Entering the Palestra a key part of day for Penn's Mike McLaughlin

FOR A GUY like Mike McLaughlin, who grew up at Frankford and Pennypack in Northeast Philly, and would worship at the Palestra if the place had an altar, the greatest fringe benefit to being a Penn basketball coach is 3-inch piece of metal.

"There's not a day that goes by that I don't come (to work) through the back door so that I can use MY KEY to the Palestra," he said with a huge smile. "Seven years later and every day I go in the same way. I take out MY KEY - my No. 2 key - come in and take my walk through the Palestra and go up to my office . . . I hope that never gets old."

Star sophomore Michelle Nwokedi, who is the leading scorer for the 20-3 Quakers, shared an interesting anecdote.

"He's gonna kill me for saying this, but I've heard stories about when he got his first Big 5 win (in 2010-11), he was really emotional," she said.

"He knows the history of it. For a long time, Penn wasn't a contender in the Big 5. And to know that he was emotional about it, just shows how much he loves Philly."

- Ed Barkowitz