Perhaps the aftermath of a Penn loss in the NCAA Tournament is not the best time to be an idealist. Nonetheless, all of last week's major upsets struck me as being caused as much by the higher seeds' complacency as the lower seeds' passion.
Start with No. 14 Bucknell's 64-63 defeat of No. 3 Kansas on Friday in the Syracuse Regional.
Throughout the season, the vaunted Jayhawks offense has had a knack for completely disappearing at rather important times. It happened against Villanova at the Wachovia Center, it happened at home against Iowa State and it certainly happened last Friday against the Bison.
Wayne Simien had a wide-open chance to win the game against Bucknell and missed an almost exact replica of Christian Laettner's legendary shot that beat Kentucky at the Spectrum in 1992.
It doesn't matter whether you play in the Patriot League, the Big 12 or the Ivy League -- in the end, all basketball games are won the same way.
You'll win the game "if you make more shots, or if the opponent doesn't have a good day" shooting, Penn coach Fran Dunphy said earlier this week.
He's been saying it all year. Tim Begley has been saying it all year. All manner of people have been saying it all year. Penn shot 3-of-10 from three-point range in the first half a week ago. Meanwhile, Boston College shot 7-of-10.
If those numbers had been switched, it would have led to a 24-point swing in the scoring, and Penn would have won the game.
The entire Kansas team made only one three-pointer against Bucknell, attempting 11. But the Jayhawks' lax defense allowed the Bison to attempt 31 treys, a truly stunning number.
In its 60-57 overtime win over No. 4 Syracuse, No. 13 Vermont's T.J. Sorrentine hit a three-pointer late in the game from halfway to Boston -- making the Catamounts the toast of the Austin Regional and much of the nation. Meanwhile, Orange shooting superstar Gerry McNamara made only one of seven attempts from beyond the arc in that game.
This is not to discredit the lower seeds, all of whom fully deserved their wins. Nonetheless, it really is inexcusable for any team, no matter its talent, to assume that any NCAA Tournament game will be easy.
There is no question that Penn should have played better than it did on Thursday. Dunphy and his players know that. But Boston College came in with a chip on its shoulder and raised its game to a level that even some who had watched it all season hadn't seen. Kansas, Alabama and Syracuse did not do that -- and lost.
Having been on college basketball's biggest stage eight times in his 16-year tenure at Penn, Dunphy knows full well that "on any given day, any other team can beat any other team."
But he also knows, as he said on Selection Sunday, that a Penn upset would take a "perfect game" from the Red and Blue.
"We played a poor seven minute stretch, which we cannot do against the quality of team we played," he said this week. "But I hope we get another opportunity to show we can win a game or two" in late March.
I believe that this opportunity will come in the next two years. The current class of sophomores now has the experience of playing under the bright lights, and the psychological bruises will likely last a lot longer than the physical ones.
Witness Steve Danley, who said after getting beat up inside by Craig Smith that he was "more excited to get in the weight room" this offseason.
Four of the players who started last Thursday will be back next year. They will be joined not only by a promising freshman class but by redshirters Adam Franklin and Brian Grandieri, making for an exceptionally deep squad.
Fans may enjoy watching flashy players who can soar to the basket for a big dunk, but I'll gladly take a team of versatile swingmen who can pass, shoot and drive.
Even the big men benefit from learning Dunphy's motion offense. Danley recorded 49 assists in 29 games this season, up from 24 assists in 27 games last year. He even hit seven three-pointers.
The intangibles, though, may be a different story for the Red and Blue.
"We're going to have to find the kind of leadership that Tim Begley gave us in next year's class," Dunphy said.
The best leadership comes from surviving adversity, from feeling the pain of battle and vowing that next time will be better. A loss like this leaves a big scar, one which will surely not be forgotten over the summer.
But when you look back on this season, don't take what happened in the regular season for granted.
If you honestly believed after the loss to Rider that this Quakers team would win 13 of 14 Ivy League games and clinch the title a week before any conference tournaments even started, then you're a very good prognosticator.
If not, then make sure to appreciate the many good things this Quakers team did.
Jonathan Tannenwald is a junior Urban Studies major from Washington, D.C. His e-mail address is jtannenw@sas.upenn.edu.
