Break out the dancin' shoes

The Penn men's basketball team and approximately 200 fans -- including governor Ed Rendell -- roared their approval when the Quakers received a No. 11 seed in the NCAA Tournament Sunday night. Penn (22-5, 14-0 Ivy League) will face Oklahoma State, a No. 6 seed, Friday at 2:45 in Boston. The Quakers learned of their seed at 6:18 p.m., after the entire South Regional had been announced. Since Penn was projected to be an 11, 12 or 13 seed, each time one of those seeds was revealed the crowd was in rapt silence and cheered when Penn did not have to go to Birmingham, Ala., to face Louisville who was a four seed. "There were some places we didn't want to go and some places we'd rather go," Penn senior guard Andrew Toole said. "Birmingham wasn't one of the more desirable places to go in the tournament." The Friday date at the closest location to Philadelphia was generally agreed to be preferable. Pennsylvania's first citizen will be able to attend since the game is on Friday. "Thursday I'm in Pittsburgh for state business," Rendell said. "But Friday I managed to keep open, so I was hoping for Friday." Some of Penn's less renowned fans might be able to go as well, or so the Quakers hope.

"It's great for our fans," junior guard Jeff Schiffner said. "I think we'll have a lot of support up there and I'm excited cause I think it will be a great atmosphere." The Quakers were pleasantly surprised by the No. 11 seed, as most prognostications placed them as a 13th seed. "I think the committee must have seen how well we did in conference play," Toole said. "You know we struggled a bit early out of the gate but i'm glad that they rewarded us with an 11 seed... hopefully we'll show them that they were right and we're worthy of it." Minutes after Butler's team was shown on CBS piling on each other in celebration of their selection -- to the amusement of the crowd -- the Quakers merely high-fived and cheered their name on the screen. "We were real excited but we weren't jumping all over each other," Schiffner said. The Quakers will be faced with an Oklahoma State squad that few on the Penn team are familiar with, even if some of the fans were armed with scouting reports. "I've seen Oklahoma State two or three times this year," Rendell said. "I think if we shoot the ball, we win the game."

Senior forward Ugonna Onyekwe -- who last week won his second consecutive Ivy League Player of the Year award -- has lost two first round games in his time at Penn. Losses to both Illinois and California have made him acutely aware that there are no pushovers in March Madness. "They're all good teams," Onyekwe said. "Everyone who is in the tournament is there for a reason." Onyekwe is one of six seniors on the Penn team, five of whom have lost two tournament games. Toole transferred before last season and therefore was only involved in the loss to California last year. That game, in which Penn was an 11 seed and playing near home as well -- in Pittsburgh -- ended in a defeat that still sticks in the craw of the Quakers. "We didn't play as well as we wanted to last year against Cal," Toole said. "That was always something that was disappointing and left a bad taste in our mouth. Part of our focus was to get back to the NCAA tournament and be prepared to play and be prepared to win." Penn coach Fran Dunphy just hopes that those seniors get to keep playing, which they can only do by winning. "We talk about this opportunity that we have, six of their college careers are going to end sometime soon," Dunphy said. "Let's make it [last] a little longer."

Oklahoma State at a glance 21-9 overall, 10-6 Big 12

Rankings: No. 23 in ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll, No. 23 in Associated Press, 22 in RPI, fourth in Big 12 Player to Watch: Victor Williams. The Cowboys were 5-1 this season when the senior point guard eclipsed 20 points. Coach Eddie Sutton at the Big Dance: 9-3 in Tournament games played in New England. Key Wins: Oklahoma 48-46, Jan 13. Texas 78-65, Feb. 1. Bad Losses: College of Charleston 66-58, Nov. 29. Baylor, 74-72, Feb. 15.

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