CORNLEY TO DECIDE ON FOOTBALL FUTURE NEXT MONTH

Greg Paulus isn't the only former college basketball star rumored to be making a move to the gridiron. Penn State basketball great Jamelle Cornley has been mulling over a career change to football, a sport that might give him a greater chance for success at the professional level.

The Nittany Lion senior, who's certainly got the physical build for life on the defensive line, plans to meet with Penn State football assistant coaches and team doctors soon to discuss his potential future with the pigskin. Teammate Talor Battle was quoted in The Daily Collegian as saying that he thinks Cornley should stick with his first love, basketball.

"He just loves it way too much to just try to go do the football thing, because that would just mean -- honestly, in my eyes -- is more for a money standpoint," the point guard said. "But I think he's really good and hopefully he gets a shot to play professionally in the NBA, and if not, I'm sure he'll have a great career in the overseas somewhere."

The article, published in Friday's paper, goes on to state that Cornley has received interest from professional basketball teams in Europe, but that he's taking time to make the best decision for himself, a decision that should come some time next month.

GET THOSE CAMERAS ROLLING

HBO might be well known for bringing the box office into your living room, or for introducing you to boobs during those Shannon Tweed weekend marathons when you were twelve years old. Recently, the cable giant has been recognized for its outstanding original shows like The Sopranos, Sex and The City, The Wire, Eastbound and Down, Deadwood, Flight of the Conchords, etc. But if you've been paying attention, HBO has really been doing some tremendous work in its sports coverage.

Long limited to its now-defunct Inside the NFL show and its in-depth coverage of professional boxing, HBO has really broadened its horizons with the production of several tremendous sports documentaries. Examining topics ranging from the integration of college football in the South to the UCLA's basketball dynasty to the life of Joe Louis, these documentaries focus in on key eras or figures in American sports history and present a no-holds-barred look at the characters and influences behind the scenes. The most recent such documentary was called Thrilla in Manila, spotlighting the third and final fight between Joe Frazier and Muhammed Ali and is a great watch.

The rumor is that HBO's cameras are currently in the Keystone State to capture interviews and footage for a piece on the famed Broad Street Bullies that captured back-to-back Stanley Cups in the mid-seventies. The real question to ask HBO is, why haven't you made a documentary on the 1987 Fiesta Bowl Game between Penn State and Miami? As we're all familiar with that great event, I'll skip the task of recounting the details, but it has absolutely every aspect a filmmaker could look for to tell a gripping story.

If they are not willing to do it, somebody pass the hat and The Floating Lion will make it. The 25th anniversary of the 1986 season is coming up in two years, what a great way to commemorate one of the greatest nights in college football history. Until then, this recap by ESPN from a couple years ago will have to do.

FOOTBALL STORY WINS AGAIN

The Penn State athletics department has announced that The Penn State Football Story has won another regional emmy, and might this blog say that it is well-deserved. It is the sixth such honor awarded to the program in the last eleven years which is produced by Mind over Media in conjunction with Penn State University Intercollegiate Athletics. To appreciate the quality and professionalism of the program one need only watch some other schools' highlight shows and realize how nothing stacks up to the Football Story.



So often, other school's shows have a very amateurish quality about them, looking more like a high school news broadcast than a marketing and highlight show for a multi-million dollar football program. Usually consisting of the head coach and a host sitting in director chairs in front of a blown up, pixelated panorama landscape of the football stadium, these shows are little more than polite conversation and some film breakdown from the last week's game.

I've always had a theory as to why the Football Story was so much better than the rest. It seems that Joe Paterno might not be open to doing a half-hour sitdown television show each week, considering he doesn't appear to be too thrilled to do the weekly press conferences, the quarterback club luncheon and the Thursday night radio call-in show. Since the producers of the show can't rely on just having the head coach talk about the game, they are forced to fill the half-hour production with insightful profiles of players, much more behind-the-scenes footage and visually striking presentations of highlights. Whether this is the reason or not, The Penn State Football Story has certainly earned all the critical acclaim it has garnered and has become almost as much required viewing as the games themselves.

TARHEELS CAN'T DAMPEN GREAT SEASON FOR BIG TEN

There's a great exchange in the movie, Rocky, when the loanshark that Rocky works for, Tony Gazzo, has his driver, Buddy, drop off Rocky after a day of collecting. Buddy, who appears on screen only a handful of times but in that brief span makes himself memorable as one of the all-time jerks, looks up at Rocky in the rearview mirror. Balboa's face is pretty scraped up after his fight with Spider Rico the night before and Buddy says to him, "Did you get the license plate number?"

