Brian Kotloff

I also leave having swallowed my share of reality doses when it comes to my dream job. I like to label them with #LifeOfASportswriter.

While I’ve spent the past several months in Witness Protection, now I’m being asked to revisit said predictions. In case anyone who read them needed a reminder of how awful they were.

Last year, everything the Quakers built during a trio of league wins crumbled to pieces in a nightmarish week. Penn believes this year will be different.

No Penn player has ever graduated without beating Princeton at the Palestra. In a 82-67 win Monday night, Quakers seniors Tyler Bernardini and Zack Rosen quickly made sure they didn’t become the first.

To get a sense of how popular Penn guard Miles Cartwright is in Southern California, consider this: When the Quakers travel to Anaheim to play UCLA on Saturday, the sophomore ­— though wary of making a “huge assumption” — said, “I feel like there might be more Penn fans than UCLA fans.” VIDEO: This Week on 33rd Street: Dec 9

After a shoddy five-game stretch that included four losses, the Penn basketball team got its mojo back at the Palestra Wednesday night. Post-game presser: Penn vs. Delaware

In a normal year, the mismatches would end once the Ivy League season begins in January, but Harvard boasts an extremely athletic squad this year.

The Penn basketball team would need near flawless execution to beat a national power like No. 16 Pittsburgh. Friday night at the Palestra, the Quakers failed to play that perfect game.

The message-sending win, whose shockwaves would resonate throughout the Big 5? Ruined. The Quakers’ hopes of finally completing the victory that would revive basketball on this campus? Vanished. For a collection of players so determined to mesh into an elite team, the game wasn’t supposed to end the way it did.

In the earliest Big 5 game in history, the Quakers will host the Owls’ season opener Monday night at the Palestra. SEE ALSO: Penn defeats UMBC in season opener