Penn won't be dancing in March.

Maybe Yale does have a basketball team after all. It appears that I jumped the gun with my Yale has a basketball team? column a few weeks ago, bashing anything and everything about Yale basketball. So what if Yale alum Chris Dudley is the worst foul shooter in the history of the NBA or if New York Knicks coach Jeff Van Gundy left Yale to attend Division III powerhouse Nazareth? The fact of the matter is that Yale does have a good basketball team this year (at least by Ivy League standards, perhaps the worst conference in Division I) and the Elis are now in the driver's seat in the race for the Ivy title. It's true that Yale got swept by Penn and Princeton the weekend after my column. But that was on the road. And that was without their best player, center Neil Yanke. Now Yanke is back, and since his return the Elis have won three of their last four and currently find themselves sitting atop the Ancient Eight standings, along with perennial leaders Penn and Princeton. And in this three-way tie, Yale and Princeton both hold the advantage over our very own Quakers. Yale will get a second crack at Penn and Princeton when the schools travel to New Haven, Conn., the weekend after next. And after demolishing the Quakers last week at the Palestra, the Tigers will look to repeat that performance at Jadwin Gym in the final game of the season. For its last five games, Penn will have what is arguably the toughest road to the Ancient Eight title. The Quakers will host Harvard and Dartmouth before playing their final three games on the road against Brown -- which is just one game behind the tri-leaders -- Yale and Princeton. The Quakers could easily lose four of their last five contests, with the only easy win coming against Dartmouth. And that's not even a shoo-in. You see, the Ivy League has become a befuddling mess this season. It's truly a mystery. I won't lie to you. I have no idea what's going to happen down the stretch. And that's because anything can happen. Who would have expected Columbia to sweep Penn and Princeton last weekend? Or cellar-dweller Cornell to nearly accomplish the same feat? The parity in Ivy League basketball this year is unreal. Any team can beat any other team on any given night. Call it a sports cliche -- but in this 2000-2001 edition of the Ivy League, it's true. And this is precisely why Penn will not add another piece of drapery to its collection of banners hanging from the Palestra rafters. In years past, it's always been Penn and Princeton. And it's always been Penn and Princeton in dominating fashion. But this season, these two teams have faltered and no team stands above the rest. Yale, Brown, Columbia and Harvard will all go into the final two weeks of the Ivy season with legitimate NCAA hopes. For Yale, it would be their first championship since 1962, for Brown, 1986, for Columbia, 1968, and for Harvard, well, it would be Harvard's first-ever league title. These teams can smell the upset, they can smell a trip to the Big Dance, but more than anything, they can smell history. Penn's been there before. Maybe that's why the team's been playing with no heart. Maybe that's why the team always seems to get out-hustled and flat-out out-played. Or maybe it's just because the Quakers are just not a very good basketball team. I mean, when was the last time Penn actually played a good game? What makes you think Penn will turn the corner and actually start playing some good basketball? Just because history says that Penn has to win the Ivy League? Well, that doesn't mean anything right now. There's no question that the Quakers have the talent to prevail and three-peat as Ivy champs. But the bottom line is that the Quakers have been playing very poorly, and there's no reason to think that they will get their act together in the near future. A run through the team's starting lineup succinctly displays Penn's flaws. The three-point shooting of Lamar Plummer has cooled sufficiently after a blistering start. The senior guard has converted on less than 25 percent of his long-range attempts in Ivy play. Ugonna Onyekwe led the team in scoring in Penn's last two contests, but the sophomore forward is nowhere near the level he was at last year. Geoff Owens has truly shown heart and a desire to win in his fifth year donning red and blue. But a senior captain needs to put more than 10 points on the board. And that's not to mention his hideous display from the free throw line. Sophomores David Klatsky and Koko Archibong have shown the talent and the emotion. But they're young and they still make too many mistakes. And Penn has struggled to find consistent play off the bench. The Quakers look lost on the offensive end and Penn coach Fran Dunphy is struggling to make the necessary adjustments. This is not the same team as last year's undefeated champs. It's not even close. But then again, it's not the same Ivy League.

