Regulation college basketball games last 40 minutes. With five players on the court at a time, there are 200 total minutes that a team needs to play.
Sophomore forward Ryan Pettinella played an average of 12.4 of those minutes each game last season, but now the Quakers will be without him next year as he plans to transfer out of Penn.
Now the Red and Blue needs someone else to fill those minutes the way Pettinella did in its quest to repeat as Ivy League champions in 2005-06.
On the surface, Pettinella's offensive numbers do not appear to be too significant. Few would argue that 4.8 points and 3.0 rebounds a game will be sorely missed.
But as is often the case with role players, his contribution to the team went beyond his numbers.
Pettinella defended well, playing his minutes without sacrificing production on both ends, and in doing so helped keep players like the foul-prone Steve Danley and Mark Zoller in the game.
His offense had been vastly improved since his freshman season, and it is possible that he could have seen his scoring improve even more. He was a legitimate low-post threat in the Ivy League and could body up with even some of Penn's non-conference foes. When Pettinella received the ball in the post, he was rarely hesitant to take the ball to the glass, and his wild-looking layups became his forte by the end of his sophomore season.
Clearly, Pettinella's departure is not insignificant, and Quakers coach Fran Dunphy needs to now find someone to fill those minutes in an effective way, especially with now only Danley and Zoller returning as frontcourt players with significant experience.
"We will count on some younger guys a little sooner than we anticipated," Dunphy said.
Those young guys are Class of 2009 members Cameron Lewis, Tommy McMahon and Brennan Votel, all forwards who have had promising high school careers.
While all of them may be more offensively gifted than Pettinella is, what they are lacking is two years of experience at the Division I level.
However, one thing they probably can be counted on for is the ability to provide late-game minutes if Danley or Zoller fouls out. Pettinella's 42.5 percent foul-shooting percentage was a major factor in keeping him out of the end of games. Presumably at least one of the three recruits will be able to shoot foul shots consistently well enough to become a reliable crunch-time player, at least in terms of not being an easy target for opponents to foul.
But for now, Dunphy appears to be rolling with the punches.
"It is what it is," he said of the incoming freshmen being forced into a more prominent role.
"They'll do the best they can, I hope," he said.
However, Dunphy seemed not quite ready to give too much thought for the future, and instead is focusing on trying to help Pettinella through this period in his life.
"I'm just in full support of Ryan," he said.
The answer to the big question then cannot really be answered until November.
Pettinella's departure is significant enough to hurt the team, but it can be remedied if the incoming class is as strong as some have predicted it will be.
