The Floating Lion

BRACKETS!

2010-03-08T10:12:00.005-05:00

The season might not have ended as planned...or began as planned for that matter...or at any time resembled what fans were expecting in 2010, but the time we've all been waiting for has finally arrived. The Nittany Lions, who were so incredible in the single-elimination tournament format last season that saw them travel from University Park to Gainesville to the Big Apple, have their spot in the conference tournament and a chance to punch their own ticket to the big dance.

Penn State drew the primetime slot for its first round game this Thursday against Minnesota, a team that has defeated the Lions twice this season by a total of eight points. It's difficult to know what to expect from the Golden Gophers, a squad that kicked off the season ranked in the top-20 but hasn't won more than two games in a row since the Big Ten season started.

The Gophers, slotted sixth in the Big Ten, need to at least reach the championship game, and that still might not be enough, to be considered for an at-large invitation. Should the Lions get by Minnesota, co-champion Michigan State awaits in the second round. A likely matchup with co-champion Purdue would follow should Penn State upset the Spartans and then a finals showdown against Ohio State or Wisconsin. It's a tough road to hoe for the Lions for sure, but maybe, just maybe, if all the fortuitous bounces and breaks that Penn State seemed to not get all season are repaid to it this weekend, this never-say-die team will get a chance to shine on the biggest stage of all.

SOMEBODY LET ME OFF THIS CRAZY THING

2010-03-04T22:59:00.004-05:00

The most cynical of Penn State basketball fans would never dream of a season like this one.

The roller coaster named "The 2010 Penn State Men's Basketball Season" continued to dip and dive on Thursday night, culminating in another heartbreaking one-possession loss to Michigan State in what has become a seemingly endless "loop de loop" of unfulfilling drama.

It's nearly pointless to analyze the game, when one could second-guess virtually every possession as the one that would have changed the outcome. Suffice it to say that the Lions showed tremendous guts in fighting back from numerous double-digit deficits on the road against a team that had everything to play for. The steal by Chris Babb with under a minute to go, the hustle by Bill Edwards to not allow an easy layup, the oh-so-close five-second call against Michigan State that didn't come and the last second race up the court by Talor Battle serve as little more than residue of another loss in a season full of missed opportunities.

Throughout the basketball desert that has been the last two decades of Penn State basketball, one might have allowed himself to longingly fantasize about a time when the Lions would blossom into a giant on the hardwood and claim vengeance for years of humiliating defeats. In his worst moments of frustration he might even have envisioned a team that would reset the record books for futility and finally hit the rock bottom of college basketball.

Yet I can't imagine a fan that could have predicted that Penn State, following what arguably was its best season in the history of the program, would follow a path littered with heartbreaking losses as it has this year. Thursday's two-point loss at East Lansing was the ninth this season that came by six points or less or in overtime. If there were a courtroom of college basketball for teams to air grievances, the Lions could call the thousands of fans in Nittany Nation to bear witness to the cruel and unusual punishment that has befallen it all year long. Had the Lions even split those contests, they would be above .500 overall and right in the middle of the conference standings.

There's one game left in the regular season and then a chance to punch a ticket to the big dance with four straight wins in Indianapolis. If this team hasn't given up by now, you can be sure that it will give everything its got to extend its season with a miraculous run through the conference tournament. Judging by the way things have gone to this point, Penn State will lose on a last second four-point play in the championship game.

THE COLOR PURPLE

2010-03-02T16:06:00.006-05:00

Here's a suggestion for the next time Penn State's basketball team decides to do a team-building exercise...karaoke. That's right. Let coach Eddie D put on his best neon stretch pants and 80's hair band style wig and take the stage. The song...a somewhat improvised brand of David Lee Roth's version of California Girls that goes something like this: "I wish they all could be like Northwestern."

Penn State looks like an entirely different team against the Wildcats. Its offense actually looks fluid (the Lions two highest scoring outputs this season both came against Northwestern), its bench plays with confidence and contributes at both ends and its defense is active and makes Northwestern's offense look like...well, Penn State's usually does.

There's just something about the purple and white that brings out the best in Penn State. Typically, that something is just the fact that the Wildcats are awful. But this season, that's not the case as Northwestern was, as of two weeks ago, a serious contender for an at-large berth in the big dance. This year's bottom feeders, Indiana and Iowa (along with Penn State), both beat the Lions. Traditional basketball royalty Indiana drew a particularly uninspired effort from the blue and white in State College.

By contrast, Northwestern and its 18 overall wins has been a solid middle-of-the-pack team in the conference this year, but gave Penn State two of its three Big Ten wins by a combined 30 points. The only question that remains is whether or not Penn State can possibly draw the Wildcats again.

As the standings are right now, Penn State is tied for 10th with Indiana and, assuming both teams lose out, will draw the seventh seed as a first-round opponent in the conference tourney. And just who is that lucky number seven team? Northwestern.

There's still a week of regular season games left to be played, but even if the Lions can't improve their stock by pulling off an upset of in their next two games, they still might not be in bad shape to play into the weekend in Indianapolis. Considering the Lions next two opponents are both likely second-day matchups for Penn State in the Big Ten tournament, this week will be extremely valuable should the Lions draw one of those two teams in the postseason.

IT'S HOW YOU FINISH

2010-02-24T12:06:00.005-05:00

Another great video put together by Alex Cohen of Nittany Nation.

STOP EVAN TURNER

2010-02-24T11:00:00.006-05:00

I'm sure coach Ed DeChellis will have a few more points on his bulletin board before this evening's game with ninth-ranked Ohio State, however I think everyone knows what the main goal is.

Ohio State will come into the Jordan Center tonight not only boasting a top-10 national ranking, but also a Player-of-the-Year contender in Evan Turner. Turner, a versatile junior point guard, has been heating up in 2010 since missing a month of play in December with two broken vertebrae.

Since Penn State has been spreading the scoring around (finally), Turner now leads the Big Ten Conference with averages of 19.5 points and 9.3 rebounds, and is second in assists at 5.8. He led Ohio State (21-7, 11-4) in a key win at Michigan State on Sunday. For the record, Talor Battle is in second averaging 19.0 points per game.

Turner has been relentless over his past few games (averaging just under 25 points over the last two, earning his sixth Big Ten Player of the Week honors), and it's obvious the Lions will have their work cut out for then. However, as the defense has been tightening things up over their last two road wins, they might just be peaking at the right time.

The Ohio State point guard hasn't taken as many three-point attempts this year as in year's past, however that doesn't mean Penn State's zone can relax with him at the top of the key. The key to limiting Turner's chances will be the Penn State big men tightening the middle of the zone, and the guards helping trap Turner in the corners. Similar to Coach Jim Boeheim's style of zone up north at Syracuse, the Lions will have to play with increased energy, constantly shifting to take away passing lanes - especially to the inside. It's obvious the Lions don't have the height or length as Syracuse's 2-3 zone, and have had trouble shifting in the past, however there's no reason to believe they haven't improved over weeks past.

In the Lions 13-point loss to the Buckeyes back in January (which was much closer than the score shows), Turner lit up the scoreboard for 27 points on 9 of 15 shooting, hitting 9 of 11 free throws. If PSU is going to keep the overall score low (which is always their goal), they'll need to limit Turner's opportunities without giving him an easy 10 from the free throw line. As he cuts to the basket with relative ease, quick hands and feet for Penn State will be dire.

All facets of the Penn State defense have shown signs of improvement, including Drew Jones who held his own against Michigan's DeShawn Sims. Sims, who averages 17.5 points per game, was held to only 10 points on Saturday. If everyone on the defensive end can play as aggressive tonight as they did against Michigan, a third-straight Big Ten victory might just be in the cards for the Nittany Lions.

If the scoring and rebounding can stay as balanced as they have been over the last week, I'd double those chances.

WHAT LOSING STREAK?

2010-02-21T21:17:00.005-05:00

What's better than winning your first Big Ten conference game? Winning two in a row. More than just doubling its win total in conference, Penn State's victory on the road against Michigan on Saturday symbolized the killing of two demons with one stone.

First, the Lions earned a tough road win in a place that has always given them problems. Secondly, Penn State finally won one of those close games that has tortured the team all season. The season isn't saved, not yet, but after twelve straight losses the start the Big Ten schedule, back-to-back wins have allowed this team and its fans to exhale.

The four point victory against the Wolverines wasn't much for aesthetics, but it was evidence of a team that finally conquered, at least for one game, the late game collapses that has become its trademark. A final look at the play-by-play from Saturday revealed another such drought, but this time, despite scoring just four points in the last 9:57 of the game, the team's defense and rebounding proved to be enough to steal a much-needed win.

The two straight wins weren't without their flaws, and nearly all of them, if not corrected, will be exposed by the Ohio State Buckeyes on Wednesday. It sounds strange to say given its struggles, but this team needs to continue to be motivated by its new-found success rather than relaxed by it. Sure, some of the pressure is off after shedding the "0-for-" label, but the Lions have three big dogs remaining on their schedule and can throw a monkey wrench into the conference standings if they can pick at least one of them off.

Not all of what has led to the change in fortunes of the squad can be explained on a whiteboard, but there are noticeable differences in the way the team has played. The Lions hoisted an average of 19.8 three-pointers per game during the 12-game losing streak but shot only 17 against Northwestern and tied a season-low with just 13 attempts against Michigan. This has been made possible by a seemingly concerted effort by the guards to get the ball in low with entry passes to the front-court players early in the shot clock. This attempt at balancing the floor has resulted in some easier buckets and an apparently more confident Jeff Brooks and Andrew Jones.

Sure, the turnovers continue to be a problem and opponents still get wide open looks due to late rotations, but it is encouraging to see the team correcting the problems that plagued it to start the season. If only it could have engineered this turnaround six weeks ago.

T-E-A-M

2010-02-19T10:06:00.005-05:00

For the first time since Penn State's thrilling run in the NIT Tournament last March, the squad was able to put together a full 40 minute team effort, which in-coincidentally resulted in their first Big Ten win of the season.

After relying on the prowess of Talor Battle all season, the rest of Ed DeChellis' squad decided to show up and bail the junior out on a night he was struggling from the floor (2-8, 1-6 from three). All five Lion starters scored in double figures, and it was the first time since Penn State had two players score at least 20 points since January 24th of last year.

Leading the charge were F David Jackson and G Chris Babb, who both had career games after heavily under-performing for the majority of the season. Jackson, who has struggled to find his rhythm on the floor this season, played with confidence as he recorded his seventh straight double-digit scoring game. Jeff Brooks and Andrew Jones added 12 and 10 points respectively, on a night the Lions hit 56% from the floor and 41% from behind the arc.

However, as the Lions are traveling to Ann Arbor tomorrow (a place they've only won once in their previous 15 tries), they can't get caught up celebrating their first Big Ten victory. When Michigan made the trip to State College in early January, the Lions blew a 17 point lead, eventually losing by 9 in front of a paltry crowd of just over 5,000.

But, if they can build off Wednesday's performance, the Lions should be in good shape to contend for their second straight victory. With the exception of Babb (the only player in double figures), the Lions shot horribly from the floor against Michigan on January 7th. The Wolverines (13-12, 6-7), utilize a mix of a 1-3-1 and 2-3 zone which the Lions have traditionally struggled with, however against Northwestern on Wednesday, PSU had their way with the 1-3-1. Jones and Andrew Ott were consistently able to get inside the center of the zone, and Battle and freshman Tim Frazier had no trouble beating the Wildcats on the baseline or with the backdoor cut. While Michigan is holding their opponents to only 57 points over the past 10 games, the Lions will come into the Crisler Arena with the same game plan they had against Northwestern - get the ball to the middle forcing two guys to cover the ball, and kick out for an open look.

While Michigan's offense, led by DeShawn Sims and Manny Harris, is certainly more dynamic than the Wildcats, Penn State was able to keep them to 16 points during the first half of their last contest. If Penn State's 2-3 zone can successfully extend to keep Michigan from getting open looks from three, the inside three should certainly be able to hold their own on the defensive glass.

It's not very often you see Battle have two sub par games in a row, so you can look for him to come out hungry off the opening tip. If his supporting cast can come out with the same enthusiasm and confidence they had earlier in the week, the Lions should be able to stay close until the final whistle. Hopefully it'll be a flight home the TEAM can be proud of, not just Battle.

HISTORY IN THE MAKING?

2010-02-15T15:21:00.006-05:00

When it comes to basketball, it's quite rare to think of anything that Penn State has done as historical. Then again, the team did set the school's all-time record for victories in a season and raised a banner in the Bryce Jordan Center with last year's NIT Championship run and is currently is on pace to become the only school, other than Northwestern, to ever lose every game in a Big Ten basketball season since Woodrow Wilson was president.

Fans that have paid attention to this year's squad knows that it probably is a good deal better than its record would indicate, but the record books won't make any special designation to that fact. All that history will preserve is the zero in the win column, a distinction that will rank the Lions with the Wildcats teams from 1999-2000, 1991-1991, 1923-1924 as the only teams to go the entire season without an in-conference win in the last 85 years.

Penn State has seven games left, including a first round game at the Big Ten tournament, and the desperation to stop the losing will grow with each half of basketball it plays. Only three of its remaining contests are home games and only one of those is against an unranked foe. Ironically, the best chance for the Lions to get that elusive first win might be in one of its two remaining matchups against Northwestern, the program it's hoping to avoid joining for all eternity as the ultimate losers. However, should the Lions lose the rest of the games it plays this season (conference tournament games don't count towards a team's conference record), its final mark of 0-18 would officially be worst in the history of Big Ten basketball. What a difference a year makes.

THE WINNING RECIPE

2010-02-11T18:00:00.005-05:00

It's plain to see, even to Joe Paterno and his new surgically enhanced eyes, that something needs to change for Penn State basketball. The first six weeks of conference play have provided exactly zero victories and shoved the Lions into the basement of the Big Ten standings. However, as the recent slide by Saturday's opponent Michigan State has shown, things can change in this league in a hurry.

Just because the Lions haven't won yet, doesn't mean they can't or won't - it just means that they'll have to make some changes to get over that hump that looks more like Mount Everest after eleven straight losses. So, in the midst of what amounts to a bye week, we're taking the opportunity to look forward instead of backwards and breakdown what has to be done if Penn State is going to salvage what's left of the season.

PUSH THE BASKETBALL
Nobody will confuse this Penn State team with the slow, plodding types so often associated with Big Ten basketball. It's brutally painful to watch this team try to execute in the half-court with an offensive arsenal that consists of ball screens 25 feet away from the basket, an occasional staggered screen for Talor Battle or Chris Babb or my personal favorite, bleeding the shot clock dry to run a clearout for Battle to try and take his man off the dribble. When you have a roster like Penn State's, without a true back-to-the-basket post player, why not try and use your guard strength to create tempo and get some easy buckets off of the other team's misses.

One of the problems with this proposal is that the guards aren't available to receive the long outlet passes since they are the ones rebounding the basketball. Still, you should be able to leak out a guard to try and push the ball up the floor and if the bigs aren't the ones snaring the rebounds, then they should be able to fill the lanes on fast breaks or clear out space for open looks from the other guards on the secondary break.

GET IN THE ZONE
This team is struggling to defend teams man-to-man. It can't seem to stop the ball on penetration and the help defense is too often late, causing major problems when the defense has to rotate to find the open shooter. Ed DeChellis, master of the 1-3-1, should take some of his own advice and employ a trapping 1-3-1 or a 1-2-2. At the very least, Penn State should use these defenses after made foul shots just to give the opponent something to think about. A player like Tim Frazier would be perfect on the baseline of a 1-3-1 and playing zone would help keep Battle fresher for the offensive end.