Maybe Yale does have a basketball team after all. It appears that I jumped the gun with my Yale has a basketball team? column a few weeks ago, bashing anything and everything about Yale basketball. So what if Yale alum Chris Dudley is the worst foul shooter in the history of the NBA or if New York Knicks coach Jeff Van Gundy left Yale to attend Division III powerhouse Nazareth? The fact of the matter is that Yale does have a good basketball team this year (at least by Ivy League standards, perhaps the worst conference in Division I) and the Elis are now in the driver's seat in the race for the Ivy title. It's true that Yale got swept by Penn and Princeton the weekend after my column. But that was on the road. And that was without their best player, center Neil Yanke. Now Yanke is back, and since his return the Elis have won three of their last four and currently find themselves sitting atop the Ancient Eight standings, along with perennial leaders Penn and Princeton. And in this three-way tie, Yale and Princeton both hold the advantage over our very own Quakers. Yale will get a second crack at Penn and Princeton when the schools travel to New Haven, Conn., the weekend after next. And after demolishing the Quakers last week at the Palestra, the Tigers will look to repeat that performance at Jadwin Gym in the final game of the season. For its last five games, Penn will have what is arguably the toughest road to the Ancient Eight title. The Quakers will host Harvard and Dartmouth before playing their final three games on the road against Brown -- which is just one game behind the tri-leaders -- Yale and Princeton. The Quakers could easily lose four of their last five contests, with the only easy win coming against Dartmouth. And that's not even a shoo-in. You see, the Ivy League has become a befuddling mess this season. It's truly a mystery. I won't lie to you. I have no idea what's going to happen down the stretch. And that's because anything can happen. Who would have expected Columbia to sweep Penn and Princeton last weekend? Or cellar-dweller Cornell to nearly accomplish the same feat? The parity in Ivy League basketball this year is unreal. Any team can beat any other team on any given night. Call it a sports cliche -- but in this 2000-2001 edition of the Ivy League, it's true. And this is precisely why Penn will not add another piece of drapery to its collection of banners hanging from the Palestra rafters. In years past, it's always been Penn and Princeton. And it's always been Penn and Princeton in dominating fashion. But this season, these two teams have faltered and no team stands above the rest. Yale, Brown, Columbia and Harvard will all go into the final two weeks of the Ivy season with legitimate NCAA hopes. For Yale, it would be their first championship since 1962, for Brown, 1986, for Columbia, 1968, and for Harvard, well, it would be Harvard's first-ever league title. These teams can smell the upset, they can smell a trip to the Big Dance, but more than anything, they can smell history. Penn's been there before. Maybe that's why the team's been playing with no heart. Maybe that's why the team always seems to get out-hustled and flat-out out-played. Or maybe it's just because the Quakers are just not a very good basketball team. I mean, when was the last time Penn actually played a good game? What makes you think Penn will turn the corner and actually start playing some good basketball? Just because history says that Penn has to win the Ivy League? Well, that doesn't mean anything right now. There's no question that the Quakers have the talent to prevail and three-peat as Ivy champs. But the bottom line is that the Quakers have been playing very poorly, and there's no reason to think that they will get their act together in the near future. A run through the team's starting lineup succinctly displays Penn's flaws. The three-point shooting of Lamar Plummer has cooled sufficiently after a blistering start. The senior guard has converted on less than 25 percent of his long-range attempts in Ivy play. Ugonna Onyekwe led the team in scoring in Penn's last two contests, but the sophomore forward is nowhere near the level he was at last year. Geoff Owens has truly shown heart and a desire to win in his fifth year donning red and blue. But a senior captain needs to put more than 10 points on the board. And that's not to mention his hideous display from the free throw line. Sophomores David Klatsky and Koko Archibong have shown the talent and the emotion. But they're young and they still make too many mistakes. And Penn has struggled to find consistent play off the bench. The Quakers look lost on the offensive end and Penn coach Fran Dunphy is struggling to make the necessary adjustments. This is not the same team as last year's undefeated champs. It's not even close. But then again, it's not the same Ivy League.

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