COLUMN: Penn's last hurrah

From Marc Edelman's, "Old School 'Mawk' Talk They met at midcourt, chanting "Ivy Champs" -- jockeying in front of television cameras, hoping for inside position and a few milliseconds on ESPN. T-shirts sold outside the Palestra read "the ultimate test game of the century." And the game certainly lived up to its billing. On Tuesday March 5, 1996 -- in front of a sold-out crowd of 8,700 -- the Quakers beat Princeton 63-49 to move into a first-place tie with the Tigers on the final day of the regular season. "It was easily the best game I've been to at Penn," four-year season ticket-holder Andy Rhim said. "It made me realize coming here wasn't such a bad decision." Despite Princeton center Steve Goodrich's 26 points, the Penn backcourt stole the show. Thanks to senior shooting guard Donald Moxley's 16 points and 14 from senior co-captain Ira Bowman, the Red and Blue overcame Goodrich's domination in-the-paint. Most of the Palestra crowd -- piled at midcourt -- thought Penn's sweep of Princeton signified that the Quakers were heading to their fourth-straight NCAA Tournament. But the celebration was short-lived. Instead, per Ivy conference rules, Penn met Princeton for a third time that season on Saturday March 10 in a one-game playoff at Lehigh's Stabler Arena. After winning its first two meetings of the season over the Tigers, the third time was not the charm for Fran Dunphy's squad. This time, Penn fell to its archrival in overtime, 63-56. The season was over and a mini-dynasty was overturned. March 10, 1996 proved to be the official changing of the guard in the Ivy League -- the first 'L' in the Quakers' still-intact, five-game losing streak to Princeton. That Tuesday contest at the Palestra is now remembered as nothing more than the once-dominant Quakers' last hurrah. Just three members of the '98-99 Quakers remain from the '95-96 squad -- then-freshmen reserves Paul Romanczuk, Frank Brown and Jed Ryan. In the March 5 win, Romanczuk came off the bench for six points and five rebounds in 29 minutes, while Brown spelled bald-headed senior Cedric Laster for seven points in 15 minutes. Ryan, who at that point was in Penn coach Fran Dunphy's doghouse on the end of the Quakers bench, as expected, did not play. Romanczuk and Ryan became starters the following season but could not get their team back over the Princeton hump. In the teams' four meetings since the one-game playoff, Penn has fallen to Old Nassau by counts of 74-59, 86-73, 71-52 and 78-72. The most recent meeting, March 3, 1998, went to overtime before then national No. 8 Princeton prevailed. It marked the first time since Bowman, Moxley and Krug played on the Palestra hardwood that Penn's offense was able to consistently take the ball to the hole against Princeton. Romanczuk emerged as a dominator, scoring 22 points on 7-of-11 shooting over Goodrich. Michael Jordan also upped his performance with 14 points, seven boards and six assists. With Goodrich and Princeton's Mitch Henderson both having graduated, many look to March 3, 1998 as Princeton's last hurrah. If this claim comes to fruition, tomorrow would prove as a second changing of the guard in the Ivy League this decade -- a reinsertion of an old regime atop the standings. When the final buzzer sounds tomorrow night at the Palestra, one may find yellow-jacketed security guards retreating as red-and-blue shirted fanatics storm the court. It will be dZj^ vu all over again for those that remember the good old days of the mid-1990s.