Dan McQuade: Quakers fail to seal the deal

It was Nov. 19, 2001, and several other sportswriters and I were listening to the first game of the season for the Penn men's basketball team on WXPN in the sports office.

Due to a poor record the year before, our expectations weren't very high for the Quakers. After Penn finished a disappointing 12-17 in 2000-2001, we fully expected Georgia Tech to overwhelm the Red and Blue in the first round of the Las Vegas Invitational.

And when the Yellow Jackets opened a 12-point lead in the second half, we figured the Quakers were in for another season of blowouts, missed free throws and empty Palestra seats.

But Penn fought back that night, and, in the end, pulled off a 79-74 stunner. At that point, I suddenly realized this season might be a little better for the Quakers than I originally thought.

After watching the tape-delayed game on Comcast Sportsnet later in the night, I was downright excited for the season. The Quakers' offense looked fluid, their defense looked stifling -- they looked about 10 times better than last year.

The Quakers are now 12-4. They followed up their Georgia Tech win with victories over Iowa State, Villanova, and Temple. They almost beat national powers Illinois and St. Joseph's.

So why don't I still feel that same excitement I did back on Nov. 19?

After all, last year's Quakers were an embarassing 5-11 at this point last year, and Penn lost starters Lamar Plummer and Geoff Owens to graduation. Surely 12-4 is a great record for this squad, right?

Right?

Something is nagging me about this team, but I just can't put my finger on it.

Penn is poised to make a run at our first outright Big 5 title since 1973-74, and I'm wondering if the Quakers will even finish in the top three of the Ivy League.

So what's bothering me?

I think it has something to do with the fact that the Quakers have not been able to close out their opponents.

A 13-point lead against Illinois and a 15-point lead against Davidson ended in Quakers losses. Shot clock violations in the closing seconds ended Penn's chances to close out games against Villanova and Harvard in regulation -- and the Crimson game ended in a Penn defeat.

Temple, Delaware and Lafayette all clawed back to within a few points from second-half double digit deficits.

Although the Quakers have blown out lightweights Lehigh, Florida International and Dartmouth in the last month, overall they do not seem to be playing up to their potential most of the time.

I think the Davidson game was the most disappointing game for the Quakers. Penn built a 29-14 lead late in the first half, and the Wildcats looked like they would leave West Philly with their tails between their legs.

But then the fluid offense, the stifling defense I had been so excited about earlier in the year vaporized before the 2,302 pairs of eyes at the Palestra.

Davidson scored 46 points in the second half that day, and the Red and Blue handed the ball over 18 times in all.

And although a questionable call on Ugonna Onywekwe gave Davidson a chance to send the game into overtime, the contest shouldn't have been that close in the first place.

I don't think the Quakers have a talent problem, but a concentration problem.

For example, in Monday night's game against Lafayette, Penn did not make a field goal in the final 5:06. Granted, the Leopards made only four two-pointers themselves in that span, but they did eventually cut Penn's 15-point lead to seven with just over a minute to play.

The Quakers are a young team and are not used to winning at the collegiate level. Of the 10-man rotation, only Onyekwe and Koko Archibong -- and a little bit of David Klatsky off the bench -- had significant playing time on Penn's Ivy Championship team of two years ago.

With more experience, the Quakers should be able to fix this problem and begin closing out games the way they can.

I know that mental problems are sometimes the hardest to fix. But with the heart of the Ivy schedule upcoming, the Quakers -- already burdened with one league loss -- better hope that experience comes quickly.

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