A season hits the brink

It's not quite irony, but it is a wicked twist of fate. Villanova sophomore Gary Buchanan hit his 65th consecutive free throw last night late in the second half of the Wildcats' 80-51 win over Penn at the First Union Center. While Buchanan has been the picture of perfection at the foul line, the Quakers slipped under 60 percent as a team for the season by shooting 4-for-13 from the charity stripe. On Penn's possession right after Buchanan broke the record, Quakers guard David Klatsky -- Penn's top foul shooter at 76 percent -- clanged the front end of a one-and-one off the rim. "It's the way it is," Penn coach Fran Dunphy said. "We just don't shoot free throws well. I wish we did. Here's David Klatsky, an outstanding free throw shooter, and he bricked one tonight... We're just not a good foul shooting team. Why? I don't know." Penn's free throw woes are just one confusing aspect of a season somehow gone wrong. After the Quakers' season-opening loss at North Carolina State, Dunphy said he probably wouldn't know exactly where this team was headed until January. As of last night, he still didn't know. "I'm not sure who we are," Dunphy said. "I think that's our biggest problem. We're still searching for who it is that we are." It has been completely befuddling to watch the 2000-01 Quakers. Their frontcourt was supposed to be dominant, but Villanova outrebounded Penn 43-27 last night. Ugonna Onyekwe has been an enigma for Penn. He scored 12 points last night, but 5-for-13 shooting out of the power forward position is not desirable. The sophomore has also been the poster boy for Penn's foul shooting troubles. Koko Archibong has improved by leaps and bounds since last season. Every once in a while, though, there's a night like last night where he picks up three fouls in the first half and plays himself out of the game. From the bench, Dunphy has had his hands full trying to find a player to fill minutes consistently on the frontline. Josh Sanger, Andrew Coates and Adam Chubb have all had chances in the frontcourt so far this year. No one has proven that he deserves to be the sixth man. The one indispensible player for Penn has not been the biggest statistical contributor. Senior captain Geoff Owens, the center, brings a sense of stability to the floor, and the intensity that his teammates often seem to lack. When Owens is not on the floor, the Quakers often look lost. He's just the fourth-leading scorer and the second-leading rebounder on the Red and Blue, and not the most vocal of leaders. But if Penn is to recover from its exceptionally disappointing 7-12 start, the Quakers will have to start playing with Owens' fire. In addition to displaying fire on the court, Owens has been brutally honest off it. He has described parts of this season as frustrating, and last night was no different. He didn't have to say anything last night, as the pain was etched on his face. But Owens knows that this has been a season of alternating forward and backward progress. As usual, he told it like it is after last night's defeat, like a good captain should. "It's been some areas get better and then we forget step one when we get to step two sometimes," Owens said. "We get there in one way, but then in the next game we're doing that well and doing something else wrong." After beating Brown at the Palestra on Saturday night, Klatsky, the point guard and leader-in-waiting, talked about the need for Penn to be consistent. The Quakers will indeed have to execute consistently to win enough of their remaining 10 games to capture the Ivy League crown. It hardly seems like Penn's 'A' game has been on display for 40 minutes in any game this season. At the First Union Center last night, that kind of performance was nowhere to be seen at any time during the game. With three key Ivy League games coming up in the next seven days, it was tough for the Quakers to be optimistic in the immediate aftermath of last night's debacle. "Right this minute, at 10:00 on Tuesday night, it might not be there," Owens said. "But we have practice early tomorrow morning, so we've got a quick turnaround, and we've got to learn what we did, push this out of our mind, and focus on Harvard and Dartmouth this weekend." Penn visits two tough arenas this weekend in Boston and Hanover, N.H. Princeton will be at the Palestra next Tuesday. So the Quakers had better regain that confidence, they had better start playing with some championship swagger and they had better do it quickly. The warning signs have been mounting all season, and last night was the last red flag before the last chance to truly play consistently. Despite everything, the Quakers still control their own fate. What is coming up now is their last chance to exercise that control.

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