Balanced scoring drives M. Hoops

The Penn men's baketball team has improved almost every facet of its game during a nine-game win streak. Ask any member of the Penn men's basketball team about how the season is going right now and you are bound to find unlimited optimism. Such confidence should come as no surprise to anyone who has followed the Quakers in recent games. Interestingly, one particular Ivy League game played over three weeks ago has remained a key source of motivation. "As far as the team gelling, it really took its turn after the Yale game," Penn rookie forward Dan Solomito said. "That is when everyone on our team said, 'Wait a second -- we're a better, more mature team.' "Everyone, especially those like Paul [Romanczuk] and Jed [Ryan] who are seniors, pretty much felt that this was ridiculous, that we shouldn't be playing down to the wire with teams like this." Since then, the Quakers' have won every game by at least eight, except for a close January 14 win at La Salle. Three players -- Ryan and guards Michael Jordan and Matt Langel are averaging double figures in scoring. The other two starters, Romanczuk and center Geoff Owens, are less than one point per game away from joining the club. Balance in scoring has been one major goal since November. While it improved further in last weekend's road sweep of Cornell and Columbia, the concentration on that facet of the game remained. Like most of the Quakers' concerns, however, this problem seems to have dissipated. "We're rolling a little bit here," Romanczuk said. "We said coming into last weekend that we're not coming to Cornell to have another let-down [like last year]. We're determined not to have a slip-up like we've had in the last couple of years." Just a little bit of a roll, eh? · Dartmouth's 6-0 league record is the surprise story of this young Ivy season. Since walloping Harvard 78-59 and losing to North Carolina at home by only 14 points in December, the Big Green have gone cold, then hot, with four consecutive losses followed by six straight victories. Dartmouth will finally have a chance this weekend to prove it is an Ivy contender. The Big Green's first test comes Friday at the Palestra, a day before heading to Princeton. That is not to say that the Big Green have been discounted. "When they put up a good showing against North Carolina, it opened up some eyes, not only on our team, but throughout the Ivy League," Romanczuk said. "They're proving themselves." As proof, Romanczuk referred to Dartmouth forward Shaun Gee and guard Greg Buth, who are first and third in Ivy scoring. The Big Green also feature Ian McGinnis, the nation's leading rebounder at 12.3 per game. · After sweeping its New York state Ivy rivals on the road, Penn does not leave the Palestra again for nine more days. The Quakers' play their next three games, arguably the most critical stretch of the season, at home. This scenario begs the question as to whether there are any parts to Penn's game that still need work. Of course, the answer to that question is always 'yes' because a team's defense can always improve. "Defense is something that no matter what college player you ask, they'll probably tell you that no coach is ever satisfied with defense," Solomito said. "No matter how good you're playing defense, coaches want a little bit more." · Penn did not need to wait for the ninth day of the ninth month of 1999 to associate a confluence of facts and events with the number nine. Besides the widely-known nine-game winning streak, the Quakers have nine Ivy League games to play in the month of February, including the much anticipated Palestra meeting with Princeton on the ninth of February. On that day, Penn coach Fran Dunphy will seek to reach .500 against the Tigers. In his nine-plus seasons with the Quakers, Dunphy has won nine times in 19 meetings against Princeton. In addition, Quakers forward Paul Romanczuk is averaging almost double figures, at 9.9 points per game. Penn guard Michael Jordan does not escape the pattern either, needing nine assists to climb out of the ninth spot on the Quakers' all-time list. As if those factoids are not enough, one of next weekend's opponents, Harvard, has a 9-9 overall record. All that is left for the Quakers is to play a little nine-ball after the games.