The 2004-05 Penn women's basketball team finds itself in a similar position as that the men's team last year.
Like the 2003-04 men, who had lost Ugonna Onyekwe and Koko Archibong to graduation, the women will be going through a tough transition this season. Gone are Mikaelyn Austin, Jewel Clark and Kelly Greenberg. Clark is the second-leading scorer in program history, and Greenberg is by far the most successful coach in team history.
Clearly, change is in the air. But new coach Patrick Knapp will not have to go through too many growing pains this season because of the pride and experience of this year's senior class.
Just like the men's team with Jeff Schiffner, Charlie Copp and Tim Begley last year, the women still have enough talent to be at or near the top of the Ivy League this season.
Five seniors return from last year's squad: Cat Makarewich, Karen Habrukowich, Amanda Kammes, Maria DiDonato and Katie Kilker. All played an integral role in Penn's Ivy League championship season last year.
Makarewich and Habrukowich can be counted on to shoulder the scoring load.
Kammes is a smart, competitive floor leader. DiDonato is a sharpshooter from the outside. And Kilker is a clutch frontcourt player, as evidenced by her game-winning free throws in a pivotal win at Harvard last year, as well as her 12 points in the NCAA Tournament against Connecticut.
These players, along with Penn's other returnees, certainly give the team a shot to go back to the NCAA Tournament this year. Some observers, including Greenberg herself, picked the Quakers to repeat.
But this puts Knapp in a tough position. On the one hand, he doesn't want the team to underachieve and miss the tournament in his first year. The opportunity to compete for a spot in the tournament year in and year out was one of the main factors that brought Knapp to Penn in the first place.
But on the other hand, he is trying to build a program for the long term. And he wants to put his own stamp on the team. This involves putting in a new system and giving time on the court to younger players.
What this all means is that Knapp will be walking a tightrope this season. If he focuses too much on players who will be with the program for the next couple of years, he might cost the team a shot at going back to the NCAAs. But if he leans too heavily on his seniors, he would retard the growth of his program down the road.
Making things more difficult for Knapp is the team's schedule. The Quakers will be playing their usual Big 5 foes, including Big East powerhouse Villanova.
But in addition, the Red and Blue will face a top 10 opponent in Ohio State and take part in the 18th Annual Coors Classic at the University of Colorado over Thanksgiving weekend. If the team can get by the host Buffaloes, it will face either No. 24 Maryland or No. 2 Louisiana State.
It's not the way Knapp would have chosen to begin his first season with his new team. But he didn't have a choice -- most of the schedule was set during Greenberg's tenure.
And so he'll make the best of the situation. Like any good coach, Knapp will put the best team he can out on the floor to face the top teams. I suspect that once the Ivy League schedule begins, he will do the same. Knapp, like any coach, is competitive, and he will not put his personal agenda over the success of the team.
So it looks like we will have to wait until the 2005-06 season for Knapp to make his mark on the squad. By then, the coach will have a couple of recruiting classes in the fold to go along with center Jennifer Fleischer and guard Joey Rhoads.
This season will be a transition between the Greenberg and Knapp eras. He will begin to implement his new system, but in crunch time, it will be the five seniors leading the team. And the Class of 2005 will always be Greenberg's players.
Harry Berezin is a senior history major from San Francisco and is Sports Editor of The Daily Pennsylvanian. His e-mail address is harryb@sas.upenn.edu
