Jason Bodnar: Flint, and a spark of excitement

Did you see Drexel coach Bruiser Flint roaming the visitor's sideline last night?

Neither did I -- because he wasn't on the sidelines, he was on the court.

Flint, a West Philadelphia native and St. Joe's graduate, was coaching his first game at his Palestra since taking the Dragons' job last spring, and he was so excited, he spent most of his time actually on the court. Sometimes, the coach in the olive-colored suit drifted almost as far out as the three-point line, and it seemed almost inevitable that he would make contact with a player on the court (he never did, although he came within inches of Penn swingman Jeff Schiffner twice).

You could have watched Flint, with his omnipresent smile and animated reactions, all night.

The man was exciting. The man was entertaining.

But so is what he was reacting to. Last night's Penn-Drexel game was Mountain Dew, No-Doz and Red Bull all mixed into one. The Quakers and Dragons combined for 169 points, averaged a shot every 18 seconds and at times played at such a fast pace that it looked as if they were running suicides.

Nothing new for the 2001-2002 Penn men's basketball team, though. Unlike last year's version, this Quakers team is exciting.

The numbers back that up. Penn's five games this season have had an average of 153.8 points scored in them -- a 15 percent scoring increase from last year.

But it's more than that. Last year, Penn basketball was a sedative, a sleep-inducing lullaby. A typical Quakers possession in 2000-2001 went like this: David Klatsky walks the ball up the court, feeds the ball to Geoff Owens or Ugonna Onyekwe in the post, they take a few dribbles and shoot or kick the ball out to Lamar Plummer.

Yawn. Penn should have handed out complimentary pillows.

This year, Ritalin doesn't seem like such a bad idea.

Or better yet, napkins, because with all this scoring, cheesesteaks could be in the future for Quakers fans. Penn scored 55 points in the second half last night -- including 37 in a 12-minute span. Granted, Penn won't be shooting 57 percent from three-point range every night, as it did against Drexel, but it'll happen some nights.

Every Quakers starter is a three-point threat, and if three or four of them are hot when Florida International or Lafayette or Cornell comes to town, well, I'd hate to be an Abner's employee that night.

Now, I'm not saying that this Penn team is necessarily good. The Quakers sure looked good in Georgia Tech and Vegas, and I'd be willing to bet they'll surpass their win total from a year ago by the end of January. But they did just barely beat Drexel, a team that will be lucky to finish above .500 this season.

And Penn coach Fran Dunphy is concerned that his team still relies too much on its three-point shooting.

"Does it worry me? Yes it does," Dunphy said. "I don't think any coach would answer any differently."

Especially this coach. In the first round of the 1999 NCAA Tournament, Dunphy saw his team open up an 11-point lead on Florida, thanks to 11-of-17 shooting from three-point range. But that accuracy disappeared in the second half, when Penn shot 3-of-15 from behind the arc and was outscored, 43-18.

"We shot 16-of-28 [last night] on threes," Dunphy said. "We can't count on that."

But Dunphy can count on one thing -- his team will be exciting. The Quakers aren't afraid of a transition offense, or of taking three-pointers, and unlike last year, they certainly aren't afraid to let a little personality escape on the court.

Even Onyekwe, probably the most reticent Penn player, was a little fiery last night. His displeasure with an early-second-half foul call was evident in his gestures and words, and the Quakers junior even pushed Tim Begley's arm away when the freshman tried to calm him down.

Ah, the excitement. Flint certainly felt it, as a minute later, after an-on-the-court discussion with two separate officials, the Drexel head coach stepped off the court and exclaimed to the rest of his coaching staff, "The fouls are killing us, man, killing us."

Flint didn't stay on the sideline long, though. Barely two seconds later, he was back on the court, back where the excitement was.

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