The danger with playing zone defense would be open looks from three for the other team off of skip passes or the lack of rebounding assignments. However, the Lions are already the worst defensive three-point team in the conference and the rebounds it does collect are often from the guards crashing the glass. A good mixture of trapping, aggressive zone defenses and man-to-man pressure could give Penn State a psychological advantage and help to create more turnovers that lead to easy buckets.

THEY'RE CALLED FREE FOR A REASON
There's just absolutely no excuse for Penn State to be making less than 70% of its foul shots. Shooting free throws is more muscle memory than anything and being successful comes from repetition of a sound routine. The routine starts with finding the middle of the floor with your lead foot and ends with the ball going through the hoop. I've always felt that practice time is too precious a commodity be wasted on foul shots. The players who are really struggling need to be putting in extra time so that when the opportunity does arise in the games, it's an automatic two points.

INBOUNDS PLAYS
Whatever playbook the Lions are using to get their inbounds plays from needs to be torn up. Then thrown away. Then lit on fire. Then have the ashes put in a cannon and shot into outer space towards the Sun.

Counting to three and then launching a soccer style toss into the backcourt for your guard to chase down isn't just unproductive, it's embarrassing. I find it hard to imagine that the team and the coaches have yet to find away to consistently pass the ball to somebody within shouting distance from the hoop. Every inbounds play doesn't necessarily have to result in a slam dunk. But it really should be more than just an upper body exercise for the man throwing it in.

It's been a excruciatingly tough start for the Lions, but with seven games remaining and the magical elixir known as the Big Ten tournament exactly one month away, the team is running out chances to do something positive with the momentum it built in Madison Square Garden last spring. This Saturday against the slumping Spartans is the perfect stage to unveil some of the magic that made last season so special and prove that this squad will be a tough out in Indianapolis.

EVERYONE'S EXCITED THE FLOATING LION IS BACK

2010-02-10T09:50:00.003-05:00

THE PERFECT VALENTINE'S DAY GIFT

2010-02-10T07:59:00.008-05:00

Do you want to make this a Valentine's Day she'll never forget? Looking for something that will show her exactly why she's so special? Then don't waste your money on chocolates and flowers, get her a gift she'll treasure for years. Get her Ed DeChellis: 1-3-1 Extended Half Court Zone Defense on DVD!

This action-packed, instructional video will entertain you while also teaching you the fundamentals of this unorthodox, yet effective defensive philosophy. Rated 8.9 out of 10 on IMDB, Ed DeChellis: 1-3-1 Extended Half Court Zone Defense has been called, "This generation's Casablanca," and, "Honestly, the best god-damn thing money can buy," by me.

But don't take my word for it. Read what others have said:

"I like basketball." - President Obama

"Girls love DVDs." - Matt Leinart

"Ed DeChellis is a modern-day Cupid." - Russell Crowe

"We don't play a 1-3-1 half court zone defense." - Penn State Guard, Tim Frazier

If you want to make sure you stay out of the doghouse this Valentine's Day, don't hesitate to order Ed DeChellis: 1-3-1 Extended Half Court Zone Defense and show your special someone how much they mean to you.

THIS IS WHY HE'S OUR LEADER

2010-02-09T11:25:00.004-05:00

Can you have scripted better answers from Talor Battle during the post-game conference on Saturday?

Q: Can you talk about the attitudes right now of the guys?
A: We are still basketball players and we love to play the game. When you go out there and you expect to get steamrolled, you may as well quit. Being 0-11 now, that's like the worst feeling ever. But it gives you the stride to want to win. We are trying and trying. Sometimes I think we get up tight a little bit, but tonight we hit our shots. And then they just came back and made a spectacular shot.

Q: A lot of people are saying you guys are building character. Are you guys tired of hearing that cliché?
A: At this point, in the locker room I feel so bad for coach because he tries so hard. After a loss like this there is not much he can say. I know he is getting sick of telling us we got to keep our heads up and continue to play because we are right there and can't get over the hump.

Q: Does it feel like you guys are 0-11?
A: At this point, I have excluded all the win loss columns and I am going into each game saying we are 0-0 because it is a bad feeling. Whenever we play a game, no team takes us lightly except for Purdue and Wisconsin here. We've been right down to the net with every other team even on the road. We go out and fight. It's just unfortunate this year. We cannot get over the hump and win one.

That's just not the way college juniors are supposed to talk. But Battle doesn't play basketball the way most college juniors are supposed to be able to either. Although the season looks like a wash right now to most of Nittany Nation, you have Battle giving it his all on the court, whether it's its under the bright lights of the BJC or in the practice gym. His shots haven't been falling as often this season, but it's his attitude after possibly the most crushing loss of the season which gives everyone hope for next season.

In Big Ten games where Penn State teams of old would certainly be losing by double digits, Battle has lead the team to five losses by 6 points or less. In 11 Big Ten games to date, the Lions have lost by an average of 8.5 points per game. That's only three possessions. Three shots. Three turnovers. As he said, they've yet to turn the corner, but this team is very close, and they have Battle to thank. I have a feeling the Big Ten's leading scorer is just heating up...which is a very dangerous thing, especially if his teammates are able to rally behind him.

OFF WEEK: PRACTICE SCHEDULE

2010-02-08T23:02:00.012-05:00

After their heartbreaking, last-second loss against Minnesota on Saturday, Penn State has an off-week to figure out some things and head back to the old, proverbial drawing board.

Now, I'm not a head coach, and I've never played college basketball, however I've taken the liberty of relieving coach Ed DeChellis' coaching duties until the game on Saturday. Maybe he can spend the time off re-watching some of his old East Tennessee State tapes to remind himself why he won the PSU job in the first place.

So, I'm probably going to need a team manager or someone to make sure the players get this memo because starting 6:00 a.m. tomorrow, it's a whole new ball game.

PRACTICE SCHEDULE AS FOLLOWS:

Tuesday

First of all, Talor Battle will have the day off. After averaging 36.7 minutes per game (a number which is closer to 38-39 minutes a game in the Big Ten schedule) through 23 games so far, the kid certainly deserves some time off. Heck, someone make him breakfast in bed.

No basketball will be played on Tuesday. The day's activity will include no more than a simple lift in the morning followed by 6 hours of watching last year's highlights.

Wednesday

On Wednesday, we'll head over to the Intramural Building on campus for some old-school pick up basketball. Clearly after a 0-11 Big Ten schedule start, this team has forgotten what it feels like to win. Stripped of all Penn State supplied gear, I want Andrew Jones and company to challenge the first five kids they see on Court 1. I believe a little loose, relaxed basketball is exactly what this team needs. Talk some smack, take a foul or two. Couldn't hurt. Obviously, this guy will be there, and he'll most likely score in double-figures the way we've been playing defense in the post, however you have to learn someday. Now, I know...I can hear your skepticism already. "What if they can't cut it in the IM building Dan? What if they actually lose again?" And, here's my response to that; you're exactly right. Maybe we'll just go watch more tape of last year.

Thursday

On Thursday we're going to fire up the team jet. Hand in those 'get out of class for free' passes kids, we have a heavy flight plan.

9:00 a.m. - Louisville, Kentucky to visit the hometown and high-school of Jeff Brooks. I'm sure somewhere tucked away in the trophy case of Doss High School is a shrine to Brooks high-school career. As a Mr. Kentucky finalist and a ESPN top 100 recruit coming out of his senior year, Brooks was one of the most decorated recruits Lion history. However, averaging only 6.8 points a game this season, the forward has certainly not amounted to what this coaching staff envisioned. A visit back to his old stomping grounds might remind him of why he's playing Division One basketball and light a much needed fire under his feet.

12:00 p.m. - Arlington, Texas to the home of Chris Babb. Although he's listed as 6'2, 215 lbs. in the Penn State media guide, Babb plays more like a 5'11, 175 lb. white guy (aka me). We're heading west for a good ol' fashioned Texas BBQ to put some more weight on the kid. Once we're there, I'll make sure he gets a stern talking to from his father whom he credits much of his basketball success to. Hopefully he'll remind him how to fight through a screen, because Babb is constantly knocked, bumped and pushed out of defensive position.

3:00 p.m. - New Orleans, LA. This is more for me than anyone, but we're going to take a quick trip to Bourbon street. Someones gotta show these kids how happy people get when you win. Shirley Temple's for everyone!

6:00 p.m. - State College, PA. Before we actually head back home, we're going to stop off at Dick's to get some Mueller Stickum Grip-Enhancing Spray for Andrew Ott. The Villanova transfer NEEDS to to be able to catch the ball when he's able to get in position under the basket. I think it cost $14 bucks, I'll buy it for him.

Friday

The day before the game, it's back into the BJC first thing in the morning for a high-intensity practice. I'll invite Jamelle Corley and Danny Morrisey back to the practice facility to give the team a good ass-whooping. Hearing the frustrations and motivation from two Penn State - dare I use the words - basketball legends, will do wonders for a team that's desperate for some leadership.

Practice will be dedicated to one thing, and one thing only. They're called SET PLAYS. I don't think Ed's worked on any of these this year, so the team may be a little rusty. With the focus set on running the offense after a timeout, I plan on making the team run anytime Battle is forced to throw up an ill-advised three after play resumes. The game is at 12:00 on Saturday, but I'm guessing Friday's going to be a long day.

Normally I would give Ed back his job first thing in the morning, as I'm sure he'll probably have a few ideas or breakthroughs he'll want to share with his team. However, I can't sit back and let the team suffer through one of his utterly disastrous pre-game speeches. Don't get me wrong, I'm still a fan of Coach D, however, his "motivational" talks leave something to be desired. Maybe we could get this guy.

Something obviously needs to change behind the scenes as the current method just isn't getting these young Lions over the hump. A shock to their normal routine might just do the trick.

GOPHERS RIP OUT LIONS' HEART

2010-02-06T16:57:00.008-05:00

Do they give out 1/2 wins? Penn State raises the bar yet again for most heartbreaking defeat with a last second loss at home to Minnesota. While the buzzer-beater by Lawrence Westbrook is what people will remember from this game, there were a few other noteworthy occurrences that could help the Lions get that elusive first win somewhere down the road.

Something that Penn State should be looking to repeat in almost every game it plays is the up-tempo style that dominated much of the first half of its contest. With guys like Talor Battle, Tim Frazier and Chris Babb, pushing the ball and playing a 94-foot game is beneficial - especially when the team isn't shooting particularly well (40.4% vs Minn.). Secondly, the Lions finally got some productive minutes from Frazier in the second half, who showed he is maturing quickly enough to be a solid contributor on this team for forty minutes.

The Lions continue to struggle at the foul line and from behind the three-point arc, but continued to show improvement in attacking the basket - even if it didn't always lead to a positive result. The area that has plagued the Lions the most and struck again on Saturday was the lack of tough defense. Penn State got beat to too many loose balls and surrendered too many open looks. On the other end, the athleticism of Bill Edwards was missed, but the frontcourt has to provide more offense than it did against the Gophers. David Jackson poured in 18, but 14 of them were from the foul line or came on three-point field goals. Thirty-nine of the other 46 points came from the guards.

It's probably good that the Lions have a week off after this win. Some might say that it's too much time to digest such a heartbreaking loss, but maybe the best thing for this team is get away from the court for a couple of days and put this ugly losing streak behind them. Michigan State is up next, a team that tends to bring out a strong effort against Penn State. Much like the football team, this squad needs something to hang its hat on this season - and a win against Tom Izzo would certainly provide that. It was refreshing to see the Lions play well in the last couple minutes of Saturday's game, it will be even better to see them in the win column.

IT'S TIME TO DRAW A LINE IN THE SAND

2010-02-06T08:27:00.006-05:00

Today's the day. Today's the day. Today's the day.

It is somewhat fitting that the team that started it all will also be the team that ends it. The conference schedule, and subsequent 10-game losing streak, began with a five-point loss to Minnesota. It's only slightly comforting to think about what might have been had the Lions not shriveled in the waning minutes of that game. Perhaps it would have been a spring board to another successful season rather than a sliding board to the basement of the Big Ten.

There's no real reason to think that today's game will really be any different the last ten, and it's rather sad when you're best chance of winning a game comes down to the laws of probability (We have to win one, right?), but just maybe the old unis and the blizzard outside will provide the recipe for some home cooking at the Bryce Jordan Center and help end the drought.

More than a victory, I am looking for something else today. The most frustrating thing to me this season has been how the team has reacted, or not reacted, to the losses. Sure, there was the clearly audible expletive from Talor Battle at the end of the Ohio State game and the cameras have caught a few other frowns from the guys on the bench, but where's the real emotion felt from losing ten straight? There hasn't been one technical foul, one hard foul or any pushing and shoving. I know, discipline is important, but at what point does a 20-year-old kid get sick of getting pushed around, or does his coach decide to show some real emotion instead of just holding his head in his hand?

So here's a memo to the team: It's okay to be angry and to play that way too. It's okay to get sick of guys hitting uncontested layups on you or getting your shots blocked back in your face. It's okay to send a message with a hard, clean foul on a player. We're not talking about Jon Chaney's goon squad from a few years ago, just something to let the other team know you're not exactly okay with being the league's doormat.

It's going to take a Herculean effort to get that first win, with the suffocating weight of ten straight losses working to hold the team down, but today's a perfect day to break through and start the slow climb back to respectability.

::UPDATE::

2010-02-04T15:00:00.004-05:00

The Penn State Men's Basketball Team will wear throwback uni's in this weekend's contest against Minnesota, in an effort to shed the stench their current jerseys permeate after an 0-10 Big Ten season start.

Full article here....

I don't work for the athletic department or anything, but if the Lions can pull off the win, I say they throw the throwbacks in the mix for the rest of the season, polyester/wool blend or not...

SILVER LINING

2009-11-19T22:16:00.002-05:00

Back in August, Penn State fans envisioned that the Lions' game against Michigan State this weekend would be nothing more than a coronation. Beating the Spartans would be the final touch on a sparkling undefeated season that landed Penn State back in Pasadena. Instead, after a season that has been devoid of impressive wins and signature moments, the game is a chance to beat a bowl-eligible team, perhaps earn a share of the conference title and strengthen the Lions' shaky BCS resume. Still, despite falling short of expectations, this season has been a fun one for Penn State and its fans. Each week, the Blue and White faithful not only live and die with each down for their team, but have had a rooting interest in so many otherwise unimportant games.

Consider for a moment the position of a Florida Gators fan (one of my good friends is such a person and gave me the idea for this post). He's enjoyed his program's greatest success the last few years, celebrating two national titles and a 20-game winning streak. He's seen his Gators pulverize the rest of the SEC while being the favorite every time they take the field. Heading into this season, the Gators were easily the top-ranked team in the nation and have known that regardless of what every other team in the country does, all it has to do is win. The only scoreboard that has to be tracked is the one that says "U of F" on it. Sure, it's fun to see if rivals win or lose and the Gator Nation was more than a little curious as to whom it would play in the conference championship game, but outside of those few contests, every other game was completely ancillary.

I am not saying that I wouldn't rather have a Penn State team that was 10-0 right not and ranked first, but given what the Lions are in 2009, I am happy that I get to cheer for all hell to break loose every Saturday. I remember rooting hard against Ole Miss when it was ranked ahead of Penn State and lost on the road to South Carolina, only to freeze in the rain while Penn State blew a fourth quarter lead to Iowa two nights later. Then, as Penn State put together its five-game winning streak, I started to cheer hard against the remaining unbeatens, hoping they would fall back to the Lions and allow Penn State to have an argument to be included in the discussion for the national title. Now, with a possible quarter-share of the Big Ten championship at stake this weekend and a shot at a second-straight BCS berth, this weekend's games will have me glued to my set.

