In each of the past three seasons, Penn has headed into the final weekend of the regular season with NCAA Tournament seeding on its mind. This year, all that's left is pride.
Senior captain Brian Grandieri and Joe Gill have three Ivy League titles under their belts; classmate Mike Kach - who didn't play in his sophomore year - has two. And, while that's no real consolation, they all understand the importance of finishing strong.
This weekend's opposition - Cornell (20-5, 12-0 Ivy) tonight and Columbia (14-13, 7-5) tomorrow - handed Penn two crushing road losses back in early February, giving the rest of the team plenty of motivation to fight until the bitter end.
"Whenever you get beat up, I think if you're a competitor and get another shot at them, it definitely gets you going," Grandieri said. "So I still think we have a lot to play for, and I think [my teammates] do too."
Challenging the Ivy League champions won't be easy. The Big Red are still unbeaten in conference play, earning two top-25 votes in the most recent Associated Press poll.
To beat Cornell and Columbia this time around, Penn (11-17, 6-5) will have to do a better job of defending the three.
Penn hung with Cornell for most of the game in its 87-74 defeat a few weeks ago in Ithaca, N.Y., putting together an 11-0 run late in the game to close the Big Red's lead to two points. But on the back of sophomore forward Ryan Wittman - who dropped 25 points and went 5-for-8 from beyond the arc - Cornell recovered to pull out the win.
Tonight, the Quakers will likely try to pound the ball inside and exploit the weaknesses in Cornell's interior defense. In the last meeting, sophomore center Andreas Schreiber netted a career-high 23 points and also pulled down nine rebounds, as the Swede matched up favorably to the Big Red's Jeff Foote.
"[Cornell] is a good measuring stick for us," coach Glen Miller said. "It's important that we come out and play well."
Penn will also have to contend with Wittman's classmate, guard Louis Dale, who hit five threes of his own against the Quakers and ended up with 24 points.
And Cornell isn't the only team whose three-point shooting concerns the Quakers.
Lions' guard K.J. Matsui had a career game in his team's 74-58 victory against Penn - a game whose outcome was never really in doubt. Matsui went 5-for-8 from downtown, and Columbia went 11-for-19 for the game.
On that night, Grandieri was one of the only Penn players to score in double figures, netting 13 points. Saturday's game will be the captain's final game at the Palestra.
"It's a little surreal, and I don't think it's really hit me yet," he said.
The Media, Pa. native has never missed out on a trip to the NCAA Tournament until this year, but he's making the most of the situation.
"These younger guys are learning from this experience," he said. "Hopefully we won't be in this position again, but I don't think anyone's throwing in the towel, and that's a testament to the coaching staff and the players."
Miller has been pleased with the players' intensity in practice this week, especially after coming off of a blowout loss at Brown last Saturday.
"[The team has] been very focused this week," he said. "The practices have been shorter, but we've been working very hard for the remaining three games, and we're also working on things that will help us be a good team next season."
After hosting Cornell and Columbia, Penn will finish up its season at Princeton (5-21, 2-9). The Tigers are in unfamiliar territory in the Ivy League cellar. But despite their struggles, they managed to take the Quakers down to the wire a few weeks ago at the Palestra, losing the tightly-officiated game 70-65.
The physical contest was punctuated by a technical foul call on Princeton senior Noah Savage on an inbound play. With Princeton on defense down by three points, the senior took a swing at freshman Jack Eggleston.
"For whatever reason, no matter how good or bad they are or we are it's always a great game," Grandieri said.
With the league championship already decided, these three games might not mean much on paper. But three wins could give the rebuilding Quakers a very respectable 9-5 conference record, and Grandieri would love nothing more than to end his career on a high note.
"It's been a great ride and I've loved every minute of it," he said. "It's gotta come to an end at some point, but I think we could salvage a lot out of these three games."
