After waiting all season for this moment, surely the Penn men's basketball team could wait 16 more minutes.
Continental Airlines Flight 1600, carrying the Quakers, arrived at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport last night at 7:58 p.m. -- 16 minutes late.
And when the players got off the plane, the hype that goes along with the NCAA Tournament was waiting right there.
"You got television cameras following you everywhere, people already in the airport asking you for autographs," Penn guard Tim Begley said. "So it's finally started to sink in what a big deal this is."
In contrast to all the excitement upon arrival, the Quakers' flight itself was relatively uneventful.
"Nice short flight," Begley said. "Sat a little while before we took off, but once we got going it was pretty nice and quick."
While the flight from Philadelphia was nice and calm, at least one Penn player was far from tranquil.
"All I was feeling was anxiety," sophomore forward Ryan Pettinella said. "Just wanted to get down here, looking forward to playing in the Tournament, a little jittery on the flight thinking about the game."
After leaving the airport, the Quakers were headed to their hotel for a team dinner and film sessions.
Today's events will include Penn's open practice at 1 p.m. at Cleveland State University's Wolstein Center, host site of the NCAA Tournament, followed by the team's press conference, both in preparation for Thursday's matchup with Boston College.
Slowly recovering
While the Quakers cruised to three straight victories to end the Ivy League season, something was definitely missing. Actually, it was a somebody.
Senior guard Eric Osmundson -- who is one of many NCAA hoopsters pictured on this week's cover of Sports Illustrated -- sat out the last three games of the season with a virus. The bug kept him out of wins over Harvard and Dartmouth and caused him to be too sick to make the trip to Princeton for the finale.
Freshman David Whitehurst more than picked up the slack, scoring 16 points against the Tigers and connecting on four three-pointers.
But Osmundson will be ready to go for the Tournament -- both physically and mentally.
"I'm going into the Tournament thinking I'll be fine," Osmundson said. "I'm in good shape.
"Every day, I feel like I'm getting a lot stronger."
Part of that rebuilding of energy will have to be put toward regaining his weight. The Carlsbad, Calif., native lost 10 pounds during the weeks of his illness, which began to take its toll during the road trip to Brown and Yale in mid-February.
In addition to bulking up and renewing his strength, his game needed a boost. And he found that during some extra sessions with assistant coach Matt Langel.
"I've been putting in some extra time and really getting my shot ready," Osmundson said.
While Whitehurst clearly showed why he is the guard of the future, the Quakers are squarely focused on the present.
"Oz is so important. He gives us the presence of having a big-time point guard on our team," Begley said. "Physically, he can match up with any point guard in the country."
As for Osmundson's minutes Thursday against Boston College, Quakers coach Fran Dunphy picked a nice round number.
"He's been pretty good over the last three days, and he's been better each day, so I think he's probably got 20 minutes in him," Dunphy said.
"So we'll take that 20 minutes, and hopefully, it's one where he's going to feel strong enough to defend and strong enough to step up and make some shots on the perimeter."
And although his backcourt mate is well-rested and back on track toward a return, Begley is not taking any chances.
"I haven't talked to Oz in days," Begley joked. "I'm staying away from that man."
Still aiming higher
Don't be fooled by the fact that the Quakers cut down the Palestra net or by the Selection Show celebration Sunday night. Making the NCAA Tournament was not the goal of this year's team.
Winning a game in the Tournament was.
But according to sophomore forward Steve Danley, the process began much earlier than this week.
Winning a game in the NCAA Tournament "was one of the goals going into the year," Danley said. "Obviously try to take it one step at a time: non-league schedule, league schedule, win the league -- but I think it's a big deal for this program to go out and get a win this week."
And while Danley will get his first chance as a member of the Quakers, Begley has been here before.
He was in the Tournament in 2002, going 2-for-4 in a loss to California.
He was in the Tournament in 2003 too. But he scored only two points against Oklahoma State before an injury sidelined him for the remainder of the game.
So even after missing out on last year's Big Dance, just being there was never the goal in 2005.
"We realize the impact that winning a game could have," Begley said.