Right now, I am watching Colorado try to hang on for the upset against Oklahoma State, a win that would greatly improve Penn State's chances for a BCS game. I will also, as always, be cheering hard against that four-letter word from western Pennsylvania as it takes on West Virginia and Cincinnati. I'll wish for Utah State to upend Boise State, Minnesota to take down Iowa and Michigan to beat Ohio State. If Penn State were 11-0, I wouldn't care nearly as much about these games, although I would have plane tickets to Pasadena.

There's no arguing that having Penn State in the race for the national title isn't a better scenario than having it fighting for its BCS life, but there's something to be said for how much more invested fans are in all the other games when the Lions need help to get where they're going.

BATTLE OFF AND RUNNING

2009-11-14T07:55:00.004-05:00

The Nittany Lion basketball team proved that its game against the Penn Quakers was nothing more than a Training Day, winning its season opener 70-55 on Friday night. Star guard Talor Battle earned much of the Glory, netting 27 points to go along with his 10 rebounds and four assists to lead the team in all three categories.

Junior Jeff Brooks played great as an Inside Man, and was the only other Lion to score in double figures, chipping in ten points in 27 minutes, perhaps showing that this is the year He Got Game. Guards Chris Babb, Tim Frazier, Cameron Woodyard and Adam Highberger shot just 31%, making fans Remember the Titans of last year's sharpshooting backcourt.

Penn, from Philadelphia, hung tough with the Nittany Lions for most of the night, but the Lions showed tremendous Courage Under Fire to pull away with a late surge and win their fifth straight conference opener.

Oh yeah, Denzel Washington was at the game to watch his son, a freshman on the Quakers, play.

5 REASONS TO GET ON BOARD WITH PENN STATE BASKETBALL

2009-11-10T14:58:00.008-05:00

The Penn State basketball team opens its 2010 season on Friday night against the University of Pennsylvania at the Bryce Jordan Center. Just in case you were looking for a reason to pay attention to Eddie D and the boys this year, here's your list of five reasons why you should care about Penn State basketball.

5. 15th Anniversary of the Bryce Jordan Center
If you've been to Rec Hall for a game, you'll probably never be convinced that this arena was an upgrade (and a nostalgic part of me doesn't disagree) but the Bryce Jordan Center was unveiled as one of the jewels of college basketball fifteen years ago. In a terrific turn of serendipity, the ribbon-cutting on the state-of-the-art building coincided with one of the best regular seasons in Penn State basketball history. Since then, the teams that have called it home haven't always been great, but the amenities, parking and video boards certainly are. Now, finally, the team promises to be even better than the halftime acts that used to be the main drawing point for half the crowd.

Many jokes have been made about the museum-feeling associated with games in the BJC, but that's more due to the fans and the play on the court than the building itself. Last year, the BJC was host to thrilling wins against George Mason and Illinois and the growing student section has begun to carve out a niche for itself among Big Ten fan bases. Maybe you've been hibernating since the team moved across campus or maybe you were never big into college hoops, but this year is the best time to come and see why, on the BJC's 15th birthday, it was the envy of other schools when it first opened.

4. The Schedule
It took longer than most people would have liked, but the Penn State team has finally made amends for the weak out-of-conference schedules it has played in previous seasons. Whether or not the soft slate was the reason the Lions didn't get invited to the Big Dance last season, this year's campaign is dotted with quality teams. The season opens with Penn and then takes the Lions down to South Carolina for the Charleston Classic that includes South Carolina, Miami (Fl), Davidson, South Florida and UNC Wilmington. Other non-con opponents include Virginia, Temple, Virginia Tech and American University all before a blockbuster Big Ten schedule begins.

3. The Big Ten Network
It was easy to ignore Penn State basketball in years past since it was never actually on television, but now, with the Big Ten network, you can follow the Lions every step of the way. The only game on Penn State's schedule not listed as being televised as of today is the December 5th game on Broad Street in Philadelphia against Temple. You won't have to squint at the box scores to find out what happened to the Lions anymore, just flip on the BTN and watch.

2. You Might Regret it Later if You Don't
Most of today's Penn State football fans weren't around when coach Joe Paterno took the head coaching job in 1966. We've come in at various points throughout his long tenure and relied on videos, books or other fans to fill in the gaps we missed. It is beyond anybody's realistic or even wildest dreams that the basketball program will reach the heights of the football squad, but there's no arguing that this is a program that can succeed and be competitive for NCAA Tournament berths and conference titles every year.

The Lions success last year was hopefully just the beginning of what they can accomplish and the excitement felt by getting on the bandwagon now cannot be replaced by jumping on five years from now when winning is a regularity. There's something special about being around for the start of something important (just ask Ben Franklin and company) as anybody in MSG for the NIT Championship last year will tell you.

1. Talor Battle
He's a beast. Last year as a sophomore, he rose to the top of list of Big Ten guards while leading the Lions to the most regular season wins in school history. Despite being the focal point of every defense he played against, Battle routinely came up with clutch baskets and let the fans know the team was never out of any game it played. The All Big-Ten performer shared the leadership mantle with Jamelle Cornley and fought through a mid-season slump caused by fatigue and personal issues, to lead the team into the post-season. Now that Cornley has gone on to the pros, Battle is the unquestioned leader of this team and he's already proved to the world that he has the skills to be one of the country's best guards.

Battle, the BJC, the BTN, the schedule and beginning of new basketball tradition. If you aren't there to see what this team has in store for fans after the first postseason championship in the program's history, you have nobody to blame but yourself.

MAD ANT FEVER...CATCH IT

2009-11-10T09:10:00.004-05:00

Former Penn State basketball standout Jamelle Cornley has been drafted by the Fort Wayne Mad Ants of the NBA Developmental League with the 42nd overall pick. Cornley, who reportedly tinkered with the idea of transitioning to the gridiron after leading the Nittany Lions to an NIT Championship last spring, played briefly with a professional basketball team in the Ukraine before returning to the U.S. last summer.

The three-time MVP of the Nittany Lions basketball team opted to have surgery on his injured shoulder following the 2009 season, limiting his ability to showcase his talent to scouts and coaches in the NBA after a successful college career.

Cornley is one of 17 players who will vie for a spot on the ten-man roster when the NBDL's season begins on November 27th. The Mad Ants will play a preseason game on November 20th in Meadville, PA against the Erie Bayhawks.

THE BALLAD OF OHIOWA

2009-11-08T14:19:00.008-05:00

Listen closely and I'll tell you a tale about the 2009 Penn State Nittany Lions. Just stop me if you've heard it before.

A capacity crowd at Beaver Stadium awaits the appearance of its beloved Lions, roaring in anticipation of a Saturday showdown against a Big Ten power. Penn State, highly ranked and riding the momentum of a string of easy victories, has made believers out of pundits and fans alike and enter the game favored to win and expected to take the lead in the race for the conference championship. However, the thousands of home fans go home disappointed as the buildup for the game far outdoes the action on the field. Ultimately, questionable playcalling, poor execution and crippling special teams blunders bury the Lions in a double-digit loss.

This script has been played out twice in the 2009 campaign, once against Iowa on September 26 and again against the Ohio State Buckeyes on November 7. The loss to the Hawkeyes was upsetting but not unfathomable, the loss to Ohio State was puzzling. The Lions led its game against the Hawkeyes into the fourth quarter until a blocked punt gave Iowa the lead and turned the tide of the contest for good. Still, as frustrating as it was, it could have been considered a "quality" loss. The Haweyes were undefeated and ranked fourth in the country until their starting quarterback got hurt and Iowa dream season spoiled against Northwestern. Additionally, the game was played in less than ideal weather conditions and Penn State, although undefeated, still couldn't get out of its own way in its first three games against subpar competition.

Then came the game against Ohio State. The Buckeyes, the recurring antagonist in Penn State's 17 year nightmare, did what they do best against the Lions, dominate. This loss hurt so much more than the Iowa game because I really don't think fans saw it coming. In the five weeks after the loss to the Hawkeyes, Penn State's offense and defense had become downright frightening. Averaging nearly 30 points per game while allowing less than nine, the Lions were a freight train headed straight for the BCS. Not only was the team playing its best football, but the fans had been conditioned to think that this was not like the other Penn State teams. This Lions team had no problems playing on the road, going 7-1 in the last two seasons and had broken out of its funk against Michigan, beating the Wolverines by a combined 54 points in two years. It had even taken down the Buckeyes in the Horseshoe for the first time since joining the conference. This is not to suggest that the 2009 team is the same as the 2008, but this is the Spread HD and Captain Clark, there was no need to fear.

The worst thing about the loss to Ohio State last Saturday, for me, was that it seemed like Penn State didn't know what to expect. It appeared that Penn State wasn't aware that it had huge deficiencies in the special teams game or that Ohio State had a ferocious defense. It's one thing to lose to a superior team when you execute your best, its another thing to lose a game when you commit a crucial mistake but it's an entirely worse thing to come out flat or to look unprepared in a big game.

In its eleven losses against Ohio State, the Lions are averaging just 10.9 points per game and have scored more than 17 only twice. The 24-7 loss to the Buckeyes is what fans should have expected given Penn State's previous performances against Ohio State, but it still defies logic how this particular team's best effort at home only netted seven points.

Perhaps if Clark hadn't been playing some of the best quarterback in the country, perhaps if the running game hadn't found its stride, perhaps if the wide receivers hadn't appeared to have come of age, fans could understand why Saturday happened. Instead, they are left scratching their heads and nursing that all-to-familiar feeling of letdown.

WELCOME TO THE PARTY, TEMPLE

2009-11-01T15:52:00.003-05:00

The Floating Lion would like to interrupt your regularly scheduled Penn State content to inform you that Temple, yes Temple, has received one vote in both the AP and Coaches Poll this week. The Owls picked up their sixth straight win since starting the year 0-2 with a win against Navy on Saturday. Congrats to Temple for giving Penn State's non-conference schedule some serious credibility.

CLARK IS ON THE MARK

2009-10-27T12:17:00.007-04:00

Daryll Clark continued his strong play on the road on Saturday, leading Penn State to a 34-13 victory over Northwestern in a game that had all the makings of a typical trap game. Sandwiched between the Michigan and Ohio State games, the contest against the Wildcats didn't seem to have the Lions' full attention for the first 45 minutes of the game as the teams were tied at 13 going into the final quarter. Luckily, Penn State took its "Stanzi-pills" and came out with guns blazing in the fourth score 21 unanswered and put the game away.

Clark finished the game 22-31 for 274 yards and two total touchdowns and, perhaps most importantly, no turnovers. Since his poor performance against Iowa in which he tossed three interceptions and completed only 38% of his passes, Clark has been on fire. In the last five games he has connected on 66% of his throws, accounting for 14 total touchdowns and only one turnover. Not surprisingly, the Lions are 5-0 in that stretch with an average victory margin of 27 points.

One reason for the increased success in the aerial attack may be the infusion of Clark's running into the offensive game plan. Nearly 70% of his rushing attempts, 80% of his rushing yards and all of his touchdowns on the ground this season have come in the last five games.

The senior captain's strong performances haven't gone unnoticed as Clark has been named one of 15 semi-finalists for the Davey O'Brien Award and is the only player to be twice-named the Big Ten's offensive player of the week (Akron and Michigan) in 2009.

Still, for all of his success this season, the lasting memory of the 2009 campaign may be crystallized next Saturday when Penn State welcomes the Ohio State Buckeyes to Beaver Stadium. Last season, Clark watched backup quarterback Pat Devlin lead the Lions to a fourth-quarter rally in Columbus through glassy eyes after being knocked from the game with a concussion. Should he lead his team to victory in this game, Clark will finish his career undefeated against as a starter against Ohio State, Michigan and Wisconsin, the first Penn State quarterback to ever accomplish such a feat.

ESPN, HOW ABOUT 60 for 1986?

2009-10-20T13:41:00.006-04:00

Allow me to begin by disclosing that I am skeptical about ESPN. Sort of like the way Jerry was skeptical about Tom, high school girls are skeptical about pimples or the kids that lived on Elm Street were skeptical of Freddy Krueger. However, when the network announced that it would be "celebrating" its 30th anniversary with a new series of hour-long sports documentary programming called 30 for 30, I was more than a little intrigued.

Side Note: What does it say about you when you are forced to celebrate your own accomplishments because you have so ostracized everybody else in your industry that nobody else wants to acknowledge your longevity and the innovations you're responsible for (including the many horrors that go along with it)?

As a sports fan and a cinema fan, sports documentaries are twice as delicious for me. If done well, a sports documentary is a well told, visually stimulating, in-depth look at a subject that, for me, is inherently fascinating. It has always amazed me that HBO was allowed by ESPN and other networks to possess such a stranglehold on the sports documentary market. Films that investigate the de-segregation of college football in the South, the triumph and tragedy of US Olympic teams and the odyssey of Barbaro were just a few of the many exquisitely produced HBO films that dealt with relevant sports topics.

Meanwhile, ESPN toiled with films like "A Season on the Brink," and "Hustle." Forgettable films starring Brian Dennehy and Tom Sizemore respectively that were overproduced and not as good as the books they were adapted from. But now, with 30 in 30, comes a chance for ESPN to make up for all of its former misdeeds. Thirty true documentaries exploring topics from the last 30 years in sports, all directed by interested and reputable filmmakers sounded like a fantastic idea.

When the website for the series was launched, it didn't include a full list of documentary titles and topics but did list enough to whet the sports fan's appetite. The first two installments have been solid and worth watching, but the documentary that I think every Penn State fan is waiting for is a look at the 1987 Fiesta Bowl against the Miami Hurricanes. It was the first topic that I unsuccessfully searched for when the list of titles was posted online and seemed to be a no-brainer as the subject of a sports documentary.

As of October 20, there is still no mention of a film about that night that really did change college football as a mode of national entertainment. However, a careful inspection of the opening credits of the 30 for 30 series shows the Miami players infamously marching down the steps of their charter flight to the desert in combat fatigues. There is a film listed that will focus on the Miami football program in the 1980s, and its possible that this is where the clip comes from. However, it would be another case of ESPN dropping the ball if it refused to devote an hour to this football game that still ranks as one of the most-popular and most referenced national title games of all time.

THE POWER OF THE MUSTACHE IS NOT OVERSTATED

2009-10-18T11:36:00.010-04:00

You know your defense is good when you're not only intimidating the other team, but also the referees. In Saturday's game against Minnesota, the Lions not only completely bottled up the Golden Gophers offense, but also forced one of the officials to the sidelines. The reason:

Mustache Envy.

After a long morning of grooming and weather-coating his lip fur with bees' wax, linesman M. Mahouski is expecting another typical day at the office. He's counting on an October afternoon full of whistle-blowing, flag-throwing and making young coeds swoon with his facial hair pillow.

Then, it happened. Through the misty rain and fogged breath, Mahouski saw it. A patch of glorious hair so unlike the whiskers and stubble he was used to seeing college players wear. A full-fledged chevron (a thick and wide mustache, usually worn long to cover the top border of the upper lip).

Could this really be happening? Mahouski, sporter of one of the best manicured mouth coiffures, was upstaged by a man half his age? This hadn't happened before since James Avalon cheated and filled in his wispy chin growth with permanent marker in the fifth grade. Mahouski was bested in a mustache competition. The decision of what move to make next wasn't his choice. There is a strict code to be adhered to in times like this, one developed centuries ago by men wiser than him. These men wore classic face blankets like the Wandering Jim, the Hardpan, the Flapwings and the Chilly Cheeks. Mashouski had no choice but to leave the game, shamed into exile by the dense mouth insulator of Josh Hull.

