For the second-straight year, the Wisconsin men’s basketball team will kick off its regular season schedule against the University of Pennsylvania Saturday. After cruising to blowout victories over UW-Parkside (a Division II school) and UW-Platteville (a Division III school) in their exhibition season, a matchup against the Quakers should present the Badgers with a more accurate early-season measuring stick for how they match up against high-level talent.

“I don’t know how much to measure (the team’s progress),” Badger head coach Bo Ryan said Monday. “There’s no gauge. But I like some of the things that we’re doing at times. At other times, it just shows how much further we need to go and what we’ve got to do to be able to compete in the Big Ten.”

Though Penn doesn’t adorn the same preseason rankings that Wisconsin does (the Badgers are currently at No. 21 in the AP and No. 20 in the ESPN/USA Today), what head coach Fran Dunphy’s team does bring to the floor is a great deal of pride.

The Quakers averaged 71.8 points per game last season and won 17 games for the third straight season. Though it missed out on an NCAA tournament berth, the 2003-04 season marked the first time since 2001 that Penn hadn’t received a bid. The big show hasn’t been able to keep the Dunphy’s squad away in March for two consecutive seasons since 1997 and 1998.

In last season’s bout between the Badgers and the Quakers, the play of the respective defending-conference champions was defined by dominant defense, feeble offense and an unreal advantage for Wisconsin at the free-throw line.

Though Wisconsin came out on top, with a 64-53 victory, it did so in spite of near complete incompetence from the perimeter. The Badgers shot 23-for-60 overall in the game (a shooting percentage of 38.3) and bricked on all but one (made by now-departed Devin Harris) of their 14 attempts from 3-point land (7.1 percent — a season-low by leaps and bounds).

Penn wasn’t much better than UW offensively, hitting just 22 of its 54 shots (40.7 percent), though it did manage to hit six three-pointers (three of which came from now-graduated guard Jeff Schiggnerr). Offsetting the Quakers’ slight shooting advantage was a complete mismatch in the Badgers’ favor on the boards and in team discipline.

The Badgers picked up a season-high 15 offensive rebounds in the game and out-rebounded the Quakers, in all, by 10. They also managed to draw 25 personal fouls, translating into 17 free points. Penn, meanwhile, drew just 11 personal fouls, translating into three free points.

“We’re going to try to go inside with our point guards driving the lanes and everyone making hard cuts and get to the free throw line that way,” said forward Mike Wilkinson. “We put an emphasis on getting to the line and expect it.”

What Wisconsin might not expect to find is a Penn team that has drastically changed its face since last it met the Badgers. Gone from the team UW met a season ago are all-Ivy honorees Schiffner (who led the team with 14.4 points per game in 2003-04) and Adam Chubb (who led the team with 10.5 boards per game in 2003-04) — two team leaders who set the tone for the Quakers, combining for seven fouls in last season’s opener.

The Quakers have reloaded and bring a team to the rematch in Madison that mixes a proven and poised core of experienced players with a deep and talented group of young players.

The most dangerous player that Penn puts on the floor is senior shooting guard Tim Begley — one of college basketball’s finest perimeter shooters. Begley ranked in the top 25 in the nation in total 3-pointers last season and ranked in the top 10 in shooting percentage from beyond the arc.

The 6-foot-6 post-up shooter averaged 13.1 points (second on Penn to now-graduated Jeff Schiffnerr), 4.3 boards and 4.2 assists per game on the year; for his performance, he was named to the all-Ivy League team at season’s end.

“He is a leader in every sense of the word,” Dunphy told the Daily Pennsylvanian of his senior guard. “He is not a real wordy guy — he’s not going to be (an) in-your-face kind of leadership. It is going to be [a leadership] of accomplishing things and people respecting him. He has a great respect from all of his teammates.”

Begley displayed midseason form against Quinnipiac in the opening round of the preseason NIT tournament, hitting four of seven shots from downtown on his way to scoring a game-high 22 points. The Quakers’ versatile leader also tallied five assists, four rebounds, three steals and turned the ball over just once.

This may spell trouble for Wisconsin, which lacks a defender that has proven he can defend top-quality guards.

“We went over a couple of things they do offensively,” point guard Kammron Taylor said after practice Thursday. “I think before the game, we’ll look at some of the more specific things — look at what we can do against their best players. We’ll figure out how we want to play their shooters.”

Joining Begley as a returning starter is 6-foot-7 sophomore Mark Zoller. In 21 starts for the Quakers last season, Zoller averaged 8.7 points and 4.7 rebounds per game and commanded Ivy League Rookie of the Week honors thrice.

Zoller got off on the right foot this season, recording a double-double (10 points, 15 boards) against Quinnipiac.