It might seem like Penn's frontcourt can't look any smaller compared to Texas A&M;'s big men. But on Thursday afternoon it just might.
Stephen Danley, the Quakers' biggest post presence, is a question mark for the game in Kentucky.
Coach Glen Miller had suggested earlier that the senior would be fit to play, but sounded far less confident at practice on Monday.
"Steve's back is still bothering him," the coach said, referring to a recurring injury which cropped up during the Princeton game on Tuesday. "His status is up in the air."
The senior forward dressed for Monday's workout, but didn't actually practice.
He hasn't practiced since playing only two minutes against the Tigers because the injury limited his mobility.
But while Danley's armor is showing chinks at the worst possible moment, Darren Smith is picking the right time to recover.
Miller sounded much more optimistic about the freshman guard. Smith suffered a torn labrum earlier in the season, which the coach had characterized as "day to day for the rest of the year."
In the weeks thereafter, Smith would tweak the injured shoulder "probably every second day," according to Miller, hindering his recovery.
But Smith has not done so in the past three weeks, allowing him to cement his spot in the starting lineup during the home stretch of the season.
In the offseason, Smith will likely have arthroscopic surgery to permanently correct the problem.
Drawing the No. 9 team in the country might have been a disappointment for some Penn players, but freshman forward Justin Reilly is relishing the matchup.
Texas A&M; has seven Dallas natives, and Reilly - who himself hails from Big D - has experience playing with most of them.
His friends, A&M; freshmen Donald Sloan and Bryan Davis, played on his AAU team. The Penn man also played against freshman Derrick Roland and sophomore Josh Carter in high school.
Reilly said he "got text messages after the selection show saying 'you better be ready.' " He added: "It'll be fun to go against them in the game when I played against them in all four years of high school."
Clearly, Lexington, Ky. wasn't a top choice for Penn logistically.
The plan was to leave late yesterday morning. But as of 5 p.m. Monday afternoon, Penn had yet to finalize its flight plan for the next day.
Finding practice space in Lexington may also be an issue, since Penn won't be able to practice at Kentucky's Rupp Arena well in advance of the Thursday afternoon game.
Last year in Dallas, the team was bailed out by Reilly's high school - he had already committed to Penn, and so his school allowed the Quakers to practice in its gym.
Expectations don't seem to be high for Lexington as a tourist destination, either.
Few players had any idea what they would do during their down time in the Bluegrass State. The standard response was some variant of studying or work.
"I'm still kinda skeptical about Kentucky," Ibrahim Jaaber said. "I might have to do some research later.
"We got a guy, Brennan Votel, who's from the area," Jaaber said of the Park Hills, Ky. sophomore. "Hopefully he'll have some advice."