It was quite a day for the senior linebacker. A shutout win for his defense, a first quarter interception of Minnesota quarterback Adam Weber and a dominating victory over Mahouski in a moustache contest 100,000 people didn't even know they were watching.

BLAME IT ON THE RAIN

2009-10-18T09:48:00.004-04:00

It was another uneventful game in a season that's been devoid of big moments for the Penn State football team. Neither the Nittany Lions or Minnesota Golden Gophers seemed to have much juice during the 90th Homecoming Game at Beaver Stadium, but at least the Penn State defense showed up to capture its first shutout of the season, 20-0.

The horrible weather going on all over the northeast scared many of the fans away and made for less than ideal conditions, but it was clear early on that the Golden Gophers just didn't have the talent on either side of the ball to hang with the Lions. Penn State had only one three-and-out possession all day and only had one drive that chewed up fewer than 31 yards. Co-Captain Sean Lee returned to action for the first time since the Temple game to help spearhead a classic defensive effort. Lee and company collected an early interception and stuffed Minnesota at the goal line while surrendering just one drive of more than 24 yards all game.

If one had to pick a pervading theme for the 2009 season so far, it would probably be the rain or the schedule, but the dominating defense would run a close second. In a very Jim Tressel way of looking at things, the season is halfway over and Penn State is 5-1 overall and tied for second in the conference. It's had one really bad quarter all season, so the glass is certainly half-full for this team as it readies for the "difficult" portion of its schedule starting with the Michigan Wolverines next week.

Perhaps the biggest concern coming out of Saturday's game against Minnesota is the health of backup running back Stephon Greene. The sophomore left the game in the first half and didn't return to the sidelines for the remainder of the contest.When asked about it after the game, Joe Paterno said, "...I know he's hurt, but I don't know how badly. It was probably an ankle [injury]."

STOP THE PRESSES, PSU ON THE COVER OF SI

2009-08-13T09:08:00.023-04:00

Sports Illustrated has placed Penn State's Daryll Clark and Stefen Wisniewski on one of its regional covers for its College Football Preview issue, calling the 2009 Lions squad, "Party Crashers." The issue will hit stands on Monday, August 17, but the reprecussions from the photo shoot may be felt well into November. A monkey wrench has just been tossed into the Lions' plans to repeat as conference champions, a monkey wrench called the SI Cover Jinx.

Before you roll your eyes and click away, let me try to convince you. I won't say I'm superstitious, but I have been living with the guilt that comes from believing I am the sole reason that Penn State failed to go undefeated in 1996 (I wore the wrong shirt to the Iowa game and the wrong shoes to the Ohio State game). I know that what I eat, wear or do during Penn State games can't possibly impact the outcome, but why take a chance?

A quick search through Sports Illustrated's online cover archive reveals that Penn State appeared on the cover of the famous magazine a total of 15 previous times. Subtract from that total the two commemorative issues (2008, 1994) featuring Penn State, the two times the Lions appeared in the background of a photo featuring another team (1995, 1979, 1990) and the 1987 cover that had only a tiny inset photo of Penn State and that leaves 9 covers to examine as a test of the potency of the jinx. Let's get started...

Chuck Fusina was the first Penn State player to be selected as an SI cover model, gracing the front of the November 13, 1978 issue. The Lions were the top-ranked team in the country, having just dismantled fifth-ranked Maryland 27-3 and NC State to run its record to 10-0. Once the issue was released, the Lions defeated Pittsburgh 17-10 to set up a matchup against Alabama in the Sugar Bowl for the national title. Fusina, who won that year's Maxwell Award and was the runner-up in the Heisman Trophy voting, threw four interceptions as Penn State lost 14-7 to the Crimson Tide.

In 1982, Penn State featured a senior-laden squad that was labeled National Title or bust. The Lions got off to a great start, punctuating its 4-0 start with a dramatic, last-second victory over second-ranked Nebraska. The win earned Todd Blackledge the cover of Sports Illustrated on October 4, 1982. Just five days later, the third-ranked Lions traveled to Tuscaloosa, Al. and were humbled by the Tide 42-21.

Perhaps the most famous cover for Penn State fans just might be the one that followed the Lions' 1983 Sugar Bowl win featuring a photo of a jumping-for-joy Greg Garrity with the words "No. 1 AT LAST!" emblazoned across the top. The cover punctuated the first ever national title for Penn State, but was followed by three straight losses to open up the 1983 campaign, including a 38-point throttling from Nebraska and a home loss to the Cincinnati Bearcats.

The Lions' next SI Cover would come on November 11, 1985, with the magazine asking the question, "Who's No. 1 Now?" above pictures of Penn State's DJ Dozier and Florida's Ray McDonald. The Lions would answer the question emphatically by blowing out Notre Dame by 30 points the next week and then doing the same to rival Pitt to end its season 11-0 and the top-ranked team in the nation. However, on New Years' Day in Miami, Penn State would see its National Title dreams crushed by Barry Switzer and the Oklahoma Sooners, 25-10.

On December 22, 1986, Sports Illustrated made history by naming Joe Paterno its sportsman of the Year, placing the coach on its cover. Less than two weeks later, Paterno's squad would pull off a tremendous upset and defeat the Miami Hurricanes 14-10 for the program's second national title.

Halfway through the 1994 season, the Lions were 6-0 and ranked number one in both the AP and Coaches Polls after defeating fifth-ranked Michigan in Ann Arbor, 31-24. Sports Illustrated rewarded Penn State's accomplishment by placing wide receiver Freddie Scott on the cover with the words, "Penn State: No. 1." The phrase was true, but short-lived. After a 63-14 dismantling of #21 Ohio State, the coaches poll dropped PSU to #2. One week later, following a deceptively close 35-29 victory at Indiana, the Lions fell behind top-ranked Nebraska in the AP Poll as well. Penn State finished the year 12-0 and became the first ever team from the Big Ten to go 12-0, win The Rose Bowl and not earn a national championship.

In 1997, the Lions were coming off of a 11-2 season with a Fiesta Bowl win over a Texas team that had both Priest Holmes and Ricky Williams in the backfield. With loads of talent returning, Sports Illustrated tabbed Penn State its preseason number one, choosing Joe Jurevicious for its College Football Preview cover. Things would start well for Penn State, as the Lions streaked to a 7-0 record before losing 34-8 to eventual national champion Michigan at home. Penn State would finish the year 9-3, including a Citrus Bowl loss to Florida in which the biggest story was the absence of both Curtis Enis and Jurevicious. Enis was guilty of improper contact with an agent, while Jurevicious didn't even make the trip for alleged poor academic performance.

Two years later, Sports Illustrated once again picked Penn State as its top team in the preseason, this time featuring a menacing Lavar Arrington on the College Football Preview Issue. The Lions began the year 9-0 before ending the regular season with three straight losses to drop off out the national and conference title picture, finishing the year with an Alamo Bowl win against Texas A&M, a disappointing consolation prize for a team with so much promise.

In 2005, the Lions won their first Big Ten Championship in 11 seasons. Following the team's conference title clinching victory over Michigan State, Sports Illustrated once again put Penn State coach Paterno on the cover on November 28, 2005. Just over one month later, the next time the Lions took the field, the Lions captured the Orange Bowl Championship with a triple-overtime victory against the Florida State Seminoles.

Some might consider it just a coincidence, but the more paranoid among us see a disturbing trend. The two times that Penn State was on a preseason Sports Illustrated cover, the Lions failed to win 10 games or make a major bowl game. Covers featuring players from undefeated teams in 1978 & 1985 both foreshadowed disappointing losses in national championship games later that season. In addition, in-season covers from 1994 and 1982 preceded disappointment the following week for both, a 21-point loss for the '82 squad and an unwarranted drop in the rankings for the '94 team. It seems like the only safe bet is to put coach Paterno on the cover. So, is it too late for a reshoot?

RANKINGS!

2009-08-07T10:49:00.012-04:00

Pre-season college football rankings...can't live with them, can't live without them.

The USA Today Coaches Poll unveiled its 2009 Preseason rankings Friday morning with the Penn State Nittany Lions slotted eighth and the defending National Champion Florida Gators the clear-cut #1.

Pre-season rankings are routinely blasted as being completely inaccurate since many teams haven't even started their practice sessions yet, but they sometimes are a great indicator of what the national perception of your team is for the upcoming campaign.

Overall, here's how the conferences were represented:

CONFERENCE	# of TEAMS	HIGHEST RANKING	AVG. RANKING
SEC	5	1	7.6
BIG XII	4	2	9.5
PAC 10	4	4	13.8
ACC	4	7	15.3
BIG TEN	3	6	11.7
OTHER	5	16	19.6
BIG EAST	0	0	0

As it looks right now, Penn State has only two ranked opponents on its schedule - Ohio State (6) and Iowa (21). By comparison, USC is slated to play five ranked opponents (Ohio State, Cal, Oregon, Oregon State and Notre Dame), Florida is lined up to play three (FSU, LSU and Georgia), and Texas is scheduled to play two (Oklahoma and Oklahoma State).

Surely, these rankings with undergo seismic shifts as some teams' preseason hype morphs into regular season failures and others suprise. Here's a list of teams currently unranked that could make some noise come bowl season - West Virginia (31st), Miami (33rd), Illinois (35th), Tennessee (t-53rd) & Michigan (56th).

HULL OF A PROBLEM TO HAVE

2009-07-14T08:40:00.005-04:00

The Daily Collegian has a couple of good reads this morning about the upcoming season. Will somebody tell these young, enterprising journalists that it's the summer and they should be out slacking off at an internship instead of slaving away to write copy?

Of all the units on the defensive side of the ball for Penn State, the linebackers are the one that doesn't have anybody worried. A deep, talented stable of athletic players almost guarantees that this position will be the strength of the team, but that doesn't mean that its not without some uncertainties. Although most fans will tell you that whichever number you plug in will get the job done, there's still doubt as to who will line up next to Sean Lee and Navorro Bowman. Senior Josh Hull is confident that he's going to be the man.

"I'm 100 percent confident enough in my talent that I'm going to be on the field playing linebacker at one of the three spots," Hull said before competing in last Friday's Lift for Life.

Click HERE to read the full article.

Over on the offensive side of the ball, the Lions must replace last year's Rimington Award Winner, AQ Shipley at center. Stepping into those shoes is junior Stefen Wisniewski, who started at guard last season for Penn State. It may take a few games before his play resembles his former teammate's, but let's hope he has a better knack for remembering the snap count.

"The last thing you think about is the snap count. I remember A.Q. [Shipley] would turn around and ask Daryll [Clark] what the snap count was like every other play," Wisniewski said about last year with a laugh.

Click HERE to read the full article.

Hull and Wisniewski are both players who, despite starting last year, are facing new challenges in 2009. Jack Crawford had only four tackles as a freshman last season, but has everybody talking about what he can do as a projected starter at defensive end in the fall.

"Jack's a monster," senior defensive end Jerome Hayes said. "This year's gonna be a very big year for him, gonna put him in a position where he can really succeed and help us out as a defense so were all excited -- the team and the fans -- about Jack."

Click HERE to read the full article.

PARTY LIKE IT'S 1992

2009-07-10T01:49:00.010-04:00

Thursday night brought me an opportunity to spend an evening with some of my heroes, five Penn State football players from the early 1990s - OJ McDuffie, Ki-Jana Carter, Troy Drayton, Reggie Givens and Brian O'Neal. The quintet, who all currently reside in south Florida and all played on the 1992 Penn State team together, were guests of the Greater Scranton Chapter of the Penn State Alumni Association for "A Night of Penn State Pride." The former PSU greats signed autographs and participated in an extended Q & A session for the fans. It's been a long night's drive, but here's some of the highlights that I remember from the event.

On Running out of the tunnel at Beaver Stadium...

All of the players were in full agreement that the emotions connected with being a Penn State football player on gameday in State College were nearly indescribable.

Brian O'Neal commented that the best part for him was riding on the blue buses up to the stadium and hearing all the car horns going off in the parking lot and the hands pounding on the side of the bus as it drove by. Of waiting in the tunnel to run out before the game, he said, "If you could bottle that feeling and sell it, you'd be a gazillionaire."

Ki-Jana Carter reminisced of how he would always race out of the tunnel and sprint straight to the handicapped section of seats in the north endzone. In particular he recounted the 1994 Homecoming Game against Ohio State in which he was so fired up to take on his hometown team that he started crying in the tunnel. He then said that he ran so hard across the field that he was actually out of breath and hoping the offense wouldn't have to take the field first.

Carter also talked about how coach Joe Paterno's method of making the players dress before boarding the bus to the stadium made them more focused for the game. He compared it to the NFL and other schools that have players wear suits to the stadium then get dressed once inside. Carter said that once a player puts that uniform on he knew it was gameday and none of his distractions would be brought with him to the stadium.

On What was the loudest opposing stadium they played in while at Penn State...

While all five players said nothing compares to the roar of Nittany Nation, each named an opponent's venue that stood out in his memory.

Ki-Jana Carter - Ohio State
Brian O'Neal - Syracuse
Reggie Givens - Alabama
Troy Drayton - West Virginia (Troy named the Penn State vs Miami game in 1992 as his favorite Beaver Stadium game)
OJ McDuffie - Syracuse

On their recruitment by Penn State...

Ki-Jana Carter - He was nearly set on attending Ohio State after growing up in Columbus, OH, but took an unofficial visit to State College with one of his high school coaches. He remembered that it was the way current players like OJ McDuffie and other players from the Buckeye State treated him and took the time to make him feel at home that swung his decision away from Ohio State and to the Nittany Lions. He added that most schools that recruited him came off as arrogant, implying that he should feel honored that they would let him play at their schools as opposed to taking the time to get to know him and really making him feel welcome.

OJ McDuffie - He had a final five of Ohio State, Michigan, UCLA, Notre Dame and Penn State. He crossed off Ohio State after it fired then-head coach, Earle Bruce and didn't care for Notre Dame at all after taking an official visit to South Bend. He returned home from his trip to UCLA to find a Fed Ex package containing a seven-page hand-written letter from Joe Paterno on spiral-bound notebook paper, detailing all the pros and cons of signing with Penn State. He remembered being promised nothing but a great education and a chance to possibly play for a National Championship. He said that Joe Paterno and the letter he wrote were the main reasons he came to Penn State.

Brian O'Neal - Brian grew up in Cincinnatti and told a classic story about his recruiting experience with Ohio State head coach John Cooper. As he told the story, his mother was handling his recruiting since his father was an NBA referee and was often on the road. Coach Cooper visited his house to recruit him, and Brian had always figured he would play for the hometown Buckeyes. As his mom began to ask about the kinds of classes her son would take, the graduation rate at Ohio State and other questions about his non-football life at the university. Cooper kept blowing her off, saying that it would all be addressed during Brian's official visit, and kept trying to steer the conversation toward football. Finally, after about ten minutes of not having her questions answered, Mrs. O'Neal stood up and told the coach that she had better things to do than to be blown off by him and that he had to get out of her house. She shut the door behind the coach and told Brian, who was sitting with his jaw open to the floor, that he could cross Ohio State off of his list of potential schools. Just minutes later, Cooper called the house from the road and asked Brian how he thought the visit had gone. Brian told him that he had angered the one person in the house that he couldn't anger and that the Buckeyes' chances didn't look too good.

On how Penn State prepared them for the NFL...

All the players said that NFL practices were no more physically demanding than what they went through at Penn State. Troy Drayton compared playing for Joe Paterno to going through four years of boot camp.

On the ill-fated 1994 season...

