Penn squad is the return of sophomore guard Matt Langel, who has missed the last three games with a deep thigh bruise to his right leg. The injury came at an unfortunate time for the underclassman, whose inside game was just beginning to emerge, complimenting his great outside touch. Dunphy recognizes the importance of having Langel back in the starting lineup, but also feels this particular group of players -- prior to his starting two guard's injury -- has already shown the ability to be resilient, especially following the Yale loss. He acknowledged that it still might be too early in the year to view that game as a turning point, but it had a major impact on many Quakers. The key for the head coach is his team's defense. Dunphy's catch phrase which he has said many times the past two seasons is simple: "When we play well, we defend well." In addition to the defensive intensity being picked up, Penn point guard Michael Jordan has climbed above the 20-point barrier four times in the past six games, while forward Paul Romanczuk has accomplished the same feat three times during this period. "Paul and Mike have given us some nice performances in recent weeks," Dunphy said. "But everyone, including Paul and Mike, has areas which they can improve in on the offensive side of the ball for the remainder of our games." Penn has four conference games remaining before squaring off against Princeton February 17 at Jadwin Gym. If, as Dunphy prophesies, the Quakers can win these upcoming contests -- as well as their final Big 5 contest versus La Salle -- Penn will be sitting at 14-9 and should have enough momentum to cause the Tigers to swallow their pride. O ye of little faith! While this might be looked at as wishful thinking, forget packing up the band, stick a pacifier in the legendary fat lady's mouth, and remember it ain't over yet for the 1997-98 Penn hoopsters.