PHILADELPHIA -- Last Friday night, 375 Ivy Leaguers camped out in the cold, dank corridors of college basketball's most historic gym, The Palestra. They were on The Line, the traditional overnight excursion to purchase basketball season tickets at the University of Pennsylvania.

Krzyzewskiville it is not, but Penn tickets are in demand this season. The Quakers have held at least a share of the Ivy League title for seven of the past 10 years -- but this season they return virtually their entire roster from a 25-7 squad that swept the Philadelphia Big 5 and made the NCAA Tournament. Which means Philly's best team not drawing a paycheck could very well be the brainy bunch for the second straight year.

"The last couple of years, we've woken people up," says junior guard Jeff Schiffner. "If they haven't taken us seriously before, they're taking us seriously now."

	Penn point guard Andy Toole won't be satisfied without an NCAA Tournament win this season.

Major conference teams like Iowa State and Georgia Tech received a rude awakening against the Quakers last season, in addition to Big 5 foes like Temple and Villanova. Illinois, ranked No. 2 in the nation at the time, escaped a potential nightmare with a seven-point win.

But that's nothing new. Virtually year in and year out, Penn, along with its Ivy nemesis, Princeton, holds its own against teams from the top conferences in college basketball.

Princeton often gets more attention -- thanks to its unique melt-the-shot-clock system and their trademark backdoor cuts. The Quakers blend in more with the mainstream -- though, like their arch-rivals, they love to shoot the 3. Last year Penn knocked down a school-record 266 treys.

Sophomore swingman Tim Begley, who started for Penn as a freshman, grew up 20 minutes from Princeton, and his college choice came down to the two Ivy powers. His mother always dreamt he'd play for the nearby Tigers. "But Princeton plays a little slower," Begley says. "I think we've got more athletic guys on our squad ... you get to make plays here a little more."

Penn also has head coach Fran Dunphy, respected and beloved by his players. Dunphy does not get the recognition former Princeton coach Pete Carrill once did. In fact, during a "Dining with Dunphy" promotion last month at a Penn dining hall, Dunphy had to introduce himself to a cafeteria worker. But he has quietly amassed a 231-129 record in 13 seasons at Penn. He's now the winningest coach in school history -- ahead of the likes of NBA legends Dick Harter and Chuck Daly.

Speaking of Chuck Daly, he once said of the Palestra, "It is like having warm maple syrup poured all over you." The players eat it up -- many say the opportunity to play in this historic gym is one of the biggest attractions to coming to Penn. There's just so much tradition there -- and that extends to the Quakers' schedule, which is extremely challenging every year. In addition to facing all the Big 5 teams, Penn will play two Big East teams, a Big 12 team, a Big 10 team and a Pac-10 team this year.

All these things -- plus the Ivy League education -- attract quality student-athletes to the program. "We don't necessarily look like great college basketball players, or great athletes for that matter," says senior guard Andy Toole. "But we know how to play."

They've proven that, time and time again. But the Quakers haven't won an NCAA Tournament game since a 1994 first-round win against Nebraska. They've hung in against the likes of Alabama, Florida and Illinois since. But last year's first-round loss to California was particularly disappointing.

"It's one thing if you go out and you know you played your best and you lose," says Toole. "We felt we didn't play our best game. That really put a bad taste in our mouths."

These Quakers are no longer satisfied just getting to The Dance. This could be the year they do some damage. It's Penn's most talented team since the days a decade ago when their starting backcourt was made up of two future NBAers, Matt Maloney and Jerome Allen. It could be Penn's best all-around team since their Final Four squad in 1979.

Penn returns all five starters, led by Ugonna Onyekwe, the Ivy League player of the year, and Koko Archibong, another athletic NBA prospect at forward. Toole, the starting point guard, rounds out a talented trio of seniors. The Quakers have solid long-range shooters at all five spots in their starting lineup (six different players hit over 20 3-pointers last season), and a very deep bench as well.

But it won't be easy to get back to March Madness. Princeton and Yale, who shared the conference title with Penn last year, return most of their rosters as well. Penn lost three of its first five conferences games last season before rebounding to take the Tournament bid in a three-way playoff.

"Our entire league will be really competitive," says Dunphy. "It will probably come down to the final week again. Within the city, those teams are gonna be after us. We've got our hands full."

With their opening game against Penn State still over three weeks away, Penn is already simulating game situations in its practices. At a recent practice, the starters were given the ball, down by six, with 3:54 left on the clock. The first unit looked fantastic, quickly surging to the lead. But then the reserves fought back to win the game at the buzzer.

The starters' only punishment was push-ups. But looking at their faces after that, you would have thought they had just lost another Tournament game. The Penn Quakers are on a mission this season.

"There's not a doubt in my mind everyone on this team would be really upset and really disappointed if we didn't get at least a game or two in the Tournament," says Begley. "Right now I don't think there's any reason to believe we can't compete with any other team in the country."

Translation: These Quakers should be worth waiting in line for.

Kieran Darcy writes for ESPNMag.com. He can be reached at kieran.d.darcy@espn3.com.