Ki-Jana Carter confessed that not winning the National Championship in 1994 is something that will probably haunt him for the rest of his life. He talked about how that year's team did everything it could to prove it was #1, but had to leave the decision up to a bunch of sportswriters. He took solace in the fact that 15 years later, the team is still mentioned among the greatest college football teams of all time and that the controversy of that year was one of the reasons the NCAA felt it had to move toward the current BCS system that guaranteed the two highest ranked teams would play each other.

On who the best player they ever played against was...

Ki-Jana Carter - Greg Lloyd
Brian O'Neal - Levon Kirkland
Reggie Givens - Reggie White
Troy Drayton - Lawrence Taylor
OJ McDuffie - Deion Sanders

FROSTING...THE NOMINEES - PART 3

2009-07-07T12:05:00.008-04:00

Sparked by the upcoming season's unusually weak slate of games (especially non-conference), we recently introduced our hunt for Penn State's easiest schedule of the last 45 years.

With the first two nominees already introduced, we now unveil the third in our list; from the 1980s.

1987

The Nittany Lions were coming off of arguably the best season and best game in the program's history. An 11-0 regular season in 1986 was capped off by a classic 14-10 victory over top-ranked Miami in the Fiesta Bowl, securing Penn State its second National Championship of the decade. Anybody hoping to see a repeat performance in 1987 was sorely disappointed as the Lions lost 13 players to the NFL draft, and had to replace graduated quarterback John Shaffer, who was 23-1 as a starter for Joe Paterno. Luckily for the Lions, the temporary fall from the top of college football was padded by a soft schedule that featured only one team with fewer than four losses and included just four road games, none further away than Boston.

The Lions were able to rack up eight wins in 1987, but beat only two teams with winning records, Rutgers (6-5) and Notre Dame (8-4). Less than half of Penn State's opponents finished the season above .500, and only three teams were invited to play in a bowl game, combining to go 0-2-1 in the post season. The Lions took on Clemson in the Citrus Bowl, falling 35-10 to the Tigers, and finished the season unranked.

1987 Schedule
vs. Bowling Green (5-6) W 45-19
vs. Alabama (7-5) L 13-24
vs. Cincinnati (4-7) W 41-0
@ Boston College (5-6) W 27-17
vs. Temple (3-8) W 27-13
vs. Rutgers (6-5) W 35-21
@ Syracuse (11-0-1) L 21-48
vs. West Virginia (6-6) W 25-21
@ Maryland (4-7) W 21-16
@ Pittsburgh (8-4) L 0-10
vs. Notre Dame (8-4) W 21-20

THE GOOD
The Lions took on three teams that were ranked in the top-20 at the time they played them, including #7 Notre Dame in the regular-season finale. Only one of the final five opponents finished below .500. The Lions did get to celebrate a milestone, when Joe Paterno opened the campaign with win #200 against Bowling Green.

THE BAD
The Lions' four road games were in Boston, Baltimore, Pittsburgh and Syracuse - all just a few hours from campus. Each of Penn State's first six opponents ended the year with at least five losses.

POSTSCRIPT
Penn State was coming off of back-to-back undefeated regular seasons in 1985 and 1986, so its pedestrian performance in 1987 could certainly be forgiven. Penn State would fall even further in 1988, finishing at 5-6, Paterno's worst record yet. The coming seasons would see the Lions take on teams like Texas, USC and Miami as Penn State's time as a college football independent ran out. It began play in the Big Ten Conference in the 1993 season, bringing an end to many of its traditional rivalries.

HIGH IN THE RAFTERS

2009-06-30T16:49:00.006-04:00

Like an old girlfriend you thought you had dumped months ago, I've returned to the upper echelon of sports blogging, also known as The Floating Lion. As a nice appetizer to my forthcoming posts, I've learned that the NIT Championship banner was recently raised in the BJC Rafters.

It looks beautiful and will certainly stand out among all of the Lady Lion accomplishments, and of course the unforgettable Men's 1954 Final Four banner. Here's to the hope that this is the first of many more new banners in the Jordan Center.

Also, I thought these were usually unveiled during the first home game of the next season. Whether the fact the athletic department was a little overzealous and premature in raising the flag remains to be seen. Either way, it will look great to fans and recruits.

BATTLE ILLUSTRATED

2009-06-25T10:57:00.006-04:00

SportsIllustrated.com has posted a story about Penn State's star guard, Talor Battle. The Albany, NY product has enjoyed a meteoric rise arriving on campus to becoming one of college basketball's best point guards. The rising sophomore was recently honored by being named to the USA Basketball Roster for the World University Games this summer.

Read the article here.

FROSTING...THE NOMINEES - PART 2

2009-06-24T08:00:00.004-04:00

1971

The 1971 Nittany Lions ran roughshod over everybody in their path to start the season 10-0. Then, a funny thing happened on the way to their third undefeated regular season in four years, they ran into the Tennessee Volunteers - the only club it played that season with more than seven wins.

The ten straight wins to open the 1971 campaign came via brutal domination by the Lions. Penn State's offense, led by one of the school's greatest backfields ever, Franco Harris and Lydell Mitchell, averaged 44 points per game over that stretch, and failed to put up more than 30 only once. The defense was just as impressive, surrendering just 10 points per contest and notching a pair of shutouts. Things would change in Knoxville however, as the fifth-ranked Lions were thoroughly beaten by the Vols, 31-11, on national television.

A closer look at those first ten opponents reveals a lackluster lineup including just one team with more than six wins and a group of five opponents that had just 12 total wins among them. The Lions started the year with back-to-back road games against Navy and Iowa, the former in the middle of a string of six straight losing seasons and the latter on its way to a one-win season; the tenth of nineteen straight non-winning campaigns. The Lions hung 66 points on a TCU team that may have been guilty of feeling a little too good about what would become a 6-4-1 season, it's only time finishing above .500 in 18 straight years.

1971 Schedule
@ Navy (3-8) W 56-3
@ Iowa (1-10) W 44-14
vs. Air Force (6-4) W 16-14
vs. Army (6-4) W 42-0
@ Syracuse (5-5) W 31-0
vs. TCU (6-4-1) W 66-14
@ West Virginia (7-4) W 35-7
vs. Maryland (2-9) W 63-27
vs. NC State (3-8) W 35-3
@ Pittsburgh (3-8) W 55-18
@ Tennessee (10-2) L 31-11

THE GOOD
Penn State played six road games this season and only five at home. It also had a true national schedule, playing games in six different states from Iowa to Tennessee. In addition, say what you want about the level of competition, but Penn State left no doubt as to how great it really was, winning its games by an average of 34 points.

THE BAD
The Lions played five teams with three or fewer wins, and only one squad that was ranked at the time of the game.

POSTSCRIPT
This Penn State team featured the one-two punch of Harris and Mitchell and although it didn't have a chance to prove it during the regular season, could have played with anybody in the country. It did finally get its chance in the Cotton Bowl, dismantling the Texas Longhorns and its wishbone attack, 30-6. Penn State would finish ranked fifth in the AP Poll, it's third top-five finish in four seasons. The Lions would post another double-digit win season the following year before going 12-0 in 1973 behind Penn State's only Heisman Trophy winner, John Cappelletti.

Check back to see the next nominee from the 1980s.

FROSTING...THE FIRST NOMINEE

2009-06-23T12:51:00.014-04:00

Sparked by the upcoming season's unusually weak slate of games (especially non-conference), last week we introduced our hunt for Penn State's easiest schedule of the last 45 years.

Since this is a highly subjective and debatable subject, we are going to steer far clear of making a definitive decision and instead put the onus on you, the reader, to decide. We'll provide the facts and a bit of background and you provide the conclusion and award (or is it disgrace) one season with the title of "Weakest Penn State Schedule."

One final note, before unveiling the first nominee. This exercise says nothing of the process of making a schedule or who should take the blame for a soft schedule. We only want to know which year had the softest lineup of opponents. And without further adieu, here is the first of five nominees, one from each decade Joe Paterno has been the head coach.

1968

Joe Paterno enjoyed the first of his five unbeaten and untied squads in the 1968 season, and while this team was absolutely loaded with talent, the unblemished record came at the hands of some real creampuffs. The Lions' 10 opponents finished a combined 43-56 and not one of them was ranked at the time it played Penn State. The schedule did feature five road games, including a cross-country trip to take on the UCLA Bruins sandwiched between dates in Morgantown, WV and Chestnut Hill, MA, but also included six teams that failed to win more than half of their games. The true measure of the greatness of this team was somewhat crystallized when a total of 17 players who were on the 1968 roster were drafted into the NFL, including eventual Hall of Famer Jack Ham.

THE 1968 SCHEDULE

vs. Navy (2-8) W 31-6

vs. Kansas State (4-6) W 25-9

@ West Virginia (7-3) W 31-20

@ UCLA (3-7) W 21-6

@ Boston College (6-3) W 29-0

vs. Army (7-3) W 28-24

vs. Miami (5-5) W 22-7

@ Maryland (2-8) W 57-13

@ Pittsburgh (1-9) W 65-9

vs. Syracuse (6-4) W 30-12

THE GOOD:
The Lions had to play three straight road games, two of which came against teams with winning records.

THE BAD:
Penn State opened the year with a Navy squad that finished 2-8 and wrapped up its road schedule with a Pitt Panther team that was 1-9.

POSTSCRIPT:
The Lions would accept an invitation to The Orange Bowl in Miami, Fl to take on the sixth-ranked Kansas Jayhawks. Penn State would win in thrilling fashion after the Jayhawks were flagged for too many men on the field, giving the Lions a second chance at the game-winning two-point conversion, which Penn State scored on to take a one-point lead with just eight seconds left on the clock. The Nittany Lions finished the 1968 season ranked #2, behind an undefeated Ohio State Buckeyes team that had knocked off USC in The Rose Bowl. The next season, Penn State would once again run the tables to finish 11-0, but be overlooked by the national media and a certain president, winding up #2 behind the Texas Longhorns.

GREAT THINGS AWAITING, EXPECTED OF CLARK

2009-06-21T09:12:00.010-04:00

Since Joe Paterno became head coach of the Penn State football program in 1966, nine players (including Curt Warner later this year) have been inducted into College Football's Hall of Fame. Exactly zero of them played quarterback. But just because none of Paterno's signal-callers have been immortalized in South Bend, it doesn't mean that this position isn't one of the greatest harbingers for the Lion's success in a particular season. As a matter of fact, it just about guarantees it.

Consider that Penn State will be led by senior captain Darryl Clark at quarterback this season. Last season he won the Big Ten's Offensive MVP award and joined Kerry Collins and Michael Robinson as quarterbacks that have guided the Lions to a Big Ten title. However, unlike Collins and Robinson, Clark accomplished this feat before his senior year, injecting Penn State fans with optimism for his final campaign - and for good reason.

Beginning in 1968, Penn State has enjoyed twenty 10+ win seasons under Paterno. The absolutely remarkable thing about this accomplishment is that each time a quarterback led the Lions to 10+ wins and returned for his next season, he did it again. Think about that. Never has a Paterno-coached quarterback failed to deliver after tasting success in the form of a double-digit win season! Seriously...I looked it up.

(click to enlarge)

A similar look at the history of 10+ win seasons over the same time period at Ohio State, Michigan, USC, Notre Dame and Alabama shows that this occurrence is unique to Penn State among those schools. And as more evidence that the quarterback is the major reason for this phenomenon, only once (1972-1973) has a first-year quarterback taken over a 10+ win Nittany Lions team and managed to repeat that accomplishment.

(click to enlarge)

The expectations facing Clark in 2009 include successfully defending the conference championship, being the captain to a team full of untested talent on both sides of the ball, improving on his own individual numbers to make a run to the Heisman trophy and continuing the newest Golden Age of Penn State football that he watched begin from the sidelines as a freshman in 2005. That may seem like a lot to lay on the shoulders of one man, but Clark has his teammates, all of Nittany Nation and history to rely on.

TOM BRADLEY SPEAKS, SO DOES JOE...SORT OF

2009-06-18T12:39:00.006-04:00

ESPN.com blogger Adam Rittenberg caught up with Tom Bradley recently to talk about the Nittany Lions' defense. Bradley will once again have to prove why he is one of the top coaches in America as the Lions try to replace three starters on the defensive line and the entire secondary.

TOM BRADLEY PART I

TOM BRADLEY PART II

Meanwhile, EDSBS has posted the transcript from a "conversation" between the two winningest active coaches, Joe Paterno and Bobby Bowden, about the controversy over some of Bobby's wins. Looks like Joe might not be as sympathetic as he's led us to believe.

FROSTING

2009-06-17T12:51:00.009-04:00

The Penn State football team is coming off of an 11-2 campaign in 2008 that included a second conference title in four seasons, a berth in The Rose Bowl and the emergence of junior quarterback Darryl Clark as the Big Ten's Offensive MVP, but if the buzz surrounding the upcoming season is somewhat muted, blame the schedule.

While predictions for how the Nittany Lions will perform in defense of their conference crown are varied, the opinions on the schedule are consensus - it stinks. The Lions can't help the fact that the Big Ten appears to be short on contenders, but their non-conference schedule is truly atrocious. The four out-of-league opponents, Akron, Syracuse, Temple and Eastern Illinois, combined for just 12 wins against FBS competition last season, and none of them finished the year at .500 or better. Mix in the fact that all four of those games are at home and you've got a recipe for cupcakes.

That got us at The Floating Lion thinking about what were some of the weakest schedules the Lions have faced since Joe Paterno took over the program. It's easy to remember the many loaded schedules over the decades like 1982 (Pitt, Nebraska, Alabama, Notre Dame, West Virginia, Boston College) 1990 (Texas, USC, Notre Dame, Alabama, Pitt, Boston College) and 1999 (Pitt, Miami, Arizona, Ohio State, Michigan, Purdue, Michigan State) to name a few, but how about the bad ones? And, is 2009 the worst Penn State schedule of all time?

We've come up with a list of some of the team's weakest schedules, all in the hopes of putting this season's abomination in its proper place among the other soft lineups. We'll present each of them to you, before putting the question to a vote to find out which was the worst schedule of the last 45 years. Stay tuned...

HOMECOMING GAMETIME SET

2009-06-08T21:57:00.002-04:00

Penn State officially announced on Monday that the Nittany Lions homecoming game against the Minnesota Golden Gophers on October 17 at Beaver Stadium will kickoff at 3:30 p.m. Along with the Iowa and Northwestern games, which were previously announced as beginning at 8:00 and 3:30 respectively, the Lions are slotted for three afternoon/primetime games this season with a fourth afternoon start (Ohio State) sure to follow.
____________________________________________________________________

It was nearly a year ago that ESPN aired it's infamous Outside the Lines investigation into the criminal history of the Penn State football program. Many Blue and White fans still feel that the show was little more than a witch hunt and some conspiracy theorists hold that the show was an attack on Penn State and head coach Joe Paterno because of a hot-and-cold relationship with the network. At last check, ESPN was little concerned with fair and balanced reporting, but if it were, now might be a good time to prove it.

A good place to start would be an article written by Andrea Adelson of The Orlando Sentinel about the number of arrests the University of Florida program has suffered in the last four years...24 in case you were wondering.
____________________________________________________________________

If you're looking to score tickets to that big game this year, your best chance might just to be to wait until the last minute. A post from The Business of College Sports from May 30 shows that ticket prices for some of this season's biggest rivalry games have actually gone down since they were last tracked in mid-March.

BUTTSCRATCHER!

2009-06-06T10:24:00.004-04:00

It happens rather suddenly. One day, you're handling the off-season well - leafing through the sports pages, noting baseball box scores, and maybe even catching a period or two of an NBA or NHL playoff game. Then, all at once, like a tidal wave of suppressed memories and longings, that passion for college football arises and refuses to be ignored. Like an itch that must be scratched, college football has interrupted your regularly scheduled life and demands your attention.

