Don't be surprised if you see Tommy McMahon back on campus next fall. After McMahon missed the 2007-08 season with an injury, he paced out his courses so he could return to Penn for a fifth year, according to his father. However, since he's no longer on the basketball team, McMahon will still be back at Penn  -- keeping  content playing intramural ball.

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After practice yesterday, coach Glen Miller gave his thoughts on junior Justin Reilly. After undergoing surgery for a double hernia, Reilly has seen limited time this year but earned one start when Miller decided to shake up the lineup against Cornell.

"He practices everyday, but he practices on a limited basis," Miller said.  "He’s never really been through a full practice all out. He does as much as he can for as long as he can."

Miller hopes he will "be at 100 percent" for next season, but acknowldeged the healing process can take "from that surgery two years to get back."

The Quakers could have had two fifth-year seniors on the roster next year, but both will be moving on from the program instead.

Tommy McMahon once declared that he would apply for a fifth year of eligibility, but he left the team some time in December after seeing his minutes dry up. He had missed his entire junior year with a hip problem.

Aron Cohen's case was a bit more interesting. He shared point guard duties with Kevin Egee and Harrison Gaines last season, but doctors suddenly diagnosed him with a heart condition this year. (I believe it is not immediately life-threatening, although I'm not qualified to say for sure.) Tests went on for a while, and as late as Dec. 30 coach Glen Miller said that nothing about his status was definitive. But Cohen was never cleared to step back on the floor. "I never had any issues before, which was a little weird," he told me via email. As far as next year, he is looking into teaching jobs.

The cases illustrate what a blow it is when a basketball player loses a season to injury. Unlike in football, hoopsters with medical hardships must return to school for a full year — not just a ninth semester — if they want another bite at the apple.

Besides a loss, that is.

The DP will have live blogging of the game -- cross my fingers the Palestra's fickle wireless doesn't falter -- along with three stories in tomorrow's paper recapping things. Video of the post-game press conferences in their entirety and a photo slideshow will be on our webiste. I'll also be paying attention to how the prices for scalped tickets move in the hours before the game.

Want some pregame entertainment? Fish a copy of The Walk magazine out of the trash somewhere on campus for a few glamour shots of Tommy McMahon, who's on injury hiatus from the Quakers. Can only imagine how that one's going over in the locker room.