CLEVELAND -- There's no tomorrow for this year's Penn basketball team. All that's left is next year.
After an 85-65 loss at the hands of Boston College yesterday, the careers of seniors Tim Begley, Jan Fikiel, Eric Heil and Nameir Majette came to a close. And though this means that next year's squad will have to replace its captain (Begley) and first big man off the bench (Fikiel), the future looks bright for the Quakers.
The team returns four starters from yesterday's game -- sophomores Ibby Jaaber, Steve Danley and Mark Zoller and freshman David Whitehurst. Regular starting point guard Eric Osmundson, who did not start yesterday do to a prolonged illness, has one year of eligibility left and will also return next year.
"I'm excited about the guys we have coming back," Danley said.
While Danley struggled against the Eagles, scoring just one point in 21 minutes, Penn's underclassmen carried the majority of the load offensively for the Quakers. The team's returning players scored 46 of their 65 points on the night.
The only senior to score was Begley.
But replacing Begley will not be as easy as finding someone else to carry the scoring load.
"He has been as good a leader as we have had on any of our basketball teams," coach Fran Dunphy said. "I've said it ad nauseum, he is just a special guy."
Dunphy said that any of the returning players are capable of becoming the team's new leader, though he singled out Danley and Osmundson by name after the loss.
Begley said that he hopes that he has been a role model for the younger players on the team.
"I just hope that over the year or two that I've known these guys, that they see how hard I work," he said. "It's about having a good time, but balancing putting in the work. There are some really talented guys on our squad, and an experience like this can only make them better."
Aside from the loss of Begley, next year's incarnation of the Quakers will also have to deal with the pressures of entering the season as the heavy favorite to win the Ivy League.
This year, Penn entered the season with much lower expectations. Princeton was the consensus pick to return to the NCAA Tournament, and some were picking the Quakers to finish third in the Ancient Eight.
"I think they overachieved and got more out of themselves than others might have anticipated," Dunphy said of his team's unexpected 13-1 romp through Ivy play. "They had great character and integrity."
The Penn coach said that it has yet to be determined whether next year's squad will be able to live up to such high expectations. He says that he will start to get a clearer picture once he starts four-man workouts with the team and when he sees how next year's freshman class plays with the returning players.
But just because the team returns so many pieces, it does not guarantee an Ivy title. This year, Princeton returned all five starters from its squad which took on Texas in the first round of the 2004 NCAA Tournament. The Tigers finished 6-8 in league play, good for sixth place.
Still, the pieces are in place for a Quakers dynasty. They will return 67.7 percent of their scoring next year -- and most of that will be with the team for the next two years. If they can live up to expectations, several trips to the NCAA Tournament could be in store.