It's been lurking beneath the surface since New Year's, but college basketball, opening day and the planning of summer vacations has done an adequate job of limiting it. Now, less than 12 weeks from the season's kickoff your resistance to the seduction of college football is futile.

Here at The Floating Lion, off-season football blogging has been nearly non-existent. Scouring the police blotters and reporting which 17-year-old kid "committed" to your school is hardly the kind of hard-hitting college football news that we relish commenting on. Still, we've silently observed as transfers, injuries and violations have helped to reshape the college football landscape and provide much-needed fodder for our addiction. Now, with the onset of preseason magazines and summer workouts, the focus of college football is back to where it should be, subjective analysis and daydreaming of 12-0.

So be sure to check back in frequently for updates and features that will help you get through the grueling homestretch before the season officially begins. Not that it ever really ended for any of us.

BCS TALK

2009-05-01T08:24:00.003-04:00

Friday's discussion on the fairness of the current BCS system before a House of Representatives subcommittee will be shown live on C-SPAN. Interested fans can also watch the proceedings live online here. The discussion is slated to run from 10:00 a.m. until 12:30 a.m.

In related news, Joe Paterno told a pack of reporters on Thurdsay night that he would like to see the Big Ten expand to a twelfth team to allow the conference to play a league championship game. It's a move that Paterno thinks would give the conference a better shot a competing for a national title.

"I've tried to talk to the Big Ten people about, 'Let's get a 12th team -- Syracuse, Rutgers, Pitt -- we could have a little bit of a playoff,'" Paterno said.

The coach also fielded questions about the possibility of a team from the Northeast winning a national title, something that hasn't happened since the Lions captured one after the 1986 season.

"The only [Northeastern] team that's got a shot would be us, and yet we've got a tough job because the Big Ten is not as visible in the key times as the Southeastern Conference and the Big 12."

CORNLEY TO DECIDE ON FOOTBALL FUTURE NEXT MONTH

2009-04-17T08:14:00.005-04:00

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

2009-04-16T22:49:00.003-04:00

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

2009-04-10T10:46:00.003-04:00

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

2009-04-07T12:21:00.006-04:00

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

2009-04-06T15:23:00.001-04:00

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

2009-04-06T08:19:00.004-04:00

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

2009-04-03T23:14:00.005-04:00

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

2009-04-03T11:10:00.004-04:00

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.

2009-04-02T23:12:00.000-04:00

FINALLY!

BEAVER CANYON OF HEROES

2009-04-02T12:24:00.004-04:00

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...

2009-04-02T11:15:00.000-04:00

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

2009-04-02T11:13:00.010-04:00

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

2009-04-01T21:07:00.005-04:00

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.

SHOW TIME

2009-03-31T14:37:00.003-04:00

Apologies for the lack of posts this week with the Lions date with Norte Dame looming, you can rest assured it wasn't due to the lack of enthusiasm.

The team is in Manhattan and the students are in route for one of the biggest Penn State basketball games in recent history. All of the Lions will be playing in Madison Square Garden for the first time, while Notre Dame just played their a few short weeks ago for the Big East Tournament.

It's obvious the excitement levels around this program have never been higher since their 2001 Sweet 16 run. WJAC in State College posted this article and video clip this afternoon, as the 12, yes 12 buses full of students prepared to depart from Curtain Road in State College. The video literally gave me chills when I saw how many students are making the trip to support the team, after their snub by the NCAA selection committee.

The team's excited, Happy Valley is excited, and New York is excited as Penn State fan's will look to "White Out the Garden" tonight. See you there.

NITTANY NATION HITS THE ROAD

2009-03-26T09:15:00.008-04:00

Penn State basketball has never been known for it's excessive or rowdy fan base. Coming from one of the largest and traditional football schools in the country, it's not hard to understand why. The Bryce Jordan Center is vast, dark and gloomy. Many home basketball games are on weekday nights, which make it hard for families (especially from out-of-town) to make the trip, and basketball season is in the dead of winter. However, if you've been paying attention this season, you'll notice that this trend is slowly reversing, and Penn State hoops fans are slowly coming out of the woodworks in support of this magical season.

Although they weren't always called "Nittany Nation", there has always been a student section at Penn State basketball games. While I was at Penn State from 2003 through 2007, I attended numerous games where the student "section" on one sideline wasn't more than 50% full. Students would sit quietly most games, wear whatever color t-shirt they could find on their dorm room floor, and leave with 12 minutes remaining in the second half. They may have had good reason to, as I'm not one to judge, however it certainly was frustrating to both dedicated fans and players. This off-season, while Jamelle Cornley was in the gym working on his 10-foot jumper, work was also being done off the court, recruiting new members of Penn State basketball fans who would hopefully stick around for years to come.

We've posted earlier this season about all of the great things Nittany Nation and the athletic department has done to get fans behind this basketball team. Facebook groups were started, signs were posted around campus, viral videos were posted to the internet, even the site GOPSB.com was generated for the sole use as a recruiting tool (players and fans alike).

Believe it or not, this has been only the second year where the student section is visible during televised games. After years of watching the complacent alumni crowd behind the court at games, PSU finally realized this wasn't working. How are people watching on TV supposed to get excited when the people there can't even get into the game? Games are now filmed with the student section (which is full) in full-view and the words "Nittany Nation" are stamped into the corner of the court.

After the groundwork was placed by both students and the AD, it was up to the team to bring in the fans. Battle and company quickly confronted this challenge and have delighted fans to what is, in my opinion, the best and most exciting basketball season Penn State has ever seen. The Lions have posted a 17-2 record at home this year which featured not one, but TWO last-second heroic shots, one of which sent the students into a frenzied rushing of the court.

To increase exposure nationwide, the team has beaten multiple NCAA juggernauts on National Television, including Michigan State, Illinois and now winners of 2 of the last 3 National Championships, Florida. Even coach Ed DeChellis admits he's not sure which is better, an early-exit in the NCAA Tournament, or all of this television exposure and big-game experience the team receives as they trudge through the NIT bracket.

The athletic department even canceled Wednesday's football spring practice media day, after the Lions defeated the Gators on the road to earn their trip to New York. That sums up the rise of the program right there.

Now, with the Lions two wins away from calling themselves NIT Champions, Nittany Nation has a chance to strut their stuff in Madison Square Garden, the greatest arena in the world. And although the game is days away, the Lions should have quite the following when they tip off in New York City Tuesday night. Minutes after Norte Dame beat Kentucky to punch their ticket to New York, a Facebook event entitled "White Out Madison Square Garden" was sent out to every member of Nittany Nation.

Facebook event can be seen here....

It's amazing to see how far not only the students have come, but Penn State fans in general have come to support the basketball program. I'd like to think the support will continue after this magical season is over, but to be honest I'm too excited about Tuesday to think about that now. If you haven't done so already, I highly suggest you get your $10 dollar ticket off of Ticketmaster (which is good for the 7pm game between San Diego State and Baylor as well), get to New York and cheer on your Lions. It's the least we can do for Cornley who has worked so hard to get here. Let's send him out like a champion.

THE WORLD'S MOST FAMOUS ARENA

2009-03-25T00:06:00.003-04:00

"If you're not excited as a basketball player about playing in Madison Square Garden, then you need to check your pulse." - Bob Huggins

SPITE THE GATORS

2009-03-23T14:54:00.005-04:00

My three day boycott of Gatorade started Sunday and will last through Tuesday night as Penn State gears up to play Florida tomorrow in the third round of the NIT Tournament. I highly suggest that you, and everyone you know join in.

Although it is tasty, and quite refreshing on a hot summer day, I started secretly hating Gatorade when they started airing their commercial which features the "history of Gatorade". Something about Keith Jackson speaking about a "new carbohydrate electrolyte beverage" while standing in the "swamp" just rubs me the wrong way (although it is a pretty decent spot).

"Naturally, we called our stuff Gator-aide."

Shut it, Dr. Robert Cade. The Lions are in town, and they're mighty thirsty.

Vitamin Water anyone?

MY APOLOGIES

2009-03-20T22:21:00.008-04:00

I would like to send my sincerest apologies to the Penn State men's basketball team.

As hard as it is for me to say this, I gave up on them earlier this week.

With four seconds left and George Mason at the line last Tuesday, I was getting ready for football season. I said to myself, "there's no way there can possibly any magic left in this team." And, sure as the rash you got from that burner last weekend, Talor Battle worked his magic again.

I believe Joe said it best on the phone to me seconds later before overtime began, "there's NO way we can lose now." However, thinking back to that phone call, Joe's words meant more than I thought. He didn't mean there was no way we could lose that game, but there is no way we can lose again this season.

Let me back up a little bit. Neck and neck with a feisty George Mason team, Jamelle Cornley was sent to the trainer's table after his shoulder popped out in the second half for the third time this season. Now, I've never had my shoulder dislocated, but I imagine that after the first time it hurts pretty bad. With the Lion's leader on the shelf with a sling on his left shoulder, and Battle in one of his worst shooting slumps of the season (0-7 in the second half), I was sure the season was over and the Lions were once again one and done in the NIT.

Boy was I wrong and for that I'm sorry. The Lions haven't given up once this season...what was I thinking?

Fast forward three days and the Lions are now resting comfortably, waiting for their third round date with Billy Donovan's Gators. Not only is he magic still around, but apparently it has never been stronger. The Lions have won two consecutive post-season games for the first time since 2001, and in doing so, avenged their loss to URI from earlier this season (all without their big-man).

Now I'm not sure when the third round match up against Florida will be, and I'm not sure if Cornley and Battle will be healthy enough to play...but I am sure about one thing. Joe was right. There's NO way this team can lose...not now, not after everything they've accomplished this season.

(I hope.)

FILLING THE CORN(LEY) HOLE

2009-03-20T08:17:00.007-04:00

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.

THINK THEY'RE MOTIVATED NOW?

2009-03-18T09:51:00.003-04:00

Shame on you if you were in the State College vicinity and were not at this game. I'm sure it won't haunt you for years to come.

Talor Battle may have just become a candidate for next year's Player of the Year award.

GIVE 'EM THE HEATER RICKY...

2009-03-17T09:41:00.003-04:00

Do you remember the classic baseball movie, Major League? There's a scene about halfway through it when everything has gone wrong for the team. Besides being mired in a horrible season, the Cleveland Indians are also being sabotaged by their ruthless owner in a ploy to get the team moved to sunny Miami, Fl.

Fed up with being treated like dirt, the players realize that the best way to spoil the owner's plan would be to start playing the best baseball of their life and make the franchise viable again. These sentiments are summed up in a classic exchange in the tribe's clubhouse between the team's manager, Lou Brown (played by James Gammon), the thirdbaseman, Roger Dorn (played by Corbin Bernsen), and the team's captain, catcher Jake Taylor (played by Tom Berenger):

Lou Brown: [at a team meeting] Can I have your attention, please?
[picks up a bat and leans on it like a walking stick]
Lou Brown: I have something I think you all ought to know about.It seems that Mrs. Phelps doesn't think too highly of our worth. She put this team together because she thought we'd be bad enough to finish dead last, knocking attendance down to the point where she could move the team to Miami... and get rid of all of us for better personnel.
Roger Dorn: Even me?
Lou Brown: Even you, Dorn.
Eddie Harris: What if we DON'T finish last?
Lou Brown: She'll REPLACE you with somebody who WILL. After this season, you'll be sent back to the minors or given your outright release.
Jake Taylor: [Jake stands up] Well then I guess there's only one thing left to do.
Roger Dorn: What's that?
Jake Taylor: Win the whole fucking thing.
[long pause]
Willie Mays Hayes: [Willie stands up] Yeah.
Pedro Cerrano: [Pedro pounds his hand] YES!

Well, the NCAA has played its hand, rewarding teams like Maryland and Arizona with tourney bids while making the 2009 Penn State team the first in Big Ten history to win at least ten conference games and one game in the post-season tournament to not earn a berth in the Big Dance. Now, it's our turn.

It might not seem like much, but if this team can go out and win the NIT it could serve as proof that the Lions were tournament worthy. And maybe the NCAA won't notice and maybe an NIT championship isn't worth half as much as a sweet sixteen run, but it's still something and it would be a great sendoff for Jamelle Cornley and the other seniors.

As expected, the senior captain took the news pretty hard when he found out Penn State was not invited to the NCAA Tournament, but he seems to have channeled his inner Jake Taylor right in time for the team's game tonight against the George Mason Patriots.

"I know that things didn't really go our way, but there's really no point in me personally to hold my head down when I know that I gave everything I could give," Cornley said. "I know we really, really wanted to get into the NCAA tournament, but it happened and now we're here, so we might as well just win out."
- The Daily Collegian

There's nothing that could replace seeing Penn State's name on those March Madness brackets, but if the Lions can pull it together for one final run, they may still get to raise a banner to the rafters of the Bryce Jordan Center before it's all said and done. Besides, a few more games on national television would help increase exposure for the program and some post-season experience for the younger players could only help their chances of elevating this team in the next few years.

The NIT is not what fans and players hoped for, but it's what they got, so let's just go win the whole fucking thing.

A SEASON TO BE PROUD OF

2009-03-15T19:24:00.009-04:00

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.

2009-03-15T19:15:00.002-04:00

AND NOW WE WAIT

2009-03-14T09:08:00.003-04:00

MORE BIG TEN BASHING

2009-03-13T12:20:00.004-04:00

ESPN.com writer Pat Forde offered his latest backhanded compliment to the Big Ten today. Forde, who predicted that Indiana would upset Penn State yesterday, now seems bewildered that the conference might get eight teams into the NCAA Tournament. He points out that it would be "surreal" for the Big Ten to have more bids than the ACC or the Big East, and that it could produce "Linda Blair 'Exorcist' reactions."

Although Forde includes that the "season-long, nationwide concensus" has been that the ACC and Big East are clearly superior to the Big Ten, the RPI ratings sing a different tune. According to the lastest rankings, the Big Ten is ranked as the second toughest conference in the country behind only the ACC. The Big East comes in at fourth, behind the Big XII.

Forde also makes sure to single out Penn State from the other teams that won in Indianapolis yesterday:

So simply by avoiding a really bad day, the Gophers, Wolverines and Nittany Lions had a really good day. It's not clear beyond a doubt that they locked themselves into the bracket -- especially Penn State -- but they certainly did not kick themselves out.

I was hoping that once football season was over, the Big Ten bashing would end too but it seems like some writers are on a mission to put the conference down. Instead of pointing out how three of the top four seeds in the Big XII lost in their first conference tourney game, or how UConn and Pitt both got bounced in their first action of the Big East tourney - Forde wishes to point out the horror of eight Big Ten teams earning a berth in the tournament. Thankfully we're just 48 hours away from learning exactly what the field of 65 will look like and whose bubbles have burst. Maybe then we can be spared of being reminded just how pathetic and weak the Big Ten is.

WE'RE IN... PROBABLY

2009-03-12T18:47:00.004-04:00

Penn State desperately needed a win today against Indiana to secure a bid to the NCAA tournament, and they got it. After barely surviving the two regular season meetings, the Nittany Lions won in a somewhat convincing fashion today. They built a lead of 25 mid way through the 2nd half, but a late Indiana surge left the final score at 66-51. Mel Cornley and Stan Pringle led the way, with 22, and 16 points respectively. A day after being named 1st team all Big Ten, Taylor Battle left the game with a foot injury. He returned but played limited minutes.

Penn State now faces Purdue, a team they split the two regular season meetings with. A win will put the Lions into the semi finals of the Big Ten tournament, and would hypothetically guarentee them a spot in the NCAA tournament. A loss, and we might still be nervous on Sunday. Realistically, we are probably in. Doug Gotleib, among other ESPN analysts, have us pegged as one of the last 4 teams in. If the Lions can make a little run now, it will be fun to see how high our seed can reach.

