SYRACUSE, N.Y. - The departure of Fran Dunphy and the hiring of Glen Miller presented two distinct problems for Penn's bench players.
With Dunphy's six- and seven-man rotations, the younger players hardly saw any playing time at all. And when Miller replaced him, the need for strong bench minutes to accommodate his nine- and 10-man rotations grew.
"We're trying to develop our bench," Miller said after the second game this weekend. "I think it'll serve us well down the road."
So as Penn took the court for its season opener against UTEP, it was asking for a larger-than-normal contribution from a group of freshmen and sophomores - none of whom had seen competitive minutes in their college careers.
In total, the five bench players that played against the Miners had a combined 103 career minutes going into the season opener.
And the results against UTEP were disastrous: 44 minutes, six fouls, seven turnovers, four assists and two points.
Ultimately, that factor decided the game, and at no time was it more evident than in the last 60 seconds. Sophomore Aron Cohen, who had played all of six minutes in his career, took an ill-advised three-pointer with Penn down by one.
"Unfortunately, we're going to have to work through some difficult times to get [the young players] the experience they need to be good players," Miller admitted.
But as the young guns gathered competitive experience throughout the weekend, their play showed solid improvement.
Against Syracuse, the reserves put in 49 minutes and scored 15 points, with four assists and only three turnovers. The next night, they played 45 minutes and had 16 points, two assists, three turnovers and five steals.
"I've got a quick hook with" the younger players, Miller said. "The kids go in there, and you give them five minutes to work, and then they start playing with intensity."
But some of the same players that stumbled on Friday regained their footing on Saturday and Sunday.
Cohen redeemed himself nicely after his early blunder, while freshman Andreas Schreiber showed glimpses of his potential. Schreiber, after not even playing on Friday, emerged the following night with a strong performance, including two offensive rebounds and a three-pointer.
"I think Schreiber showed the potential he has," Miller said afterward. "He just has to adjust to this level of basketball."
After Brennan Votel's pedestrian game against UTEP (seven minutes, two points, two turnovers) the sophomore forward came back strong, particularly against St. Francis. On Sunday, he turned in a four-point, three-rebound effort and got the better of his Terrier counterparts on the front line.
"We like our young players to play, since I like to play nine or 10 players," Miller said. "Each game they get time on the court is going to help along the way."
So while most of the bench minutes in the latter two games came when the outcomes were no longer in doubt, Miller believes that part of the road to a strong bench was paved last weekend.
"There's never any garbage time in our program," he said. "Those are meaningful minutes for us. I think we're better than we were on Friday, and we're going to work hard to make sure we're better in the next game."