Rocky answers, "Of what?"

"Of the truck that ran over your face?"

On Monday night in Detroit, the truck was an 18-wheeler hauling an oversized load and decked out in Carolina blue, and it smashed the Michigan State Spartans as easily as it has everything else in its path to the school's fifth national championship. The Big Ten champions were no match for the TarHeels, who set numerous offensive records en route to their second blowout victory over Michigan State.

Most fans probably expected to see North Carolina cutting down the nets on the last day of the season, but the ease with which it happened must have surprised some after how well the Spartans had played over the last ten days. Still, Sparty's run to the championship game was just another accomplishment in a great year of basketball for the conference.

Last season, five conference teams finished with an overall losing record and only four schools (Indiana, Michigan State, Purdue and Wisconsin) from the Big Ten were invited to the big dance. Both Michigan State and Wisconsin were able to make it to the sweet sixteen before losing, while Purdue and Indiana failed to make it out of the first weekend. In addition to the poor performance during March Madness (5-4), the conference was embarassed by the early dismissal of Indiana coach Kelvin Sampson after he was caught committing recruiting violations.

This season, the conference featured only two schools below .500 and tied the Big East and SEC for the most representatives in the NCAA Tournament with seven. Overall, the Big Ten went 9-7 and had five wins over higher seeded opponents during the tourney. Moreover, the Big Ten claimed its second straight NIT Title when Penn State defeated Baylor in the championship game in Madison Square Garden.

Perhaps most encouraging were teams like Michigan, Penn State and Illinois who all bounced back from disappointing 2008 seasons to earn post-season berths in 2009 and have solid foundations in place to challenge for big ten supremacy in the very near future.

It was also a year that revealed several individual stars in the making with the entire first-team All Big Ten squad being comprised of sophomores, including conference player of the year Kalin Lucas of Michigan State. Lucas and fellow standouts Talor Battle (PSU), Manny Harris (UM), Jajuan Johnson (PU) and Evan Turner (OSU) ensure that the conference will have some of the best talent in 2010 if they all return to campus.

The Big Ten basketball season might have ended on a sour note in Detroit, but the conference appears to be as strong and as deep as ever, with the future looking very bright.

FOLLOW UP

Just wanted to follow up Joe's post with this picture which hopefully will sum up the upcoming years of Penn State men's basketball. We beat them once, we can beat them again.

BIG TEN GOES FOR SWEEP TONIGHT

Michigan State will carry the Big Ten banner into its national championship game tonight against North Carolina, just four days after Penn State represented the conference in the NIT finals. Should Sparty pull off the upset against the Heels, it would be the third time in the last seven years that two teams from the same conference would claim both the NIT Championship and the National Title.

The win would also mark the first major sport championship for the Big Ten since Ohio State's double-overtime victory over Miami in the Fiesta Bowl in January of 2003. Here's a breakdown of championships in both basketball and football by conference during this decade:

CONFERENCE	BASKETBALL	FOOTBALL	TOTAL
ACC	3	1	4
BIG EAST	2	1	3
BIG TEN	1	1	2
BIG TWELVE	1	1	2
PAC 10	0	1	1
SEC	2	4	6

A championship for the conference tonight would certainly help to elevate the profile of Big Ten, which has suffered in both major sports in the last few seasons. Additionally, it would be pretty nice to be able to say that Penn State beat the national champion in its own gym this season.

THANKS FOR NOTHING ESPN

In the interest of full disclosure, you, the reader, should know that I absolutely hate ESPN. So, that being said, you may take the criticism in this article with a grain of salt, although I feel that I have accurately presented the facts as I observed them Friday morning.

And oh yeah...earmuffs.


The best part about good news is sharing it with somebody else. Learning about that promotion you were rewarded with at your job or the 'A' that you earned on an assignment seems to get more satisfying each time we tell a friend about it. It's the reason that most people get married in front of dozens of their friends and family or the reason we celebrate happy occasions with parties instead of celebrating them by ourselves.

When Penn State cut down the nets in Madison Square Garden on Thursday night, I was lucky to have my friends with me to bask in the joy that comes with watching your alma mater accomplish something as distinguished as winning an NIT Championship. Still, when I woke up the next morning, I couldn't wait to hear more about it. I jumped out of the shower just in time to catch the beginning of the 7 a.m. Sportscenter (a show I normally wouldn't consider watching) to see how ESPN recapped Penn State's championship game and relive the high of Thursday night as news of the Lions' victory was shared with millions of viewers around the nation. Yet instead of being awash with pride and fulfillment, I was appalled at ESPN's presentation of what was a great moment in Penn State basketball history.