On a side note, Danny Morrissey was referred to as an "assassin" by Brent Munsberger.

Next up, Purdue: 9:00, Friday night.

MOMENT OF TRUTH

2009-03-12T11:32:00.006-04:00

I mentioned yesterday in a post that this has been a year of stepping stones for the PSU program. Along with breaking the 20-win mark (a huge feat), the Nittany Lions have cleared a lot of hurdles that were deemed impassable in the past. The Lions have finally won in Assembly Hall, finally finished in the top half of the Big Ten, and finally removed the dusty black curtains from the upper deck of the BJC.

Beginning this evening, the Lions will try to hurdle yet another obstacle. The Big Ten Tournament has been a frustrating stick in the spokes of the Penn State basketball program since its commencement - 12 years ago. With just one tournament win in the past seven years, the Lions season has often come to an end with the first round of tournament play. Penn State has only twice reached the semifinals (2000 and 2001), and will hope to add to that number tonight when they face Indiana.

Entering the tournament with their highest seed ever (6), the Lions are playing a team they've only seen once in Big Ten post-season play. In the first round of the 2003 Big Ten Tournament, the Lions were handed their worst tourney loss ever, 77-49. Hopefully using that as motivation, the Lions will try to clear one more hurdle this season as their hopes of an NCAA tournament berth live and die with this evening's contest. Unfortunately, they're playing a team that has nothing to lose only 30-miles from their campus.

Talor Battle has told the Centre Daily Times, "we’re going to go out and really try to throw the knockout punch early. They’re a feel-good team; they start hitting some shots, they start to believe they can beat you.”

I hope Battle proves to be true to his word, because tonight's contest is clearly the Lions moment of truth.

DVR - Don't fail me now.

I HOPE THE COMMITTEE HAS AN INTERNET CONNECTION

2009-03-11T10:58:00.002-04:00

TRAP GAME

2009-03-10T22:20:00.008-04:00

Main Entry: trap game

Pronunciation:ˈtrapˈgām

Function: noun

Etymology: New English, stems from sporting events

1) A trap game is a sports term used to describe a forthcoming hazardous game. A trap game often occurs when a good team beats another good team and then subsequently has to play a mediocre team. The good team is often emotionally spent and overlooks the mediocre team, hence the trap. A trap game can also occur when a good team has to play a bad team one week and a good team the week after. The good team overlooks their next opponent and concentrates their efforts on the better team. This could lead to a trap loss. (Thanks Wikipedia).

Example: Penn State vs. Indiana - Big Ten Tournament Opening Round

____________

Thursday's first round match up with the Indiana Hoosiers is exactly the type of game that fans dread. The Lions, who realistically are not sure what they'll gain from a win, but have everything to lose, will face 6-win Indiana in what will basically be a home-game for the Hoosiers.

Penn State has beaten the Hoosiers twice already this season, but neither game was necessarily comfortable for PSU fans to watch. A 10-point win in January on the road was back and forth until late in the second half, and the Hoosiers played PSU tough until the final buzzer at home, when the Lions squeaked out a 3-point victory on senior night. Anyone who follows college basketball knows it's very difficult to beat a team three times in a season - especially in a low scoring league like the Big Ten.

This years tournament is very reminiscent of last year's when the Lions were paired up with Illinois in the opening round. The Lions had swept the season series against the Illini, however were defeated by a last second in-bounds play to see their season come to an abrupt end. Fans are hoping this year is different as Penn State has different goals in mind. A win or two in the tournament can save the Lions some stress on selection Sunday when the final at-large bids are announced.

Indiana, fresh off their worst regular season in school history, will come into this game flying high. As they are a young team with nothing to lose, they'll be playing fast-paced and reckless with juvenile thoughts of that automatic bid granted to the winners Big Ten Tournament. You can be sure Indiana coach Tom Crean will fill his pregame speech with fluff about the program's winning tradition, legends and how "anything is possible... starting with this game."

The Lions will need to stick to their game, stay hungry and make good decisions. Last year's opening round contest was littered with poor shot selection and turnovers by the Lions, and even though their playing a team with one conference win, this cannot be repeated. If the Lions stay true to their identity, make good shots and protect the ball - a 15 point win is very possible.

Unfortunately, Penn State fans aren't the only ones considering this a trap game. ESPN's Pat Forde called for the upset today in an article.

"Team that could bust the bracket: No. 11 seed Indiana. Call The Minutes crazy, but the endlessly plucky Hoosiers will upset Penn State in the opening round and then take on arch rival Purdue in a quarterfinal that will get Conseco rocking."

Thanks for the bulletin board material Forde. If the Lions come out of the tunnel as the best-team they possible can be on Thursday night, there's no way Indiana can beat them. So let's hope they realize that...or else it's very possible that this blog will come to an abrupt halt...much like the Lions NCAA hopes.

By the way, as I'm writing this post I'm watching a current trap game in progress. Number 17 Butler, a shoe-in for the tournament is losing by 4 to Cleveland State in the Horizon League Championship. Makes me sick.

(Trap game update...Butler lost to Cleveland State, which means an at-large bid must now go to ranked Butler. Not good for Penn State.)

STEPPING STONES

2009-03-10T20:48:00.007-04:00

It's been a year of milestones for the Penn State men's basketball program. Actually milestones might not be the best word to describe them. We'll call them stepping stones as Penn State continues to build a program worthy the white and blue jerseys they wear.

Here's a brief list of the accomplishments so far:

Just the 10th 20-win season in program history
Finished tied for 4th in the Big Ten (best finish ever)
Victories over four Top 25 ranked teams
Wins over two Top 20 ranked teams on the road (first time ever)
Ten Big Ten wins (second most ever)
Five road wins overall (most since 2000-01 season)
Three Big Ten road wins (ties program record)
15 home wins on the year (school record)
13,425 attendance over final three home games (highest three-game attendance average since 2000-01 season

The Lions weren't done at the end of the regular season either. Monday evening, coach Ed DeChellis was named the Big Ten Coach of the Year by conference media voters. For a man who has had critics calling for his firing at the end of each season since he came to Happy Valley, this has to be a huge weight lifted off his shoulders. Although there were times this season when fans everywhere didn't think DeChellis was qualified to coach middle school girls ball, let alone Division One (CALL A FREAKING TIME OUT!), the award was certainly earned after looking at the list of accomplishments this team has achieved.

DeChellis is just the second Nittany Lion coach ever honored with a Coach of the Year award and the first since his mentor Bruce Parkhill was named the Atlantic-10 Coach of the Year in 1990. For a program that has struggled to pull in blue chip recruits for as long as you and I can remember, adding a coach of the year title to your coaching staff will definitely boost your credentials.

The Lions took a giant step in the right direction last off-season with the hiring of assistant coach Lewis Preston. Preston, who won a National Championship last season as an assistant with the Florida Gators, is a key recruiter for the Lions and known as a post-player developer (something the Lions need). Now, with a head coach with a Big Ten Coach of the Year title and an assistant with a championship ring on his hand, Happy Valley looks a little brighter in the eyes of young recruits.

In addition to DeChellis's award, you know the Big Ten awards couldn't be complete without Talor Battle and Jamelle Cornley. Battle earned first-team All-Big Ten honors from both conference coaches and media. Although this award fell short of the Big Ten Player of the Year aspirations both fans and coaches hoped for, it was certainly a feat as he's only the fifth Nittany Lion ever to hold first-team honors. For a sophomore who led the Big Ten regular season in scoring (17.3 ppg), the praise was certainly earned.

In addition to Battle, Cornley earned second-team selection from the media and third-team honors from the coaches and senior guard Stanley Pringle was an honorable-mention pick from both. Rising big-man Andrew Jones was named Penn State's sportsmanship award winner.

Let's hope the Lions can put these awards to good use as they'll face Big Ten cellar-dweller Indiana in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament. The NCAA Tournament is the next stepping stone for the Lions, and they can't get there without a win on Thursday.

SO FAR, SO GOOD

2009-03-10T07:51:00.003-04:00

After the first few conference post-season tournaments, things have pretty much gone Penn State's way. Since the Lions are squarely on the bubble, it would be best for their tourney hopes if no at-large bid worthy team lost in its conference tournament. When squads like Gonzaga and Siena took their conference hardware on Monday night, it meant that the full complement of at-large bids were still up for grabs. Teams like Davidson and Creighton could potentially get an at-large bid after getting bounced from their respective conference brackets, but I think both of those teams are behind Penn State anyway.

The real threat to Penn State's chances will come later this week when the other major conference's tournaments begin. Should a team other than LSU or Auburn win the SEC, or a team like Cincinnati, Notre Dame or Georgetown cut down the nets in the Big East tournament, they could potentially take a spot away from Penn State. But all this speculating about other conference tournaments is a bit premature, the Lions really only have one thing to worry about, the Indiana Hoosiers.

If there were one team I didn't want Penn State to play in the conference tournament besides Michigan State, it would be Indiana. The Hoosiers not only came within three points of ruining the Lions' senior day at the Bryce Jordan Center earlier this season, but they have home court advantage and absolutely nothing to lose. Still, if the Lions can't beat Indiana with their tournament hopes on the line, they probably don't deserve an at-large bid after all.

Drawing the Hoosiers could be the one silver lining of the Lions' precipitous fall from a potential #2 seed in the Big Ten tournament down to #6. Yes, the Lions lost out on a first-round bye, but they also earned a chance to pick up an important win against the last-place team in the conference and landed in the opposite half of the bracket from top-seeded Michigan State and Wisconsin, a team we just can't seem to solve.

Should Penn State pad its tournament resume with another victory, it will make it that much tougher for the committee to exclude them on selection sunday. On the other end of the coin, should the Lions end their season with back-to-back losses to the conferences two worst teams, Iowa and Indiana, I'll remind you that you can't spell Nittany without N.I.T.

BRINGING THE BJC BACK TO LIFE

2009-03-06T11:02:00.006-05:00

Even though the collar was stiff and yellowed from sweat, I still couldn't bear to throw away the T-shirt that was now two sizes too small to squeeze into. Instead of the garbage pile, I stuffed the relic into the bottom dresser drawer where it would always be should I be overtaken by a feeling of nostalgia. The shirt is a classic. White cotton with a Microsoft clipart style basketball hoop and sneakers drawn on the front and the words, "I Was There To See The Nittany Lions Shoot The Three In Rec Hall's Final Season," running across the back in electric blue letters.

During the 1995 season, each time Pete Lisicky, Glenn Sekunda, Dan Earl or others buried a triple, the cheerleaders in the northwest corner of the basketball cathedral would grab pre-bundled shirts and fire them into the crowd. These were the days when stadiums weren't as big as towns and you could actually reach the top rows without a hydraulic cannon or giant slingshot. I wasn't lucky enough to catch one, but my parents sent me down to the merchandise stand to pick one up, which to me was just as good.

There were mixed emotions that season when Penn State hoops cut its ties to Rec Hall and moved across campus to the palatial Bryce Jordan Center. The new facility was state of the art in every way, and became a model for what other on-campus facilities would become. It had the largest portable wooden floor in North America and was a perfect way to distinguish Penn State's recent move into the Big Ten, home of college basketball royalties like Indiana, Michigan and Michigan State.

On the other hand, the Lions were leaving behind a gym that held one of the most raucous atmospheres in the country, and a place with nearly 70 years of history. It had packed nearly 9,000 fans in for a victory against Virginia in 1973 and hosted the 1991 A-10 tournament that Penn State won to earn an automatic bid to March Madness. It was a place that opposing Big Ten coaches like Gene Keady and Bobby Knight hated to come to - too sweaty, undignified and loud for their proud programs. It mimicked famed courts like The Palestra and Cameron Indoor, not in its team's success or quality of players that it saw, but in the way that the walls would sweat and referees had to clear fans out of the way before an inbounds pass could be made.

Still, as great as Rec Hall was, The Bryce Jordan Center was clearly a step in the right direction, especially for the 1995-96 squad that was off the best start in Penn State history. In the BJC's first few years, the building was rarely empty, despite having a capacity twice that of Rec Hall. Then, as the product began to slip so too did the gate. The Jordan Center began to resemble a morgue more than a basketball court. Ominous black curtains hanging from the rafters to hide empty seats and dim lighting that seemed to induce a relaxed mood, or maybe to keep fans calm while the home team stumbled through another ugly loss. Soon, the arena became better known for its concerts than its role as an athletic facility.

Finally, a few years ago, a combination of aggressive marketing by the athletics program and a well-organized effort by a small but vocal group of students helped to slowly give the BJC some presence again. Now, after back-to-back crowds of over 15,000, a whole new crop of fans are getting to see the true potential of this building. Featuring minor-league baseball type gimmicks of $1 hot dogs and buy one get one free student tickets, the BJC is luring fans in and actually delivering a great product. For all of the argument about how to get the BJC going again as a home-court advantage, the real answer was simple, just win baby, and Penn State is doing it.

The Lions are 15-3 at home this year and going to games is fun again. Don't believe me? Just ask the crowd that rushed the floor on Thursday night after the buzzer-beating win against Illinois or the multiple cheering sections that are popping (pun not intended Stanley) up for individual players just like in football. The structure might never feel as intimate as Rec Hall does or shake the way the old building used to when the Lions were on a run, but it can be turned into a home court advantage and the Lions are doing their part to make it one.

MARCHING TO THEIR OWN BEAT

2009-03-06T10:34:00.005-05:00

Pardon the pun, but March has come in like a Nittany Lion this year. Since the last day of February, Penn State has posted two thrilling home-court victories to complete season sweeps over Indiana and Illinois respectively. The back-to-back wins have featured buzzer-beating shots, comebacks, heartfelt speeches from seniors, swelling BJC crowds and a Heisman-candidate quarterback storming the court. It's been a magical month.

Historically, this time of the season has been better served by dreaming of April's football scrimmage or the dawning major league baseball season. This year, the Lions have served notice that they have saved the best for last, and who knows what and when that will be. Since head coach Ed DeChellis' first season in 2003-2004, the Lions are a combined 3-12 in March, including a 1-6 mark in postseason play. This year the Lions have a great chance to win both of their March contests and earn a first-round bye in the conference tournament for the first time ever.

Penn State's win against Illinois on Thursday night was as thrilling a victory as you could ever hope for and seems to have cemented the Lions' spot in the NCAA Tournament. The Lions have now won four of their last five games and put themselves in a position where a win on Saturday at Iowa coupled with a Purdue loss on senior day at Michigan State would land Penn State in a tie for second place in the Big Ten standings.

With the success that Penn State is enjoying come new pressures. As much as the fans love the Lions for their big win on Thursday, nobody will forgive a flat effort against the Hawkeyes, even though it comes less than 48 hours after the buzzer-beating win against the Illini. Furthermore, the Lions will always have to prove themselves worthy, fairly or unfairly, in both the Big Ten tournament and the big dance. This program has won only seven NCAA tournament games in its history, and it will be hard for pundits and fans not to judge this squad based on the short tournament resume of its predecessors. But as we've said before, there's little resemblance between this crop of Lions and the others that have come before it. Hopefully that will never be more true than in March.

HEAR 'EM ROAR

2009-03-06T06:33:00.002-05:00

THEY DID IT

2009-03-05T23:23:00.003-05:00

I know that an ending like the one that Talor Battle and Penn State gave its fans on Thursday night is worthy of a much more eloquent post than this. But right now, if you're like me - delusional with happiness and don't know what to do - just listen to what the Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibbs, better known as the Bee Gees, tell you to do. Get ready cause we're going dancing!

