COLUMN: Personal streak ends for M. Hoops

From Kent Malmros', "The Mark of a Golden Pen" "Some people might be saying, 'Oh those Penn kids are finally starting to come around.' And you know what I don't blame them," Penn forward Jed Ryan said. "We weren't playing well. We were letting the fans down. Hopefully now we won't let the fans down. Hopefully they can come support a team that is going to win and not screw up the big games." When 8,722 fans seized the euphoric moment of the Quakers' 73-70 win over Temple Monday night in overtime, it was an important end of a long streak. Not the streak that everyone has spoken of for the last two days -- Penn's 17 straight losses to Temple dating back to February 9, 1982. It was the end of a streak more important to the identity of this specific team The streak that ended Monday night was one of unrecognized potential and expectation. The team and the wave of fans that rushed the floor felt the disappointments of the previous three years -- close losses to Kansas last week, as well as Princeton, St. Joe's and George Washington last year. And it finally came to an end. The team won a game it wasn't supposed to, and it didn't give away that big win within its grasp like it had so many times before. "This was a team that had never gotten over that hump. We hadn't really accomplished anything to set ourselves apart from another group," Ryan said. "[Penn assistant coach] Gil Jackson and I were talking about it and decided if we beat Temple, that's where this whole season has to start. It gives us something to separate ourselves from the last 17 Penn teams." It began when Jed Ryan and Paul Romanczuk were freshmen. The 1995-'96 edition of the Quakers, captained by Tim Krug, defeated Princeton on the final day of the regular season to move into a tie for first place in the Ivy League. The win forced a playoff to determine who would capture the title outright and move on to partake in NCAA festivities. But Penn fell a touchdown short, losing 63-56 in overtime at the neutral site in Bethlehem, Pa. And so began the storage of celebration for so many of the loyal Penn fans, now seniors, and the wait for the players to prove themselves. "A win or loss there -- for Paul, Frank and me -- that's big because it would have set us apart. We would have had an Ivy League championship already," Ryan said. The loss of Krug and Ira Bowman meant that the nasty word "rebuilding" might have to slip into the vocabulary of the Penn basketball world -- if only for a year. It would be a season to educate the promise of the future, the future that came with the names Jordan, Langel and Owens. The fourth place Ivy finish of the 1996-'97 season fostered the development of the three recruits -- and renewed title hopes. A year older and wiser, this group was expected to make a name for itself -- to be the next standout Penn five. Flashes of greatness showed themselves on the court, only to give way to those close losses. Last season, on December 9, George Washington and seven-foot center Alexander Koul could not keep Penn from draining 9-of-15 three-point shots, but they barely escaped with a 66-62 victory. It was last season's first missed opportunity. All of the elements of Big Five magic returned to the Palestra on January 24, when Rashid Bey and St. Joe's squared off with Jordan and Penn in a classic guard confrontation. All night, the Quakers kept 8,700 fans believing this team was ready to move to the next level of competition. But Duval Simmonds' two free throws with just 9.9 seconds left gave St. Joe's the 57-55 margin they needed to win. Yet another close game slipped away, and the excitement of the Palestra crowd faded into the rafters. The memorable nail-biting losses to nationally ranked No.8 teams Princeton (last March) and Kansas (just last week) brought this team to the brink twice more without realization of their hopes. "Being an experienced team now and being around here for three and four years, we've gotten to the point where we know we have to win that game [against Temple]," Langel said. "We really concentrate on not letting games like that slip away like they did the last year" Monday night, they didn't let it slip away. The Quakers took that step to the next level that has been so close for three years, and set themselves apart from the past. The Quakers won a game for the ages and the fans at the Palestra won with them.