Scoreboard watching

Fran Dunphy and Glen Miller pieced together a difficult nonconference slate for Penn basketball this year, but the Quakers' biggest matchups will not have the same luster as last year's.

The 2005-06 Quakers played No. 3 Villanova at home and lost by seven. Soon afterwards, they rolled into Cameron and gave No. 1 Duke 40 good minutes.

Each team was undefeated at the time, with the Wildcats sporting a 6-0 mark and the Blue Devils sitting at 7-0.

Penn won't take on a team of this caliber this time around.

The Quakers already lost to Syracuse, ranked No. 20 at the time, but that was far too early in the year for us to know much about the Orange -- or about Penn, for that matter.

So the three toughest '06-07 games remaining are against North Carolina, Seton Hall and Villanova.

UNC just fell from second to seventh after a bad loss to Gonzaga. Last year's Freshman of the Year, Tyler Hansborough, managed just two field goals and prompted a New York Times headline reading: "Tar Heels' Rising Star is Feeling the Pressure."

Seton Hall has the potential to field big-time teams. But right now it is far removed from the No. 10 seed it earned in last year's tourney, with a 76-71 humiliation at the hands of Farleigh Dickinson already on the books.

Villanova, which was busy tearing it up at this time last year, has already lost to Xavier and needed all 40 minutes to beat Navy on Saturday. Despite a boatload of talent, they got no respect in the latest AP poll.

It is likely that Penn's away matchup with the Tar Heels will be its only chance to knock off a ranked opponent. And even then, it is unsure whether UNC will be a top-five team.

Penn will play a powerhouse from the Research Triangle and one from the Main Line, just like last year. Unlike last year, a respectable Big East team is also on the docket. But the biggest games in Miller's first year won't be the same as the biggest in Dunphy's last. The privilige of two top-five contests is out of the question already.