Glen Miller has yet to coach a game for the Red and Blue. But after a hectic summer for the newly minted chief of the University's most popular athletic program, it's hard to imagine that he was hired only a few short months ago.
Riding the momentum of another Ivy League title and a strong showing in the NCAA Tournament against Texas, the Penn men's basketball team has lined up a challenging non-conference schedule, giving the Quakers an opportunity to showcase their talent against some of the nation's top teams.
Penn will open up its season at the famous Carrier Dome in Syracuse, N.Y., where the Orange will host the Black Coaches Association (BCA) Invitational tournament in November. The four-team tournament will also feature the University of Texas at El Paso and St. Francis (N.Y.).
The tournament will be in round-robin style, with doubleheaders being played on each of three days.
Coming off of an unlikely Big East championship win, Syracuse will be a difficult team for the Quakers to beat, as the Orange return four starters this year.
The tournament will also mark the first-ever time that Penn and UTEP play each other. The Miners have been on the rise as of late, finishing second last season in the competitive Conference USA.
The highlight of Penn's non-conference schedule will be the beginning of a three-year series against North Carolina, as the Quakers will visit the Dean Dome January 3. Miller and UNC coach Roy Williams finalized plans for a series in which Penn will play at UNC in 2007 and 2009, and the Tar Heels will make the trip up to the Palestra in 2008.
The inauguration of this series comes just one season after the Red and Blue traveled to nearby Durham, N.C., to take on UNC's main rival, Duke.
Adding to the difficult schedule, Penn will host defending Northeastern Conference champion Monmouth, which lost to Villanova in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
Finally, the traditional slate of Big 5 games will include one of particular interest to the Philadelphia basketball community, as Fran Dunphy returns to the Palestra in his first year with Temple.
"It's going to be a very competitive schedule, it will be on par with last year, if not more difficult than last year in my opinion," Miller said this June.
A new addition
To compensate for the loss of guard David Whitehurst, the Quakers will call on last year's most dominant gym rat at Pottruck, Mike Kach.
After quitting the team in December 2004, Kach plans to return to a team with many of the same players, including Steve Danley, Mark Zoller, Ibrahim Jaaber and Brian Grandieri.
Kach was the sixth man as a freshman until he quit, citing a loss of desire to continue playing.
"The complaint [against] me was that there was something missing, and I think the answer to that question was that I just wasn't all there," Kach said. "I was playing on my athletic talent, and that was it - I didn't have the passion."
After taking a year off and reconsidering his mental approach to the game, the 6-foot-4 guard with great leaping ability will be ready to compete for minutes against the likes of sophomores Kevin Egee and Tommy McMahon.
