When asked if he had heard that some had picked his team as the underdog, Ibrahim Jaaber chuckled, saying, "We were what? That's the first time I've heard about it."
And, after seeing what playing in the Palestra does to the Dragons year after year, he had no reason to listen to the critics this time.
Despite routinely having the advantage as far as size and athleticism, Drexel has consistently failed to capitalize on its strengths when facing off with the Quakers.
The result has been one disappointing result after another, and a hex that continues to haunt the Dragons with another loss last night.
"We don't play well in here," Drexel coach Bruiser Flint said. "I don't know to say whether it's the building; I don't know whether or not we get uptight, but . we were just awful."
And the curse shows no sign of letting up anytime soon.
Last night marked the 19th meeting between the West Philly rivals, a series that Penn now leads, 15-4.
The win wasn't pretty, and Drexel did a lot of things right to pressure a still-forming Penn rotation.
Drexel forced a total of 22 turnovers but was unable to convert on its many opportunities, producing only 16 points after taking possession.
The Dragons came closer to exorcising their demons last year, hanging on for a 68-60 loss that also saw them shoot for a dismal 30 percent from the field.
But, just like this year, Penn took an early lead that it never relinquished.
Drexel's most recent win over the Quakers came in 2001, when the Dragons squeaked by with a nine-point win.
But Penn was quick to snuff out any hope of a series comeback, delivering a sound walloping in the next two meetings.
"To be perfectly honest with you, if I go back and watch all of the tapes of us playing these guys, we've played the same way for the last six years except for the one time we beat them," Flint said of his team's performance.
If Drexel wants to have any hope of being regarded as a legitimate contender in Philadelphia, it's going to have to step up its game against the Quakers - and fast.
But maybe city bragging rights are too lofty a goal for a Drexel team that struggles to contend with its brotherly-love counterparts, and maybe the squad should instead focus on just doing the little things well and winning games.
Flint has made it widely known that he would prefer that the game against Penn be played on his side of 33rd Street at least once in a while, but the Dragons' current state of transition from the Daskalakis Athletic Center to the Armory Convocation Center makes scheduling games on Drexel's home court difficult.
Perhaps it is because the games are always played at the Palestra, or maybe it's because Drexel's student section's roll-outs are just so God-awful and clearly inferior to those conceived by the Red and Blue Crew.
Whatever the reason, the outcome is nearly always the same, calling into question why anyone would pick Drexel over Penn in any meeting.
Underdogs? Nah, we wouldn't listen either, Ibby.
Parisa Bastani is a junior Biological Basis of Behavior major from Basking Ridge, N.J. Her
e-mail address is pbastani@sas.upenn.edu.
