Future success rests with the Sensational Six

The six freshmen on the Penn men's basketball team are being hailed as the Quakers' best recruiting class in 20 years. Being hailed as one of the best recruiting classes ever for Penn men's basketball is one heck of a billing to have to live up to. But strength lies in numbers, so maybe the high expectations for the Quakers' Sensational Six will prove to be a motivating factor, and not a burden, as they take to the court this winter. "I think these guys are talented but it's a whole different world playing in the collegiate setting than it is in the high school setting," Penn coach Fran Dunphy said. "So as much hype as that freshman class has had -- and I think that's great -- let's give them a chance to see what they can do at the collegiate level." You might have seen them around campus -- towering above you on the Walk, adorned in And 1 gear and strutting around as if they already own the place. They are Koko Archibong, Howard Bailey, Andrew Coates, Duane King, David Klatsky and Ugonna Onyekwe, and they came here to play basketball -- and to win. But as much as these student-athletes came to Penn for the rich tradition of hoops, they also came to pick up a little thing called an education along the way. King was the valedictorian of Pleasure Ridge (Kent.) High School -- he never missed a day of class in four years and never got less than an "A." Both of Bailey's parents went to league rival Brown, but this Connecticut swingman went against the grain and chose Penn. The Coates' family must have the words "Ivy League" stitched into their shirts. Andrew's father has degrees from Yale and Harvard, and his sister is now a student at Princeton. Archibong, a Pasadena, Calif., native, is following in the footsteps of his father (Columbia) and mother (Rutgers) in taking to the East Coast for his higher education. Family was also a factor in the all-important college choice of Klatsky. He's the younger brother of Penn senior Mike Klatsky, a former varsity tennis player and current member of the JV basketball team. The younger Klatsky readily admits that having his elder brother around campus "is big time." · Having such a large recruiting class has had big benefits not just for Dunphy, but for the freshmen as well. Off the court, being one of a half-dozen eggs brought into the basket-of-hoops at Penn has given the freshmen an immediate group of friends. "The guys have all become my best friends," Coates said. "We all hang out together, we go to study hall together, we eat together and we go out on the weekends together." And Archibong, despite rooming with a hometown friend from Pasadena, recognizes the bonds that being part of the team brings. "I think it's pretty cool that there's so many of us," Archibong said. "We kind of have our own little backbone and set group already." · But it hasn't been all fun and games and a free ride for Penn's super six freshmen. Despite literally being the big men on campus, they can't get everything to go their way. Archibong has even been warned to keep the volume of his music down. "My RA is having some issues with my music," Archibong said. "I listen to a lot of West Coast rap. And when I'm studying and when I'm in the house just chilling, my music is on. That's how I relax. "The thing about it is that the people down the hall from me play some rock music really really loud, so I don't know if it's a problem with rap music or what." The troubled lives that freshmen -- hoopsters or not -- must lead. · But the Quakers' new players are far from pulling their best Minnesota Golden Gopher impression and ignoring all things academic. Classes take up just as much a part of their lives as they do for any other freshmen. "As for academics, it's the same thing as basketball -- if you work hard, you're going to do well," said Klatsky, who then let on about a little-known studying secret. "There's as much work as you make it to be -- if you read every thing you're assigned, you're going to have a lot of work, but you can find ways around that. "The thing I've had trouble with is when the day of a midterm we have a three-hour practice and there's not much time to study. That's where it gets you a little bit." As with most freshmen, the move to a college environment is a shock. "Classes are pretty tough," Archibong said. "I'm really not liking math right now -- I'm in Math 151 and I don't like how the College system is set up where so much of your grade is dependent on one test." Overall, though, it's a mixed bag academic-wise for the youngsters. "I like the Legal Studies class I'm in. I like the law -- my dad's a lawyer -- so that's interesting," Klatsky said. "But I don't really like any of my other classes at all. But I've got to go." "Academically, it's been a little tough but I'm surviving. I kind of expected college life to be like this," said King, attributing an easy transition to advice from his older brother, Ibn Green, a football player at Louisville. · Being 6'8" will present you with problems no matter where you go. It must not come as a surprise, then, that one pet peeve that comes to the minds of the big men is the length of dorm room beds. "Penn says their beds are extra-long," Coates said, scoffing at that notion. The 6'8" forward, though, found an unorthodox way around this problem. "I never sleep straight anyways, I sleep in the fetal position, so it's never been a problem for me." Even 6'4" swingman King has been affected by the small-bed syndrome. "That's a big adjustment because I have a big bed at home," King said. "And coming in here, with