Does the early bird get the win? The Quakers certainly hope so.
As the men's basketball team gets set for its season-opener against No. 1 North Carolina on Saturday, the preseason preparations have been subject to one slight scheduling change: 7 a.m. practices every Tuesday and Thursday morning.
"It was just to get out of the monotony of coming over here in the afternoon every day," coach Glen Miller said. "It breaks up the same routine and frees up the guys for the rest of the day to meet with professors, tutors, focus on their academics."
According to sophomore guard Harrison Gaines, practicing at dawn has required some adjustment.
"It's a struggle at first," said Gaines, who claimed to have gone to sleep around 10 p.m. the night before yesterday's early start. "The first weeks you aren't used to it."
Miller, for his part, said he was pleased with the team's output in the new timeslot, especially given next Tuesday's unusual 10 a.m. tip-off at Drexel.
"We set the schedule before we even knew we were playing that 10 o'clock game," Miller said with a chuckle. "I wish I had that much foresight."
No time for timetables. Miller is reluctant to predict the return dates of his ailing ballers.
"There's no timetable for anyone, really," he said. "It's just a matter of them rehabbing, and hopefully they get back as soon as possible."
Darren Smith (knee), Tommy McMahon (foot) and Andreas Schreiber (shoulder) are all nursing various injuries.
Smith, who missed all but one game last season with a fractured kneecap, attended shootaround with the team yesterday morning.
Toeing a new line. Like all NCAA courts across the country, the Palestra hardwood will feature a brand new three-point stripe this season, located a full foot behind the previous semi-circle, which stood 19 feet and nine inches from the rim.
"There's a lot of focus on where your toes are at, making sure they aren't on the line," sophomore Tyler Bernardini, who led the Red and Blue with 45 trifectas last year, said.
To help facilitate the transition, the team constructed a makeshift three-point line out of tape after the season ended last spring.
"I really haven't seen a difference," Miller said. "In a scrimmage the other day, we were 20-for-31 from three-point range in a 40-minute scrimmage. I don't know if we'll shoot the ball like that every day, but we're encouraged."
After finishing one stop from the Ivy cellar in three-point proficiency last season, perhaps the new distance will prove a welcome change.
Who gets the nod? With just 72 hours to go until Penn's showdown at the Dean Dome, Miller says he still hasn't committed to a starting lineup.
"Not at all," he said, when asked if he'd decided on a projected five.
Of course, that hasn't stopped the team from conjecturing on its own.
"We've gone with a lineup of me, Zack Rosen, Tyler [Bernardini], Jack Eggleston, and Cam Lewis for the two scrimmages," Gaines said. "Things can change, but that was what we went with."
If Gaines' hypothesis holds, that would mean that one freshman, three sophomores and one senior will take the court for Miller against the nation's premier team on Saturday.