I turned the television off after the Penn Sate story aired, so I don't know if ESPN ran any other analysis or coverage later in the program, although I doubt that they did. After the montage that started the show featured about four quick shots from the Penn State game, the program opened with news of an NFL trade (five months before the pro football season starts). Then the focus shifted to basketball with highlights from an NBA game and then two quick stories about the coaching vacancies at Georgia and Arizona. Then, the camera cut to a medium shot of anchor Matt Winer and the carnage began.

Over his left shoulder was a graphic that showed the Baylor University logo. No NIT logo, no Penn State logo, just an interlocking 'B' and 'U.' He then waxed sympathetically about the recent history of Baylor Bears basketball, recounting the tragic death of Patrick Dennehy in 2003 and the violations committed by a former coach that resulted in heavy sanctions from the NCAA. Winer continued to praise Bears coach Scott Drew for taking a job that nobody wanted and led into the highlight by saying that the team could win a championship by beating Penn State in the NIT Finals. That was the first mention of the Nittany Lions since the show had begun, setting the Lions up as if they were a villain out to ruin the Cinderella season that Baylor was having.

Before continuing to the highlights that were shown, let's consider the above introduction that Winer gave to the game. There are many ways to write a lead-in to a video highlight, not all of which include centering your story on the team that actually won. The problem isn't that Winer talked about Baylor, it's that he identified the wrong team as the one that was having the more impressive run to the finals. In case he forgot, Baylor was a fucking at-large selection to the NCAA tournament last season! The Bears were 21-11 in 2008 and finished fourth in the Big XII. They brought back four starters this season and were a four-point favorite to win the game against Penn State! And don't try and tell me that ESPN doesn't know what point spreads are, because they are all too eager to run that Hammerin' Hank bullshit during the NFL season and let Chris Berman pick against the spread as that annoying as hell Swami. But, Winer, despite all the evidence of the contrary, sets Baylor up as the underdog for this game instead of Penn State, a team who didn't get itself on NCAA probation for having a coach illegally pay his players and a team who has won more than 20 games just once in the last 16 seasons before this year.

The highlights opened with clips of two Baylor buckets before showing the technical foul that was assessed to the Baylor coach for tossing his jacket after seeing a foul called on his team. Not only did Winer insinuate that Drew didn't deserve the "T," but co-anchor Linda Cohn pipes in with some stupid comment about how he was warm and all he did was take his jacket off. I'm sorry, but when did this "news program" start to resemble the two old guys that sit in the balcony during The Muppet Show and drop one-liners? So we're just going to leave Cohn's microphone open all show long and let her deadpan whenever she wants? Great, really professional.

Even more insulting than having the two banter about how awful of a call this was came when Winer labeled it as the turning point of the game. So a call that was made with 13:25 left in the game that didn't result in a change of possession and resulted in one point for Penn State (since the referee inexplicably blew his whistle as Talor Battle attempted the second shot - a point that was left out of Sportscenter's analysis) was the turning point in a game that would be tied a minute later?

The highlights would go on to show Danny Morrissey hitting a three-pointer and then diving on the floor and busting his lip as well as feature one of Battle's great finishes in the lane towards the end of the game. Then, that was it. No recap of Penn State's season, no playing of Jamelle Cornley's post-game interview or showing the team cut the nets down. Just a table that shows how teams do the year after they win the NIT, as if that has any relevance to how Penn State will do next season!

The coverage that Penn State got on ESPN on Friday morning was insulting, especially considering it won a tournament that was broadcast exclusively by the same network! The way it was presented on Sportscenter made it seem like the only angle that made the championship game interesting was the one seen from Baylor's point of view. There was no mention of the fantastic support that the Penn State fans gave including the 36 buses that traveled all the way from State College to New York. Remember when a dozen buses would go from Scranton to Syracuse to see Gerry McNamara play and Mike Tirico or Sean McDonough would make sure to mention it a million times on Big Monday?!

