A SEASON TO BE PROUD OF

Region by region, seed by seed the participants of the 2009 tournament were announced. As teams appeared on the screen one by one, thousands of Penn State fans undoubtedly sat at the edge of their seats praying to see those Nittany Lions celebrate from the comfortable seats in the players lounge of the BJC. Unfortunately, one-by-one, bubble teams began appearing on the television screen, beginning with Arizona as a 12-seed in the Midwest bracket. Collective hearts grew heavier as Maryland was awarded a 10-seed in the West, and almost all hope of dancing were lost as Wisconsin received a 12-seed in the East. With one region left to go, CBS cut to the live-shot of the Lions we all were hoping, however it appeared as if the realization had already sunk in as the room looked as uncomfortable as a jail-sentencing.

As the South region was announced and Michigan was awarded the 7th and final Big Ten berth, it was official; the Penn State Nittany Lions were on the outside looking in at another NCAA Tournament. Although the teams dreams of the Sweet 16 are over, the Lions will still be playing in the post-season. The National Invitational Tournament seedings are announced tonight at 9pm, and many members of the media have the Lions projected as a 1-seed, which will be a first for the program.

It's easy to find reasons this squad isn't dancing this season. With the running total of tournamentless seasons now at eight, fans are finding it easy to point fingers in every direction as to whose fault it is. But, give me a reason why and I'll kindly and respectfully disagree with you.

Blame the athletic department? Can't. Yes, it's true Penn State's strength of schedule was the 310th in the country, but fans need to remember that the athletic department is in the middle of a complete renovation of the basketball program. Tired of losing seasons in front of an empty gym, the department needed to purposely schedule some easier non-conference games, which in turn means a winning record, which in turn brings in fans, which in turn creates excitement, which in turn creates a few major wins such as Michigan State and Purdue, which in turn brings in better recruits, which in turn allows you to schedule tougher opponents in the future. You can't just throw on a couple of top-10 teams into your schedule and expect to create a tournament worthy resume. By scheduling the non-conference slate the way they did, the athletic department put the team in the position to make a run during the Big Ten season and earn a tournament berth. To me and clearly to the athletic department, we are still a year or two away from scheduling those top 100 RPI teams prior to the start of conference games. You need to remember, we beat Purdue without their best two players, Michigan State without Raymar Morgan, and Iowa without Cyrus Tate. It's clear that the program has gotten better, but we're not done yet. I believe the team is lucky to have gotten to the point that they did. Sitting on the last-4 out was unheard of for the Lions in previous years but one or two bounces the Lions way and PSU would maybe seen themselves on the last-4 in. As the Lions have created excitement in Happy Valley around the program, the athletic department clearly has this program on the right track.

Blame other teams? How can you? I don't even feel the need to defend where I stand on this one. This is the greatest thing about college basketball - anyone can win at anytime. You can't fault other teams for playing their hearts out with the same goal of seeing their names on the bracket come March (Temple, USC, and Mississippi State are great examples). It was up to Penn State to play their way into the Tournament, and unfortunately it just wasn't in the cards.

Blame the NCAA committee? That's tough to defend as well. Although bids to Arizona, Minnesota and Maryland might not sit well for Nittany Lion fans, each team had strong resumes which trump PSU's in some ways. Not all ways mind you, however obviously just enough to squeeze onto the bracket.

Blame coach Ed DeChellis? Stop it right there. DeChellis has done more for this program in the past couple of years than it shows. With his message of "family", DeChellis has constructed a team that Nittany Nation can now be proud of. No longer can the Lions be circled as an automatic victory on opponents schedules. Although not everyone agrees with his coaching strategies (use of timeouts, use of bench players, etc)., this team has shown periods of greatness this year which have to be credited to the Big Ten Coach of the Year - DeChellis.

While it's true that seeing your team in the "last-four out" column may be the most disappointing and heart-breaking way to end a regular season, it's important that all of Nittany Nation doesn't forget about how amazing this season has been. Senior and team-leader Jamelle Cornley has captured the attention of fans everywhere with his never-quit attitude and determination. Although it's a shame that his dreams of a NCAA Tournament appearance will never come to fruition, I'm not sure if you can find a more-deserving guy in college basketball. He has been the rock of this team and deserves to go down as one of the best student-athletes to have ever put on a Penn State basketball uniform.

Talor Battle has made a name for himself in not only the conference but in also the country. It's easy to say that he has single handily turned this team into a contender and has made PSU hoops fun to watch again. Along with all of the fun, has come some exciting games. Not only have the Lions defeated a top-10 team this season, they defeated multiple top-25 teams, finally won at Assembly Hall, and won at home with a last-second, hit-every-inch-of-the-iron shot, which sent thousands of rabid students to center-court.

Even walk-on senior, Will Leiner who barely ever saw playing time, drew a standing-ovation from a near capacity crowd as he slashed through the lane against Indiana for a up-and-under move reminiscent of Jason Kidd.

While it's true that both the players and fans won't sleep great tonight after the Lions weren't selected, it is true that this has been a season to remember. The players won't have too much time to dwell on that, however, as it's back to practice on Monday in preparation for their first round NIT game.

Although it most likely won't happen, these kids deserve a sell-out for their first round game, and a standing ovation as they enter the gym. This has been a season to be proud of.