M. Hoops: Robinson just can't get enough of the Palestra

By Zachary Levine

Senior Staff Writer

zlevine@sas.upenn.edu

Brown coach Craig Robinson is a glutton for pain.

He spent four years as a player at Princeton getting heckled by the rabid fans of the Palestra and went 1-3 in his four games there.

Now, 24 years after the last time he set foot in the door, he's coming back when his Bears (10-17, 5-7 Ivy) visit tomorrow night. And Robinson can't wait.

"It was such a great place to play as a player," said Robinson, who sits fourth on Princeton's all-time scoring list with 1,441 points. "Although I was at Princeton at the time, I had very fond memories of Penn fans."

Robinson said that he loved the heat in the building, the fans right on the court and of course, the rollouts.

The atmosphere for his much-delayed return visit is still to be seen.

Much of that will have to do with the result tonight, when the Quakers have a chance to clinch the Ivy League title against Yale.

If Penn wins, Glen Miller's team will play its next two games for seeding purposes only. If Yale were to pull the upset tonight, Penn would either need to win its final two games or get a win and a Yale loss at Princeton to clinch the title outright.

The Quakers, however, will not be taking the last two games lightly, even with a win over the Elis tonight. After all, last year, they suffered the consequences of a season-ending loss to Princeton that likely dropped them a full seed line and sent them to play No. 2-seed Texas in Dallas.

"Whether we win Friday night or not, Saturday is going to be critical," Miller said. "I don't want to get ahead of ourselves, but if you win Friday and you secure an Ivy League championship, then Saturday is going to be important because it's about seeding."

For survival or for seeding, the Quakers will have to deal with the same Brown team that plays a very different style of defense than they're used to seeing.

Brown's 1-3-1 halfcourt trap has worked to perfection in a 51-41 upset of Providence early in the season and in holding Dartmouth to 33 points in their last meeting.

However, the Quakers handled that just fine, shooting 12-for-20 on mostly wide-open threes in their 77-61 win on Feb. 2. The Quakers also had 23 assists that night, thanks to superb ball movement around the traps.

Despite the Quakers' ability to exploit the defense a month ago, Robinson has no surprises in store.

"That's the way we play," the first-year coach said. "We just have to play it better."

Brown is led by Mark McAndrew, who is the Ivies' leading scorer in conference games, averaging an even 20 per contest. McAndrew dumped in 33 points in the Bears' loss to Cornell last Saturday night in Providence.

He's a solid three-point shooter, and he also has added a dimension to his game, taking the ball to the basket.

As a whole, Penn's rivalry with Brown has been more lopsided than the games against any of its six other Ivy League opponents. Since Penn was swept by the Bears in 2003-04, the Quakers have won five straight to improve their series record to 93-18.

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