Why winning a major national tournament garnered so little attention is a mystery to me. Baseball season hasn't started yet, it's still two days before the Final Four, and ESPN doesn't give a shit about hockey anymore since they don't televise the sport any longer - so what else did it have to show that the Penn State win got the shaft? For reference, here's how The New York Times decided to cover the story. What ESPN should realize is that it doesn't make the news, it reports it. Penn State winning a championship was a fantastic story that any talented journalist could have told if he wasn't busy trying to take the lazy Tom Rinaldi-esque let-me-make-you cry angle that the network has fallen in love with. Just because you might not like the story, doesn't mean you can ignore it.

To paraphrase Ray Finkel's mom in Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, "ESPN should die of gonorrhea and rot in hell."

CORNLEY'S #2 BELONGS IN THE RAFTERS

Driving the two hours back to my apartment last night after watching Penn State capture the NIT Championship in New York City, I couldn't help but start thinking about what was going through Jamelle Cornley's as he made his own trip back home. He had just finished his career by winning one of, if not the most, important games in his school's history and got to stand at center court of the world's most famous arena while holding an MVP trophy over his head to the adoration of thousands of screaming fans. This picture-perfect ending to his career was a lot different than the beginning, but his four-year contribution has brought about a renaissance in Penn State basketball and has put the program in good hands for years to come.

There was no hiding what Penn State basketball was when Cornley signed in the fall of 2004. The former Ohio Mr. Basketball and high school state champion was walking into college basketball quicksand and he wasn't flinching. Penn State had won just 30 total games in the four seasons prior to his arrival on campus and the rabid following that Penn State football benefitted from was nowhere to be seen in the empty blue seats of the Bryce Jordan Center. Still, Cornley brought his infectious enthusiasm to the team and helped lead it to a berth in the NIT tournament on his way to becoming the first Lion to earn Big Ten Freshman of the Year honors. That flash of accomplishment was followed by back-to-back losing seasons before the breakout campaign of 2008, but through the ups and downs Cornley stayed focused, adding three-point shooting to his offensive arsenal and welcoming the role of team leader.

Cornley, to me, always appeared to be an athlete that "got it." Too often players have the habit of looking at sports through their own eyepiece and not the perspective of the fans. Fans are, by their very nature, fickle. They will love you and then leave you, and all the while expecting you to do nothing but your best to earn their affection. Cornley understood that, right or wrong, Penn State basketball was never going to become relevant without wins. It's not a coincidence that many of the traditions associated with football - white outs, zombie nation, Paternoville - took hold in the year the team went 11-1 and took home the Big Ten and Orange Bowl championship trophies. Winning breeds excitement and creates a mutualistic relationship between fans and team that has no substitute.

The athletics and marketing department tried its best to spark interest by giving the basketball cheering section it's own name, handing out free T-Shirts and even trying to bribe students to show up with free tickets - it wasn't going to work. The one thing they couldn't manufacture was wins and that was the missing ingredient to the potential chemistry between fans and the program. To his credit, Cornley always moderated his frustration with the lack of support, stopping short of calling fans out like so many athletes do, and thus further alientating himself. He simply went to work at doing the only thing he could to lift the program up; win.

Now, after captaining the team to a school-record 27-11 season and the program's only major post-season championship, he will be associated with that one thing that athletes and fans crave like no other - success. Football's top spot in Penn State's athletic hierarchy is secure and probably always will be, but thanks to Cornley, basketball has finally shed its bottom-feeder status.

Years from now, Penn State fans will always remember Derrick Williams for taking a chance on a sputtering program and famously exclaiming, "Let's take this sleeping Lion to the national championship." Now it's time reserve that same kind of special significance for Cornley, who lifted a program buried under decades of losing and has put the conference and the country on alert that Penn State basketball is awake. He's become the keystone of the basketball movement that's taking over State College, flanked by the bonified superstar Talor Battle and a young crop of post players that will have to try to collectively fill his shoes for Penn State to capitalize on the momentum this season had earned it.

The empty space in the Bryce Jordan Center rafters will have no problem accomodating the 2009 NIT Champions banner that's sure to fly there next season, so why not hang one more banner up there with it? Hang Cornley's #2 up there above the court, and punctuate this time in Penn State basketball history by honoring one of the greatest Lions to ever play.

FINALLY!

BEAVER CANYON OF HEROES

For much of Tuesday night, Madison Square Garden, and the bars around it for that matter, felt more like a Penn State pep rally than the site of the N.I.T. semifinals. Talor Battle said it felt like a home game, and Ed DeChellis said that he hopes he'll get the same kind of support when Penn State takes on Baylor for the tournament championship on Thursday. Eddie and his team might get more than they bargained for from its rabid fanbase.