"Any time you go to the NCAA Tournament, you know pretty much the whole country is watching, so it's a lot more meaningful than any game you're going to play all season."
Of this season's four other seniors, only one has played for Penn in the postseason.
Forward Jan Fikiel scored six points as a freshman in 2002, but did not get into the game against the Cowboys the following season.
Osmundson, who transferred after his freshman year at Utah, also has postseason experience; he played three minutes in the Utes' first-round loss to eventual national runner-up Indiana in 2002.
For Fikiel, a win this week would be the culmination of four years of hard work.
"We've been working toward this goal for four years now," Fikiel said. "So I guess you could say it's a little important."
Now that's an understatement.
Fun distractions
Even with what Dunphy described as "Eleven-minute timeouts," the average basketball game in the NCAA Tournament is not a whole lot longer than two hours.
The rest of this week for the Quakers will be filled with travel, team meetings, television appearances and all of the hype that seemed to be missing at the beginning of the season.
So is all of this extra activity fun, or just a distraction?
Among the players and head coach, it was essentially unanimous: both.
"It is kind of a distraction just because it's stuff you're not too used to," Begley said.
"But on the same note, it's a chance of a lifetime for guys like myself. We're not going to be playing in the NBA for the next 10 years so all this media coverage is pretty cool for us to take in."
While the NBA may not come calling anytime soon, the Quakers are going to enjoy their brief taste of stardom while it lasts -- even if it is only 48 more hours.
"Everyone wants to talk to you," Fikiel said. "You play in front of a packed gym; you're going to be on national TV, so just give everything and enjoy yourself."
Aside from the open practice today and the coverage of the Tournament on CBS, it is the smaller things that can become overwhelming.
And those little things will really add up to some celebrity treatment this week.
"When you get off the bus, there's going to be cameras following you," Begley said. "Every restaurant you walk into, there's going to be people wishing you luck."
Begley, as the captain will have the responsibility -- and as he said, the privilege -- of leading the team into Cleveland. And he is not just leading them onto the floor of the Wolstein Center, but also into the whole experience of the NCAA Tournament.
"We lean a lot on Begs because he's the guy who's kind of been through it all and done it before," Danley said. "I think that's an advantage, having some guys who have been there before."
But at the same time, Danley thinks that it is the motivation of the younger players to win that makes this team special.
"Us younger guys, us sophomores are pretty hungry," he said. "It was disappointing not to go to the Tournament last year. I think we bring an edge to us that really gives this team a different look."
Leave it to the senior leader to offer his words of wisdom to the five sophomores and two freshmen on the active roster.
"I hope the younger guys really do get a chance to enjoy it because it's a different experience than any one they're going to have."
Playing hooky
It's something that people around Ivy League athletic departments always have to deal with, whether it be basketball players, cross-country runners or the Penn Band.
Missing classes.
Penn had a 1:15 practice yesterday, and left at 4:00 for Cleveland. Even if the Quakers lose in the first round, the return flight is not until Friday afternoon.
So that makes a total of three and a half days of missed classes, which to Danley is manageable, especially considering the Friday-Saturday game schedule which limits missed time during the Ivy League season.
"It's been pretty good this year about not missing classes," Danley said. "I think it depends on the classes you're missing. If it's a couple of lectures, it's not so big of a deal."
But missing classes is a necessary consequence (which the players are without a doubt willing to accept) of making the NCAA Tournament.
With the rigors of the basketball schedule, the players are not alone in dealing with their academics.
Enter Scott Rosner.
Rosner, a lecturer in Wharton's Legal Studies Department, has been the men's basketball team's Faculty Mentor since October 2003, overseeing the academic achievement of the players.
According to Rosner, his job is to "act as a mentor who the student-athlete can seek out for advice and a counselor who can give input to the well being of the student-athlete."
Even with the additional support, academic life is not easy for the players.
"A lot of the guys were up pretty late last night trying to get assignments in before we left," Danley said. "I know I was dropping off a paper at 2 a.m. and Ibby [Jaaber] told me he pulled almost an all-nighter trying to get his work done.
"It's something that you keep on your mind but we're smart guys; we'll get through it."
Josh Hirsch contributed to this report from Cleveland
