Sophomore jinx for M. Hoops' King

In the first half of Saturday's men's basketball game against St. Joseph's, Penn guard Duane King went down on the Palestra floor after spraining the MCL in his right knee. On Monday, King received word that he would miss at least three weeks due to the injury. This means that, at the earliest, King won't see action until February 23, when Dartmouth visits the Palestra. This latest injury is especially maddening for the Quakers' sophomore, who missed the first seven games of the season after having surgery to repair a broken bone in his right foot. "It's very frustrating," King said. "I really felt like I was coming along, and it seemed like we were having a pretty good rhythm as a team." King, who played just three minutes before his injury on Saturday, felt as though he had "fixed" his shot earlier in the day. "I wasn't shooting the ball particularly well [this season], but I thought I was playing some pretty solid defense," King said. "I just felt like the St. Joe's game was going to be a pretty good one for me. The whole day I worked on my shot, and I felt like I had figured out what was wrong with it." King chalked his injuries up to "sophomore luck," which has plagued him throughout his basketball career. "I had some bad luck my sophomore year in high school, too," King said. "I had to get some bad cartilage taken out of my knee, and then I broke my arm later that year." The good news for the Quakers is that King has no pain -- only swelling and stiffness -- in the knee, but coach Fran Dunphy was cautious. "I don't know how long he's going to be out," Dunphy said. "It's a shame for him, and he's worked real hard through his other injuries. We just have to keep his spirits up and his head in the game." * King had recently cracked the Quakers' substitution rotation as the second or third player off the bench, and Dunphy said there were two candidates to fill that slot. "The other Danny [Solomito] got [the minutes]," Dunphy said. "And he shot well from the outside, but he's got to work on his defense." Behind the junior swingman is freshman guard Jeff Schiffner, who has seen only limited action this season. "Schiff's played pretty well in practice," Dunphy said. "It's just a matter of getting him some minutes." * Forward Adam Chubb is another freshman who has seen increased playing time as the year has progressed. But those minutes have come from the back pocket of senior forward Josh Sanger, who has seen his playing time dwindle and didn't record any minutes against the Hawks Saturday. "Josh Sanger is one of my heroes in life, to be honest with you," Dunphy said. "I'd love to get him more minutes, but Chubb's play has warranted the minutes he's gotten." * The Quakers welcome Yale and Brown, two up-and-coming Ivy teams, to the Palestra this weekend. The Elis are 3-0 in the Ivy League and, in fact, have become minor media darlings, as ESPN.com basketball writer Andy Katz has picked them to take the Ivy League title for the first time since the 1961-62 season. When asked if the hype surrounding the Yale squad would give his players any added motivation this weekend, Dunphy was dismissive. "I would hope that motivation enough is that we have a chance to go to the NCAA tournament," Dunphy said. * To that end, Dunphy held a meeting with his players Monday evening to talk about the team's progress thus far. "We just talked about life, and rededicating and doing everything we can to be as much of a team as possible," he explained. * Finally, with wins over the Elis and Bears this weekend, Dunphy would pass a coaching milestone. The longtime Quakers coach is just one victory shy of the 200-win plateau. But, as usual, he's too caught up in this wide-open Ivy League race to worry about personal marks. "I'm not [thinking much about it], not at the present time," Dunphy said. "Maybe in a couple of years after I'm done coaching, but right now we just have a chance to be better in our league."

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