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Tyler Bernardini (3) (seen here against Yale last season) has seen the expectations and the opposition's defensive pressure rise since his banner freshman campaign.

If success has a price, Tyler Bernardini doesn't seem to be receiving his credit card bills.

The expectations - stemming from an impressive freshman campaign - have built, but the sophomore guard is content to just give one response.

"I'm just trying to play basketball."

* * *

Originally I wanted to talk to Bernardini and write a column about the pressure I perceived he was facing and whether it was contributing to his bit of a "sophomore slump" this season.

Without a dominant upperclassman returning to the men's basketball team, a lot of the season seemed to be riding on the sharp shooting of the reigning Ivy League and Big 5 Rookie of the Year. Bernardini was considered the player Quakers fans could count on to register a solid game every night and take some of the load off a team lacking in experience.

Putting up 26 points against then-No. 1 North Carolina in the Quakers' first game of the season didn't take any pressure away either.

"It more put a target on my back for our opponents," Bernardini said, as the sophomore guard also recognized that his performance may have heightened outsiders' expectations of him as well.

Penn coach Glen Miller doesn't think that first game changed anything. But that didn't come as a surprise to me because his offensive scheme relies heavily on Bernardini. His role was set from the beginning, putting what I feel is another layer of pressure on him.

"If you're able to put him in a good situation and you're able to create some good shots for him or some more shots for him and then he'll be scoring 20 some points in a given game," Miller said. "He's capable of it."

Back in November, Comcast SportsNet tabbed Bernardini for its Big Man On Campus feature, which highlighted one player from each of the City 6 schools. He was profiled with the likes of All-Atlantic 10 players Dionte Christmas of Temple and Ahmad Nivins of St. Joseph's. That's a pretty impressive group of guys to be included with.

Bernardini didn't want to watch it, but his roommates forced him.

After I asked him why, I realized this "pressure" could be there, but the way Bernardini deals with it speaks to his approach to the game.

He'll do things his own way and then look at the consequences.

After experiencing a quick transition from wide-eyed rookie to starter last year, Bernardini isn't ready to rush into anything else yet.

"If I so happen to be in [a] leadership role, its just because I'm working hard and I'm not really doing it by intention but just because it happens."

The Carlsbad, Calif., native professed he doesn't read the media coverage of him and the team.

"When it's good, its good and you can get complacent and when it's bad, it's bad and you can kind of get more down on yourself," Bernardini said. "So I try to keep it an even keel."

It's not complacency. His energy on the floor would tell otherwise. And if he's figured out a way to handle himself, I'm glad.

Because with the ghosts of Mark Zoller and Ibby Jaaber still hanging around the Palestra, the heat is not coming off Bernardini anytime soon.

Krista Hutz is a senior History major from Philadelphia and is former Sports Editor of the Daily Pennsylvanian. Her e-mail address is hutz@dailypennsylvanian.com.

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