FILLING THE CORN(LEY) HOLE

Anybody wondering how the Penn State basketball team would fare next season after the departure of one of the greatest Lions of all time, Jamelle Cornley, had a sneak preview on Thursday night. Just two nights after separating his shoulder in the team's first-round overtime victory against George Mason, Cornley sat out the Lions' game against the Rhode Island Rams, a team that had beaten Penn State earlier in the season. If the game was any indication of how the Lions will do next year without 'Melle, the future is looking bright.

While his energy was certainly missing from the game, a 83-72 Penn State victory, the team certainly showed that it has plenty of viable candidates to replace the senior captains' scoring and rebounding. Not least among them, Jeff Brooks.

Since the wirey sophomore first arrived on campus two seasons ago, the expectations for Brooks have always been bigger than the results. A former runner-up to the title of Mr. Basketball in the state of Kentucky, Brooks was seen as a major recruiting victory for the Lions, and out-of-state gem plucked by the coaching staff to lead the renaissance of the Penn State program. Instead, Brooks has underacheived and frustrated, seeing his minutes dip as the Big Ten season wore on, and losing his starting job to David Jackson. Despite averaging just 16 minutes per game and 3.4 points per game during the regular season, Brooks has blossomed offensively during the first two rounds of the NIT tournament, pouring in a season-high 13 points against George Mason and adding six more against Rhode Island, the first game he's started since February eighth against Wisconsin.

The biggest difference with Brooks appears to be his rising confidence. Too often he would fade away instead of going up strong, appear indecisive with the basketball or just seem overwhelmed on the court. Now, he's making strong assertive moves with the ball in his hands and showing a creativity that could make him a real asset next season.

Brooks was joined by Andrew Jones and Chris Babb as players who stepped their games up to account for Cornley's absence. Jones, who has benefitted from playing alongside a player as tenacious as Cornley, netted a double-double before fouling out and showed a good blend of aggressiveness and finesse in the paint.

Babb has clearly taken over as the heir-apparent to Stanley Pringle. While not as prodigious at driving, he's every bit as deadly an outside shooter, if not better, and has all the tools to develop into a defensive stopper - allowing Talor Battle to conserve more energy for offense.

Should the Lions draw the Florida Gators in the next round in Gainesville, and Thursday's win was the last game in the Bryce Jordan Center for this team, it certainly gave the fans a treat. Not only did it avenge an earlier season loss with a wire-to-wire victory, it gave everybody in attendence reasons to believe that next season just might be better than this one.