After his team's Jan. 15 loss at Seton Hall, Penn women's basketball coach Pat Knapp boldly predicted when his team's double-digit losing streak would finally end.
"Next game," said the fourth-year coach, whose squad has lost 10 straight games by an average of 20.1 points.
Two weeks later, Knapp is standing by his post-game claim. Sort of.
"They're gonna be two difficult teams, but this is what we've worked for," Knapp said of the team's back-to-back road games, at Harvard and Dartmouth, to kick off the brunt of the Ivy slate this weekend.
"We've had a rough three months, played very strong competition and we need to start learning lessons from the competition that we played. I think we'll do that. That's absolutely the plan."
Not quite a guarantee. But then again, the Quakers haven't won a game since November.
Adding injury to insult. The Quakers will have to do without their third-leading scorer and only senior the rest of the way.
Guard Kim Franklin underwent season-ending knee surgery Thursday after missing the team's previous three games.
"It's really disheartening," said Franklin. "I think other athletes know the feeling when you're unable to contribute in ways that you initially wanted to."
Though Franklin, like many of her teammates, struggled with inconsistency for much of the early season, she still finished with a career-high 6.4 per game clip.
Franklin's role as the captain and eldest member of the Quakers was equally significant.
"She did a stellar job [as captain]," Knapp said. "I feel bad for Kim personally. I know she worked hard coming into this year. She was clearly looking forward to the Ivy season and making her mark as a senior captain."
You know things are bad when. The injury bug afflicts your coach, too.
Knapp has been away from the team for 10 days while recovering from hernia surgery he underwent on Jan. 17.
He had initially planned to work out a schedule in which he could attend most practices during the two-week hiatus, taking days off here and there to speed the recovery process. But on his doctor's orders, Knapp has not set foot in a gym since the operation.
In their coach's absence, the Quakers have spent much of the week preparing for their two upcoming Ivy contests, watching game-tape of Harvard and Dartmouth and working on specific offensive sets to counter the styles of their Ancient Eight foes.
Knapp plans to return to practice this week.
