EDITORIAL: More than your everyday game

Basketball coach Fran Dunphy's work to bring Kansas to the Palestra will help the University as a whole. Since his arrival at Penn eights season ago, Dunphy has used his friendships within the coaching ranks to schedule tough non-conference opponents and garner invites to quality pre-season tournaments. Dunphy's ninth season at the helm of Penn basketball brings his scheduling skills to a new high. The home and home series with Kansas is an improvement over playing at Michigan, which Penn did in a 62-60 in December of 1994, and the home-and-home series Penn played with the Big 10's Ohio State in 1993 and 1994. Despite the Ivy League's tradition as the consortium of the country's top academic institutions, the performance of athletic teams plays a significant role in the perception of the Ivies. The Penn Relays and Penn basketball and football receive more media attention than nearly any other aspect of Penn. Athletic Director Steve Bilsky likes to tell of the increase of applicants from the state of Nebraska after the Quakers defeated the Cornhuskers in the first round of the 1994 NCAA tournament. Having Kansas on campus will likely do the same for applications from the Midwest, a region where Penn has expressed interest in improving its student recruitment levels. Kansas coach Roy Williams should also be commended for offering to travel to Penn first in the series, something that most major program coaches are notoriously hesitant to do. With the committment of Kansas to play, hopefully other teams Penn is reportedly in talks with, including Duke and Georgia Tech, will also choose to bring their teams to the Philadelphia area. The night next December when the Jayhawks run out on the Palestra will be a great one for Penn hoops. The echoes from that will benefit the entire University for years to come.