Anyone who attended Penn's season opener last year against Wisconsin likely remembers a long, lanky first-year forward entering the game. He walked onto the Palestra floor a wide-eyed freshman, carrying himself in a distinct, almost awkward way.
Few would have guessed that just over a year later, Steve Danley would become a dominant inside force for the Quakers.
But after his performance last weekend against Yale and Brown -- which earned him Ivy League Player of the Week honors -- Danley has established himself as a much-improved player and valuable asset for Penn.
One person that is not surprised by Danley's recent play is Penn coach Fran Dunphy.
"It's great to see [Danley] come into his own," Dunphy said. "He's a very valuable member of our program.
"I'm not surprised by the level of play that he's presently giving us."
Danley posted career highs in each of the Quakers' three games last week. Against Saint Joseph's, the Germantown, Md. native posted 10 points and a career-high six assists in Penn's 67-59 victory.
Against Yale last Friday night, Danley scored a then-career-high 16 points on 7-of-12 shooting, to go along with three blocks. Against Brown the following night, he scored a new career-best 22 points on 9-of-12 shooting.
A modest Danley downplayed the magnitude of his recent play.
"We've had different guys step up at different times in the season," he said. "The next step in that is Mark [Zoller] and I starting to play a little better."
A "little better" is surely an understatement, given that Danley entered last weekend averaging just 8.5 points per game.
"If teams are going to play Steve or any of our other big guys one on one down low ... we expect them to get a good shot at the basket," senior guard and team captain Tim Begley said.
The strong play of Danley and Penn's other bigmen -- Zoller, sophomore Ryan Pettinella and senior Jan Fikiel -- has opened up the lane for guards such as sophomore Ibby Jaaber to drive to the hole.
This has also resulted in the Quakers needing to rely less on the three-point shot. In the first half against Brown -- arguably the Quakers' best half all season -- Penn shot 76 percent from the field, carried a 21-point lead into the locker room, and as a team it shot only four three pointers.
"We need great balance inorder to be the best team we can be," Dunphy said. "When all five guys are putting up consistent scoring numbers, that makes us a more difficult team to defend."
Penn's early-season five-game losing skid seems to be in the past. Since then, the Quakers have been on a tear, winning their last five games, and sweeping their first Ivy League weekend.
The Quakers sit alone atop the Ancient Eight standings at 2-0, having soundly defeated Brown, which had upset preseason Ivy League favorite Princeton a night before.
Thus, it seems as if Penn may be playing its best basketball of the season right now.
"Defensively we're playing pretty well," Begley said. "Everyone's trusting each other."
Begley believes that Penn still has some things it can work on, but its overall team chemistry has come a long way since the season started.
"Everybody has found the role they're supposed to be in," he added. "Pretty much everybody on this team, including myself, is doing something differently this year than they did in the past.
"Everything is coming together and everybody knows their role."
Danley mirrored Begley's sentiments, saying that Penn is "definitely" playing its best all season on the offensive end. "Defensively, we still have a lot of work to do, and that's all about effort."
As usual, Dunphy attributed Penn's solid play to simply making shots.
"It's the best we've shot," he said. "When you're making shots, it looks like you know what you're doing.
"We've had a pretty good stretch overall defensively," he added. "When you make shots, it adds a lot to the team."
Dunphy spent Tuesday night at the Germantown Academy-Episcopal Academy high school basketball game. Also in attendance was North Carolina coach Roy Williams.
Dunphy said the two chatted for "a good 15 minutes" after the game.
Their relationship goes back a long way.
"Roy Williams and I are longtime friends. We've played against each other and coached against each other a couple of times."