Playing its second game in New York City in three nights, the Lions will be greeted by thousands of Nittany Lion fans cheering their team on to the first post-season championship in program history. Leading the charge, as usual, are the students who's ticket demand has required 33 buses to be chartered from State College to Manhattan, 13 more than were used on Tuesday.

THEY SAID IT...

It's the end of the line for this year's Penn State's basketball team, final stop - N.I.T. Championship. Dan did a great job crystallizing exactly what's on the line for this year's group of dedicated seniors and with the clock showing 40 minutes on their college career, it's time for them to finish the job they started when they first came to Penn State.

Here's how the game is being talked about in Happy Valley, Waco, Tx. and around the country....

NY Times

A win would mean Penn State’s first title in 10 N.I.T. appearances. The Lions have played in the semifinals five times, making the championship game once before, in 1998. Penn State has never won an N.C.A.A. championship in men’s basketball.

Centre Daily Times

The 14 force Bears turnovers per game and love to fire out on the break. They’ve scored 76 points per game and are as athletic a team as Penn State has faced this season. “If we were running races, they’d probably beat us,” DeChellis said. “But we’re playing basketball, and we’ll just try to have to neutralize that as best we can."

The Daily Collegian

Jones controlled the glass, and at the end of the game found himself at the line icing the game and sending the Lions to their first NIT championship since 1998.

It will also be a chance to coronate a record-setting season with a postseason championship.

"Early on, I don't know if we saw this coming," Cornley said. "Now that we're here, you always wanna take advantage of it. To end our season 27-11 is a record that I don't think any of us saw coming, but it's here now."

Waco Tribune-Herald

Tonight at Madison Square Garden, the National Invitation Tournament championship is there for the taking for a senior class that has risen from unimaginable lows to a national stage.

After four straight impressive wins, the Bears hope to finish off their remarkable NIT run with a title win over Penn State at 6 tonight.

Dallas Morning News

Drew has shed a tear or two, realizing there were times the Bears simply didn't have the talent to compete with the best of the Big 12.

So it should come as no surprise that Drew became emotional when asked Wednesday for his lasting impressions of his seniors. With back-to-back 20-win seasons for the first time in school history and a date with Penn State in tonight's National Invitation Tournament championship game, the Bears have come a long way.

WAITING FOR A LONG TIME

Even with the help of my Macbook, I've never been too good at creating my own videos. However, if I were to make a highlight video in preparation for tonight's NIT Championship, I would be sure to include "Waiting" by Green Day as the background music. As you can see in the lyrics below, it sum's up the feelings of the Penn State basketball team and fan base quite well. The program has been starving for a championship for years and years, and tonight, all of the hope, dreams and hard work by the team are finally coming to fruition.

"I've been waiting for a long time
For this moment to come
I'm destined
For anything...at all
Downtown lights will be shining
On me like a diamond
Ring out under the midnight hour
No one can touch me now
And I can't turn my back
It's too late ready or not at all

I'm so much closer than
I have ever known...
Wake up

Dawning of a new era
Calling...don't let it catch you falling
Ready or not at all
So close enough to taste it
Almost...I can embrace this
Feeling....on the tip of my tongue

I'm so much closer than
I have ever known...
Wake up
Better thank your lucks stars....

I've been waiting for a long time
For this moment to come
I'm destined for anything at all

Dumbstruck
Color me stupid
Good luck
You're gonna need it
Where I'm going if I get there...
At all....

Wake up
Better thank your lucky stars...."

SENIOR NIGHT

When Jamelle Cornley, Stanley Pringle, Danny Morrissey, and Will Leiner step onto the floor tonight, there won't be any doubt about it - it will be their last collegiate basketball game. For weeks now, the team has been playing with their future hanging in the balance. Cornley, the leader he is, even had to sit for the second round NIT game, leaving his future up to his teammates. Although there will be some sadness lingering around the four seniors tonight, you can be certain there's not many other ways they'd rather go out.

Looking back throughout the thick Penn State history books, you'll notice that the men's basketball team has never won a post-season championship. With the opportunity to bring PSU that coveted first championship during their last game in a place like Madison Square Garden, you can be certain the four seniors will be playing with unmatched determination.

Judging by Tuesday night's pro-Penn State crowd, tomorrow's championship against Baylor will be more like senior night inside the BJC instead of a neutral game. Let's make those "We Are" chants a little louder tonight, and let's stand a little longer while we send out the seniors...as Champions.

History should be made tonight, hope you can be a part of it.