At precisely 11:59 p.m. last night, the Penn band started playing Also Sprach Zarathustra, and the familiar voice of John McAdams boomed over the Palestra's loudspeakers. A minute later, the Penn men's and women's basketball teams took to the court, heralding the official start of the 2004-05 season.
While the crowd last night was not quite as big as the gatherings that will take place in the months to come, a healthy turnout of students, parents and alumni welcomed the Quakers to the floor and took in scrimmages by both teams.
It was the culmination of an evening full of activities for those who had come to claim their seats in the student section, and an opportunity for others to reacquaint themselves with one of college basketball's most famous arenas.
"It's always fun to be in the Palestra no matter what the occasion," Penn men's basketball coach Fran Dunphy said. "It's not a night where we think we're going to get a lot accomplished on the basketball court, but hopefully we'll have some fun, and the kids will have some fun."
Addressing the students, Dunphy paid tribute to those who stayed up late to welcome the new season.
"I especially want to thank all of you who stand in line to buy these [season] tickets," he said, "I appreciate it very much ... we all need you."
Senior guard Tim Begley also addressed the crowd.
"I've been to two NCAA Tournaments and I want to get back to one more," he said.
It was a particularly special night for new Penn women's basketball head coach Pat Knapp, who has come home to Philadelphia from Georgetown University. And while the Hoyas have their own long tradition of Midnight Madness celebrations, Knapp admitted that "this one will be a lot better than ones I've been in in the past."
Knapp addressed the crowd after his team took the floor, saying that he was "very proud of these young women."
"Our objective is to bring another banner to the Palestra," he said to a loud cheer from the fans.
Senior center Katie Kilker was just as optimistic, and gave Knapp's tenure thus far high marks.
"I think coach Knapp and the staff he's got here is probably the best staff we could have gotten, having gone through the transition that we did," she said.
"And I think that we're all willing to work with them, and they're willing to work with us, and I think we're going to have a great season."
The night was also something of a homecoming for Comcast SportsNet's Dei Lynam, who helped emcee a contest earlier in the night where students could try their hand at calling play-by-play of a Penn basketball game from last season. Lynam is a Philadelphia native and the daughter of former Saint Joseph's and Philadelphia 76ers head coach Jim Lynam.
"This is where I grew up," she said. "I watched a lot of games here at the Palestra when I was a kid, because my dad was the coach at St. Joe's at the time, so we saw a lot of doubleheaders, a lot of Big 5 games."
College sophomore and Daily Pennsylvanian sportswriter Zachary Levine beat four other students to win the contest, and will face the winners of similar contests at Temple, La Salle, Drexel and Villanova on Dec. 4 at the annual Big 5 Classic.
While the evening served as a beginning for activities on the court, it was the beginning of the end of activities on the sidelines for College senior Jon Lubin. He served as a Line leader for the second time, having last done so two years ago.
"My favorite part about doing 'The Line,' as the Line leader, is that I get to meet all the freshmen, and people who haven't done it before," he said. "I'm in a position to be able to pass on my knowledge and teach them Penn traditions, and how to best heckle and intimidate the opponent."
It is fair to say that Lubin will be doing quite a bit of that this season. But this was a night for optimism, and for enjoying a first taste of Quakers basketball after a summer away from its home.
