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.