Originally published March 18, 1994

UNIONDALE , N.Y. - The basketball world sees Penn and yearns for Cinderella. Penn politely declines the invitation. The nation chooses to view the Quakers as a fairy tale, an Ivy-covered treasure, a team of scholars visiting the NCAA Tournament with a basketball in one hand and an econ textbook in the other.

Last night, the Quakers kicked the glass slipper, and the stereotypes, into the second row - and, as it turns out, into the second round.

"In the sense that an 11th seed beat a sixth seed, it was an upset," Penn's Barry Pierce said after the Quakers' 90-80 win over Nebraska in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. "But talentwise, it wasn't. I think we matched up pretty well sizewise and talentwise. The game could have gone either way. "

It went Penn's way. It went Penn's way from the very beginning. The Quakers shot the ball great (51.5 percent for the game). Pierce's box-score line was stunning - 11-for-15 shooting, 3-for-3 from the line, eight rebounds, 25 points (one off his career-high).

Meanwhile, Penn's zone defenses left Nebraska baffled - in the Big Eight, it seems, only cornerbacks and safeties play zones. Penn seemed quicker than the stocky lads from Lincoln. Penn seemed fresher. Penn had a clue. Penn's in the second round.

"We wanted to get up here and play well," Pierce said. "Not for everyone else, but for ourselves . . .

"We play for ourselves. This team has been together for two years. We play for ourselves. We go to class together, practice together, play the games. It's pretty much us. We're out there together . . . We showed up. We stood our ground. "

Ask Pierce a question, Pierce gives you an answer. And it is best to check your preconceptions at the door, because he has little time for some of the nonsense that can surround this big show. Princeton comes to this tournament a lot of years, loses a close game, and exults in its underdog status. Penn comes to this tournament, loses a close game - such as last year in the first round to Massachusetts - and dedicates itself to winning the next time.

And when it wins, as last night, it refuses to succumb to the saccharine and the silly. This is a good team. These are good players. They will not be demeaned by numbskulls, however well-meaning, who paint them in unrealistic, idealistic pastels. The Quakers might get beat in the second round by Florida, but they will not settle.

"Uh, we want to win the whole tournament - that's why we're here," Pierce told one of the well-meaning numbskulls, who asked if the team's goal was to reach the Sweet 16.

Ivy League players get asked questions no other players at the NCAA Tournament get asked. Yes, they are underdogs. But they are always viewed as some kind of curiosity - even with an 11th seed. And Pierce is viewed by some as a rebel.

"That's something the media put together," he said. "It's not true. I don't say anything controversial. I just tell the truth when somebody asks me a question.

"Because I don't walk around with a big stupid grin on my face, people mistake that for being surly or angry. I just accept that.

"There's a time for business," Pierce said. "There's a time to relax. "

This is a time for business. It was from the moment the Quakers stepped on the floor. Their start against Nebraska was crucial. The Cornhuskers had blown through the Big Eight Tournament and were on a significant roll. For that reason, and just because of the usual collection of tournament butterflies, it was important for the Quakers' collective psyche that they get off to a good start.

So what happened? They hit six of their first eight shots and ran off to a 15-4 lead. It set the tone for the entire evening. Pierce hit three of those first six shots, by the way. And as Penn coach Fran Dunphy nursed Pierce through the first half after he picked up two quick fouls, a certain pattern became apparent.

They were up, 13-2, when he went out with his second foul.

It was 21-19 when he came back.

They were up, 37-24, when he went out the next time.

It was 39-31 when he came back.

They were up, 46-34, when the half ended.

Overall, they outscored Nebraska, 36-8, in the first half when Pierce was in the game, and were outscored, 26-10, when he was out. This was, uh, significant. The Cornhuskers spent the night posing questions that remaining unanswered. They still haven't guarded Jerome Allen (18 points). They still haven't figured out how Eric Moore (15 points, 7-for-10 shooting) could do so much damage under their basket, and their noses. And they just had no idea about Pierce, none at all.

And then there was the metaphor for the evening, when Penn reserve Donald Moxley hit that jumper with 5:00 left, stopping a Nebraska minirun and building Penn's lead back up to 14.

As Pierce said: "I don't even think Donald showed up on their scouting report. To hit a big shot like that, it was a knife in their heart. Everybody's mouth dropped open. I'm sure everybody watching on TV reached for their media guides to see who he was. "

When Moxley hit it, the sellout crowd at Nassau Coliseum roared. Seeing as how this is Long Island, and how Penn could be considered a branch campus of the State University of New York, they had roared for the Quakers most of the night anyway. Throw in the underdog factor, and just about everyone in the building was in Penn's corner.

"Basically, it was a home game for us," Pierce said. "It had to be a little discouraging if you're Nebraska. They're favored. They're supposed to win. Everybody was cheering for us. "

It will be that way again tomorrow. And all over, the assembled media will be singing Penn's praises - with warm-and-fuzzy metaphors, all cloaked in Ivy, very little about basketball, very little resembling reality.

"I don't like to watch the news reports about us," Pierce said. "It's not good. The media are a channel to the public. They're going to portray a picture that's not necessarily true.

"It's nice to have the publicity," Barry Pierce said. "Wins are even better."