that little small bed, it just ain't happening." · While some of the players must find new and inventive ways to find rest at night, the hallmates of these long-armed frosh see many uses for the tallest boys in their grade. Several freshmen girls on Archibong's floor have praised the lanky frosh, noting that, "he's good to have around, especially to hang things up." Likewise, Koko sees many uses for his hallmates -- when he's not at practice, studying or work, that is. "There's four girls that live next door that my roommate hangs out with, so most of the time we're over there because we don't have a television," Archibong said of his nefarious motives. "I want to see a lot of games now and I watch ESPN a lot. "And they have food and they have a kitchen -- and we don't have a kitchen -- so they have all sorts of snacks and fruit laying around. They're always gracious about it." · With so many complaints about the quality of dining hall food from non-athletes, the opinion of several big-eating young men should carry extra weight in determining how good Penn food is when it comes to taste. After all, these guys eat a lot. "I try to eat breakfast because it's the most important meal of the day," Coates said, sounding like a public-service announcement. "I try to eat a lot of eggs so I can get protein. I don't really like hard-boiled eggs but I try to choke a couple down. "And then I just get some bacon, some hash browns, some cereal, a little fruit." So where do they like to go when the hunger hits? A quick survey indicates that the fried chicken delicacies of FWOT -- Fingers, Wings and Other Things -- are a heavy favorite over dining. "Commons kills me. I thought I'd want a meal plan, but?," Bailey said. "Prep school was better because it was a smaller number of people. Here there's mystery meat that you don't know what it is. The food does a number on your stomach and you need to have some Pepto-Bismol always handy." Archibong echoed several fellow frosh in saying that Penn dining is "as good as cafeteria food is going to get," but went on to address the (in)convenient side of a meal plan. "I was a little disappointed in the fact that I kind of jumped myself out there by signing up for 19 meals without knowing that I'm not going to ever wake up for breakfast," Archibong said. "Thus, I'm losing massive amounts of money which could be going to something else." For the frosh, that something else could be a solid meal at FWOT. "We did that -- me, Koko, Duane, Lamar [Plummer] and Andrew -- went up to FWOT one time, but the next morning?," Bailey trailed off, grimacing at the memory. Perhaps if Bailey had a more personal relationship with the campus' finest eatery, he might be accustomed to the award-winning chicken. "Oh yeah, me and FWOT go way back," Archibong said. "I'm a big fan, I eat there a lot. I get the eight [wings] and four [fingers] most of the time with an extra big thing of fries. Or I get the fried chicken with fries." Again, more big eating. But a split may divide the frosh -- while Bailey swears off FWOT before a game, Archibong stresses his ability to "digest stuff real fast" as incentive to eat FWOT as often as possible. No matter, the Quakers' traditional pre-game meal at Smokey Joe's should keep all parties happy. Like true freshmen, the basketball frosh have sampled the full fare of off-campus cuisine that Penn has to offer. Eat at Joe's was named as a solid meal-in-waiting by two newcomers, King professed a love for Beijing and Klatsky noted that "the lasagna at Allegro's is the real deal." · Like many members of Penn's incoming class, the Quakers freshmen have occasional longings for home. Archibong's only trip home until May will consist of a few days over winter break. And Coates will only return home to Seattle for a few days in between semesters as well. But if Bailey's first trip back home as a grown-up college man is any indication, these West Coast hoopsters will have a great time. "I went home just once. I tell you -- it was the greatest weekend," Bailey said. "In terms of starting basketball this early and the intensity of it, I had never done it before. It had been about three months since I'd been home, and it was great. "But now I don't really miss home. I'm adjusting here and I love it. I miss my family, but things are going well." · Onyekwe has a leg up on the competition. At 20 years of age, the freshman -- who was born in Nigeria, raised as a teen in London and went to Mercersberg (Pa.) Academy -- already has the experience of boarding at a school across the Atlantic. Ugonna is in the singularly important position of being able to both identify with what the others are going through and be able to help them on their way. · The best part of Penn for the Sensational Six has varied as much as their games do on the hardwood. But one theme keeps popping up. Ask them about academics, and an analogy to hoops is inevitable. Ask them about food, and talk drifts first to the pre-game meal, then on to the basketball game. Ask them about free time and adjusting to Penn, and discussions of Fran Dunphy's practices show through. Make no mistake about it, these six frosh take the same courses as their 2,400 classmates and long for the next weekend of partying as much as any Quad dweller. For the boys named Koko, Howard, Andrew, David, Duane and Ugonna, however, hoops has been and always will be No. 1 in their lives. And for now, they're the center of attention on a college campus that has starved for eight long months without the thrill of men's hoops.

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