So when was the last time the Penn basketball team won a game in the NCAA Tournament?
The answer is not as long ago as you might think.
11 years ago today, the No. 11 seeded Quakers upset No. 6 seeded Nebraska, 90-80, in the first round of the Eastern Region at Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, N.Y.
That season, Penn went undefeated in the Ivy League and finished with a near-perfect record of 25-3. The Quakers were ranked as high as No. 24 by the Associated Press, and were rewarded with a short bus trip to Long Island for their tournament game.
Waiting for them was the Nebraska Cornhuskers -- winners of the Big Eight conference tournament and led by future NBA first round pick Eric Piatkowski, a Larry Bird-esque 6-foot-7 guard.
But while Nebraska came in ready to control the game with their up-tempo offense, the 1993-94 Quakers seemed to have the right balance of players and enough firepower of their own to score the major upset.
Leading the Red and Blue that year were future NBA players Jerome Allen and Matt Maloney -- who made up one of the best backcourts in Ivy League history.
Allen was a local high school star while Maloney transferred from Vanderbilt. Both were named first-team All-Ivy for three consecutive seasons and each earned Ivy Player of the Year honors -- Allen in 1994, Maloney in 1995.
To this day, Allen remains the last Ivy League player to be drafted by an NBA team -- he was selected in the second-round of the 1995 NBA Draft by the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Although Maloney wasn't drafted, he went on to have a successful six-year career in the NBA, leading the Houston Rockets in three-pointers in 1997-98.
But the two future NBA players were not the only essential ingredients to the Quakers' roster.
Joining the two Ivy superstars was a trio of juniors -- forwards Shawn Trice and Eric Moore and guard Scott Kegler -- who provided enough depth to the Quakers' lineup.
And forming the cohesive bond over the entire pack was senior captain and forward Barry Pierce.
With such a talented core of players, Penn won the Ivy championship in 1993 -- the first under Fran Dunphy's tenure.
"Winning the first championship was just the greatest feeling," Kegler said. "And for coach Dunphy, I think it was really sweet for him, because he had only been at the job a few years."
After winning the Ivy League, Penn came within four points of defeating UMass in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
And with all of the key players returning the following year, the stage was set for the Quakers to make history.
"We had all the pieces to the puzzle," that season, Kegler said.
On Thursday, March 17, 1994, the pieces fell into place for one of the greatest teams in Penn history.
The Quakers shot over 50 percent from the floor, hitting six of their first seven shots to open the contest with a 15-4 lead.
Paced by 25 points from Pierce and a double-double by Allen, the Quakers never looked back.
Even with Piatkowski, the Cornhuskers shot miserably from beyond the arc and gave the Quakers easy transition points.
And when the buzzer sounded, ending the Quakers' 14-year-long first-round victory drought, the partisan crowd in red and blue celebrated what many analysts referred to as an "atypical Ivy League team."
But to the players, the victory meant something more than just the resurgence of Ivy basketball.
"I think every kid who grows up playing basketball, you want to play in the NCAA Tournament, and you want to win a game," Kegler said.
But Penn's season wasn't over. The Quakers had only a day to prepare for No. 3 seed Florida in the round of 32.
By then, even the experts were convinced that Penn was no fluke. Prior to the game, CBS analyst Billy Packer commented, "The question isn't if Penn can beat Florida, but if Florida can beat Penn."
But Penn fell short of a trip to the Sweet Sixteen, as the Quakers lost their shooting touch in a hard-fought 70-58 loss to the Gators.
Although the Quakers emerged from the game on Saturday with a bitter feeling, the loss did not negate what they had already accomplished.
"You want to win the whole thing, of course, but you want to win a game," Kegler said.
And that spirit could not have been manifested better than what happened at Penn the following Monday.
Two days after the Quakers were eliminated from the tournament, the Office of the Provost for University Life sponsored a rally to congratulate the men's basketball team.
Along with several players, Dunphy thanked hundreds of fans gathered at College Green for their support.
Even though Penn returned most of its core players the following year, the Quakers could not repeat their tournament success in 1995, losing to Alabama in the first round.
But the players already knew that what they had accomplished would be a part of Penn basketball tradition forever.
"When we lost to Alabama senior year, I just remember hugging [Dunphy] for the first time," Kegler said. "It was the end of a chapter."
Unfortunately, the 1994-95 team remains the last chapter to Penn's success in the NCAA Tournament.
Today, the 2004-05 Quakers will try to add one of their own.
On March 17, nonetheless.
Zach Silver contributed to this report.
