For the three seniors of the Penn men's basketball team, the clock is ticking away on their final season.
Seniors Joe Gill, Mike Kach and Brian Grandieri know all too well that over 15 years of playing amateur basketball are coming to an end.
But how did they begin their hoops careers? Gill, a swingman from Doylestown, Pa., tells a story familiar to many athletes.
"I got started when I was really young. The parents just signed you up," he recalled. "And eventually I just kept growing, so I just stuck with it."
Kach said his early basketball years didn't show many signs of promise.
"I started playing basketball when I was about four years old, and I was pretty bad. My parents used to tell me I used to stand at midcourt twirling my hair around. So I wasn't too interested in it early."
"We all played soccer, baseball, basketball ever since we've been little kids. My poor parents . for the last twenty years of their lives, they have done nothing but attend soccer, baseball and basketball [games]," Grandieri said.
He started out as a Villanova fan because that was his parents' alma mater. But, early on, he had no trouble discarding the blue and white to head to Penn.
"I don't know how you can beat an Ivy League education, first and foremost, and then to play basketball at the Palestra everyday, and play in the Big 5 and go to the NCAA championship. It's been everything I expected, probably a little more," Grandieri said.
All three eventually decided that basketball was the sport they would pursue, but it has not been without disappointments and difficult times.
Kach perhaps knows the doubts best of all. During his sophomore year, he decided to take a break from basketball.
"I wanted to step away from it, and hopefully get that love back that I had," Kach said. "Luckily for me it worked out . I think for me it was more about appreciating the opportunity that I had. When I came back I think I fully understood the opportunity I had here."
Grandieri also had setbacks - tearing his ACL during his senior summer of high school. He sat out his freshman season at Penn. He recalled some of the best advice he says he's ever received.
"My headmaster at my high school told me, that 'if it's the worst thing that ever happens to you in your life, you're very lucky.' That always hit home with me," Grandieri said.
Gill said the seasons passed quickly.
"I can remember showing up freshman year for a pre-freshman program. It just feels like it was yesterday," he said.
Grandieri fondly recalls last year's game at Columbia as one of his most memorable moments. He hit a half-court shot at the half-time buzzer and says he acted as if he had "won the NCAA championship . You can YouTube it!"
All three players know such moments of athletic glory are coming to an end this year, and Grandieri spoke for all of them when he said, "It is just a dream come true." He continued, "It is probably going to be a little tough. I guess that's what happens when you get old."
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