Deserving of thanks

In the spirit of the holiday season, I've reflected on what I have to be thankful for in this young basketball season -- before I go blow some money with the rest of the Black Friday nuts.

Well, maybe I'll leave that last holiday tradition aside. But Quakers hoops season is heating up as soon as Thanksgiving break is over, so I give thanks right now to:

Palestra basketball season being here. After the sagas of the coaching transition, Keenan Jeppesen, David Whitehurst, and three games in upstate, I thought this season would never actually arrive. Praise the Palestra ghosts we're here, distraction free.

Brian Grandieri. Team leader in minutes, assists, and steals? Second in rebounding (7.2) and third in points (13.0)? Who is this guy? Against Drexel, the junior tallied eight assists to a pair turnovers, while Ibrahim Jaaber had one assist and eight turnovers.

With Jaaber being asked to handle the ball drastically more this year, having another reliable guard is incredibly important as a group of newcomers -- Darren Smith, Kevin Egee and Aron Cohen -- try to come into their own.

Unrealized potential, in the form of Michael Kach. After a promising first year, the athletic junior guard missed his sophomore campaign and is now almost fully recovered from a foot injury.

I don't look for Kach to make big contributions right away. But he certainly has a lot to prove and has all the physical tools a coach could want. If his skill set comes together, he could give Penn a serious lift down the stretch.

There is also precedent -- Justin Conway emerged from oblivion last year to lead a freefalling Princeton squad back from the brink. It was those rejuvenated Tigers that dealt Penn a crushing 59-60 overtime loss and doomed it to a 15-seed. And that was a 6-4 center.

The word "respect." Glen Miller could have easily gone without using it in reference to Drexel after Penn's 68-49 whooping of the suddenly inept Dragons on Tuesday. But he employed that most famous of Fran Dunphy-isms: We've got "a lot of respect" for Drexel, he said.

Dunphy spent 17 years of his life saying that, even after a blowout win, and he did alright. That coach Miller is making every effort to continue it is deserving of respect -- and thanks.