For at least the second consecutive year, Penn has been the last Ivy League school to officially publish its men's basketball schedule.
But thanks to the more punctual schedule-releases of the schools that we will be playing, we already know when most of Penn's games will take place, so it's not too early to take a look at the schedule.
The Glen Miller era will undoubtedly start on Friday, Nov. 10 at the Black Coaches Invitational in Syracuse, N.Y., with a weekend slate featuring Syracuse, Texas-El Paso and St. Francis (N.Y.).
For the last five seasons, Penn has played city rival Drexel around Thanksgiving. If this tradition continues, it will be Penn's fourth contest, with a home game against Monmouth the following Tuesday.
Penn's next scheduled game isn't for another 10 days, when the Red and the Blue plays at Navy in a return game of a home-and-home series, coincidentally on Pearl Harbor Day.
A busy week culminates with a home game on Dec. 12 against Philadelphia Big 5 rival Villanova, a team that advanced to the Elite Eight last season.
The Quakers will most likely have the rest of the semester off for finals before resuming play some time over winter break. Penn has a game scheduled on Jan. 3 at North Carolina, but undoubtedly there will be at least one or two more games over the vacation.
Penn may also have a game immediately after vacation, as was the case last year with Fordham and the year before with Rider.
Penn's next currently scheduled game is not until Jan. 12 at Cornell, the start of the Ivy League season.
For the second year in a row, Penn's Ivy League schedule will be interrupted - this year by the other three Big 5 games. The highlight of this stretch is arguably the most anticipated date of the season - Fran Dunphy's first game against Penn.
The new Temple coach, who left Penn after 17 seasons and more than 300 wins, visits the Palestra on Jan. 24.
Penn returns to Ivy play on Feb. 2 and 3, against Brown and Yale on the road - meaning that Penn ends the season with seven home games out of ten against Ivy foes.
Also, for the third year in a row, Penn has managed to play its road game against Princeton during Spring Break (March 6) while keeping the home game when school is in session (Feb. 13).
So there you have it. The Quakers have 23 games scheduled, with at least four or five more still to be determined.
Overall, the schedule resembles those from the last several years, with a couple of big-time opponents, some good mid-majors and a couple patsies.
A significant absence is Lafayette, which Penn has played every season since 1988-89. The Quakers have owned the Leopards over that time, so it's sad to see them go, although they have not exactly boosted Penn's Ratings Percentage Index.
As usual, Penn has a much tougher schedule than most of its Ivy competition - certainly a boon once Ivy play starts.
As for the remaining unscheduled games, hopefully Miller will add more teams like Fordham or Bucknell, teams that are at or slightly above Penn's level, who the Quakers have really had trouble beating in the last few years.
More wins over those teams would allow for better seeds come March and a better chance to advance out of the first round.
The Quakers' schedule on paper looks like it will give them a good chance to make it back to the NCAA Tournament, but of course they still have to play the games.
And, officially release the schedule.
Josh Hirsch is a senior urban studies major from Roslyn, N.Y., and is former Senior Sports Editor of The Daily Pennsylvanian. His e-mail address is jjhirsch@sas.upenn.edu.