GAME TIME

2009-03-05T18:24:00.004-05:00

Tonight's game against Illinois has now been dubbed the most important Penn State basketball game in the Ed DeChellis era by not only myself, but also legitimate members of the media. Not only is ranked team coming into the BJC for the last home game of the year, but tonight's game has been dubbed a "white house", the first ever for the Bryce Jordan Center.

The Athletic Department is doing everything they can to create a playoff-type atmosphere at home tonight. It's dollar hot dog night and students can get tickets buy one, get one. While it most likely won't sell out due to the fact that it's a weekday night, it's still great to see fans excited about basketball for once, in and out of State College. Over 1,000 students have joined the game's Facebook event, while only about 400 joined for the Indiana game (which had an attendance of over 15,000). I'm not sure if that means anything at all, but I'd like to hope it does.

Not only is this a huge game for our tournament hopes, but it's also a HUGE step for the program. There's been multiple times when it's looked as if the Lions are only a few steps from becoming a legitimate program only to slide right back down the hill into Division One mediocrity. Captain and senior Jamelle Cornley said before the season, "if we don't make it to the tournament this year, it'll be my fault." That's a big thing to say for one player, however if I had to give anyone that responsibility, it would certainly be him. Tonight, he'll be playing for more than this team, he'll be playing for the entire program.

You can bet both teams will come flying out of the gates, trying to erase all memory of their last match up, a 38-33 PSU victory. That game was the sixth lowest scoring game in the shot-clock era, and the lowest since 2005. Penn State has won three of their last four games against the Illini, sweeping last year's regular season series, only to be defeated in the Big Ten Tournament. I'm not an expert, but I'm going to guess you'll be a much more fast-paced and back and forth game tonight. With so much on the line for Penn State, I have a feeling Battle, Pringle, Morrissey and Babb will be shooting early and often, trying to see who has the hot hand.

Hopefully for the Lions, they all do tonight.

God I'm nervous.

Check out the awesome pump-up video made by Nittany Nation for tonight's game here....

QUICK READS

2009-03-03T10:05:00.008-05:00

There's a lot being written about Penn State hoops as they enter their final week of regular season play. Even a spokesman for the team says that Thursday's game against the Illini might be the most important game since the 1991 Atlantic 10 Championship against George Washington. Catch up on your reading..

"Big basketball games in early March? NCAA tournament talk? It's all relatively new for success-starved Penn State. The spring football practice chatter will have to wait in Happy Valley: the Nittany Lions (20-9, 9-7 Big Ten) are making noise on the hardwood with their best season in years. Penn State hasn't been to the NCAAs since 2000-01, the last time the program reached 20 wins." - AP
Read the full article here....

"Tied for fourth place in a conference expected to garner as many as eight NCAA tournament bids, the Penn State men's basketball team appears to be in a relatively stable position with just a pair of regular season games remaining." - The Daily Collegian
Read the full article here....

"The mood was light and easy before Penn State's Monday afternoon practice. The Nittany Lions joked with each other as they shot baskets, at one point trying to see how many balls the net could hold at once. Ed DeChellis stood near midcourt and watched quietly, allowing his team a few more moments to relax before the most important week of his six years at Penn State began in earnest." - Centre Daily Times
Read the full article here....

"Making his first start since high school Saturday, senior Will Leiner jokingly told Talor Battle he'd supply the sophomore's Big Ten-leading stats. Leiner, a former walk-on with nine career points to his name, started early when he ball-faked, got into the lane, then anticipated dishing off to a teammate if the center had stepped up higher." - The Daily Collegian
Read the full article here....

JAMELLE CORNLEY

2009-03-02T13:22:00.004-05:00

Although it would have been better if it was against a top-10 team, Saturday's game was still amazing to watch. The largest crowd to watch a basketball game in the BJC since 2001 was treated to a nail-biter win against Indiana. It was fitting that on Senior Night, the last basket was a one-handed jam by none other than Captain Jamelle Cornley. Immediately after the final buzzer, Cornley grabbed a mic and saluted the crowd.

NO WAY AROUND IT

2009-02-27T14:20:00.013-05:00

I've been wanting to write a long, expansive post these last few days, but every time I try, I feel like my main point is being diluted. Maybe that's because I'm not the best writer and I often struggle making any point, but after thinking about it, maybe it's because I didn't actually have a main point.

There's much to be said and written about these Nittany Lions. At the beginning of the long season, some people thought they were good, but not this good. Some people thought they good, but a lot better than this. Now 28 games into the season, they sit at 19-9, with an 8-7 Big Ten record. "Like it or lump it," to quote my mother Karen, that's where they are. Penn State is your picture-perfect example of a bubble team.

Forget about all of the mock brackets, forget about all the 'what ifs's, and 'what could have been's.' The Lions have to win their remaining three regular season games if they want to be seriously considered for the NCAA Tournament. In year's past, that wasn't just a long-shot, it was basically impossible. The Lions didn't have the personnel, talent, or drive and even though we're 28 games into the season, we still don't know if that personnel, talent or drive is there.

At times, it's obvious that this team can beat anyone in the nation. However, using last Tuesday's game against the Buckeyes as an example, at times this team looks as lost and unmotivated as ever.

There's no way around it, the Nittany Lions are backed against a wall. The squad has three legitimate must win games left, or they'll be basking in the mediocrity of the NIT Tournament. I for one am very interested in how this team will respond to a must win game. Come to think of it, I can't remember the last time Penn State was in a must win game that had tournament ramifications on the line. 2001 is the most likely answer. If that's so, it's been 8 whole years since this team has HAD to win. Well that time has finally come, and it should be exciting to watch.

Can you imagine Jamelle Cornley's demeanor in a game he HAS to win? Can you picture Talor Battles motivation when he knows the NCAA's are depending on it? I can, and if I was anyone else in the Big Ten, I wouldn't want to play these Nittany Lions.

Tournament aside, tomorrow is Senior Day at the Bryce Jordan Center. Come out and support four seniors who have had, albeit very different, significant impacts on this program over the past four of five years. Come early, be loud, wear white. Tip off against Indiana is at 6 p.m.

MY FRUSTRATION...GRAPHICALLY

2009-02-26T12:32:00.007-05:00

If I were writing this post two nights ago immediately after Penn State's 73-59 loss to Ohio State it would appear slightly different. Shoehorned in between the dense collection of curses and death threats would have been some coherent thoughts, maybe even a shimmer of wit...whatever I could have managed through my sobbing. Instead, I decided to let the frustration simmer the last couple of days and express my grief through Microsoft Excel.

Penn State is too close to a tournament bid to start whining about what they did wrong specifically against the Buckeyes (shot selection, transition game, rebounding), but it is useful to see if any trends are developing as it heads into the final home stretch with three games left on the docket. Most coaches will agree, the most important stretches of a game, especially one as volatile as college basketball, are the first and last minutes of each half. Momentum and confidence are most readily established during these stanzas, and punctuating each half with a strong beginning and end is the most assured way to get a victory.

After the monumental win over Illinois last week, few fans were expecting the kind of start that Penn State opened with when the Lions fell behind 19-2 to begin the game against Ohio State. A look at the stats disagrees with your optimism however, and shows that the slow start is exactly what we should have been expecting from Penn State.

This graph shows that Penn State has not led after five minutes of a game since its 72-68 win against Michigan State and that the Lions have only jumped out to an early lead in four Big Ten games so far this season. It's true that the start against Ohio State was by far the worst of the year for Penn State, but when you habitually fail to show up in the first five minutes of a game, it will cost you, as it has in four of the last six games.

Still, the Lions roared back on Tuesday night and seemed to firmly put that bad beginning behind them.

As this graph shows, the last five minutes of the first half has been pretty erratic for the Lions. In six of its 14 conference games, Penn State has taken momentum into the locker-room by outscoring its opponents. The Lions are 4-2 (67%) in those games, and 4-5 (44%) in games when they have been outscored in the last five minutes before halftime.

Shifting to the last twenty minutes of the game, this graph shows how Penn State fares in the opening minutes of the second half. The Lions, although they had an advantage in six of their 15 conference games, never outscored the opponent by more than five points in the first five minutes. Much like the first five minutes of the game, this is an area that the Lions need to put more effort into.

Finally, and perhaps the most misleading of all trends, the final five minutes of a game.

This chart is difficult to read because several of these games were already decided for much of the time being displayed, leading to inflated results. Like the end of the Michigan game at home, when the Lions were well in control but the Wolverines just continued to bomb threes.

I guess the main idea to grasp from these charts is that, with one exception, Penn State has been consistently inconsistent in its performance during the most crucial times of the basketball game - the first and last five minutes of each half. All season long, the Lions have been little more than a wild roller coaster ride during these telling time spans, equal parts aggressor and punching bag. The lone exception is the first five minutes of the game.

Disturbingly, Penn State has gotten the jump on its opponent after the opening tip only once in the last eight games, a dangerous way to play when absolutely every win counts. It was especially disappointing to see the Lions, despite coming off of a huge win at Illinois and a six-day rest, get blown out of the water by Ohio State in the first few minutes of Tuesday's game. The Lions have shown that on any given night, they can play with any team in the league, but there are only three nights left in the regular season, and they can't afford to sleepwalk through a single minute of any of them.

SUPER FAT TUESDAY

2009-02-24T10:01:00.010-05:00

Erin Andrews isn't the only one excited for tonight's game against Ohio State (17-8, 7-7). For only the fourth time this season, the Lions will be playing in front of a national audience (Big Ten Network doesn't count) on ESPN. This is not only exciting because the game will be in HD against a team I absolutely despise, but I won't have to run to a bar after work praying that they'll turn on the Big Ten Network (this is not only bad for my drinking habits, but also my wallet).

The game, which is set to tip-off at 7:00 pm, is part of ESPN's Super Tuesday, which features a couple of key "bubble-breaker" match ups across their networks. Calling the game will be my personal favorite announcer Brett Musburger along with Steve Lavin. Andrews will be calling the shots from the sideline.

The Lions, who will be trying to make their case for a tournament berth, will get a great chance to showcase their talent to the committee (I'm guessing not all committee members have the BTN). This is also an great shot to inch closer to a first round bye in the Big Ten Tournament, which has never happened to PSU. The Buckeyes have lost three straight and have turned their focus from winning the Big Ten, to just making the tournament.

Step aside Mardi Gras, Penn State hoops is stealing the national spot light tonight (well, unless Andrews really wants some beads).

OH DANNY BOY

2009-02-23T22:37:00.010-05:00

Besides having an awesome first name, Danny Morrissey is one of those players that you genuinely root for. You don't just root for the team, you root for him to succeed. Although it feels like he's been playing since the Lions Sweet 16 trip, the 24-year-old senior only has a handful of games left and Nittany Nation will severely miss him once he's gone.

The 6'3", 190-pound shooting guard is a red shirt senior this year, and although his playing minutes have been declining since 2006, it's impossible to measure what he's meant on and off the court to the Nittany Lions.

Besides being the Lions top three-point scorer the past three seasons, Morrissey has been one of the Big Ten's toughest shooters to guard. Since he entered Division One basketball, Morrissey has 27 career games with three or more treys and has scored in double-digits 37 times. Unfortunately, after 30 games and 231 points as a true freshman, the shooting guard suffered a patella tendon dislocation in his left knee at a team practice early in the season his sophomore year. By the end of that week, Morrissey underwent surgery and was granted a medical red shirt by the NCAA.

Although the senior came back better than ever in 2006-2007 (44% from three point range), his shooting touch has declined over the past two seasons. To his credit he's been suffering from a sore and swollen right knee, however Morrissey has only put up 9 points on 3-16 shooting during his last five games.

This 'un-Morrissey' like behavior out of the Cleveland, OH native has had many people basically writing him off the team for the remainder of his tenure at Penn State. This, I could not disagree with more. Even when his shots aren't falling, Morrissey has been one of the most energetic and vocal guys on the Lions squad. Often over-sized on the floor, the co-captain has never been one to back down from a charge or to hang his head after missing a shot. He wasn't just born with that sweet stroke, he's known for being the first one in and the last one out of the gym after practice, as he's constantly working on his shot.

"I've seen minutes slip my whole career," Morrissey said to the Daily Collegian. "As long as I'm on the court and I contributed in some kind of fashion to us winning the game, that's really what I feel good about. If those guys play well, they'll get minutes. It just comes down to whoever's gonna get on the court and help us win a game. That's all I care about."

However, as the team heads to his home state of Ohio for a key match-up against the Buckeyes on Tuesday...I have a strange feeling he cares about performing a little more than he's letting on.

Although the emergence of Cameron Woodyard and Chris Babb have taken some of Morrissey's minutes during the second half of the season, you can be sure he'll be playing with something to prove Tuesday as it's his last game at Ohio State. Playing for his last shot at an NCAA tournament berth, the senior will have over 50 friends and family in attendance for the nationally televised contest. The six-day break after the Illinois win will also benefit Morrissey, as the season has played its toll on the guards knees.

As senior day quickly approaches, keep a keen eye on number 33 on the court. He still has a lot to prove and you can be sure that with less than a month left to play as a Nittany Lion, the senior will give you ever ounce of everything he's got. It's the only way he's ever played.

That's why I'll be one of the first to give this kid a standing ovation on Saturday for Senior Day. Rough season or not, he's earned it.

Video from www.gopsb.com

SOMETHING BUILDING IN STATE COLLEGE

2009-02-22T09:12:00.002-05:00

It's easy to take winning for granted when you're a fan of one of the most accomplished football programs in the country. Maybe that's why it's been so hard to understand the near-permanent struggles of Penn State's basketball program. Fans want to just point across the street from basketball coach Ed DeChellis' office towards Beaver Stadium and say, "Just do what they do."

What "they" do is a tried and true formula in college athletics - recruit, build good facilities and give the program its own identity with a strong coaching staff. Look at almost any consistently successful outfit in the college ranks and you'll find those three requirements in varying doses. As far as Penn State hoops goes, "two out of three ain't bad." The problem for the Lions has been getting good recruits to come and use those updated facilities and learn from that committed staff. The Philadelphia Inquirer's Jeff McLane examines why getting those blue-chippers might become easier for DeChellis and his coaches after the season that the Lions are putting together this year.

If you win, the recruits come. If they come, you win. If you lose, well. . . .
"It's hard. There's no excitement. There's no energy," DeChellis said. "You're not winning any games, but you're trying to recruit players. And they don't want to come because they say, 'You're not winning any games.' "

Full Text: Click Here

ITS A GREAT TIME TO BE PSU FAN

2009-02-20T19:53:00.009-05:00

Let's be honest. For ~~the last few years~~ forever, there hasn't been much to cheer about while following Penn State basketball. There's been a few bright spots here and there, and although I'm not going to name them, you can count them on one hand. There have also been many many games that just like the time you passed out on the toilet in college - you'd rather pretend never happened.

However, things have been different lately. Starting with the team's surprise success last season when star Geary Claxton was injured, a soft, slow rumble of excitement began to follow this team. Did Ed DeChellis finally have the right formula of guys he could work with? Was Talor Battle really as good as advertised? Well, although their work isn't done yet this season, and they are certainly a LONG way away from securing a tournament berth...the answer appeared to be yes, and the follower's of this team are reaping the benefits.

I spent 2003 through 2007 at Penn State following basically every Nittany Lion team possible. However, I must admit that no matter how spoiled I was with national football coverage...I always secretly longed to see the basketball team grace the screen and/or pages of ESPN. Game after game, season after season I would hike up to the BJC, praying for the guys to pull of the big upset. Well short story even shorter, it never happened.

(My wishes did come true for a brief instant in 2006, thanks to some inspired play from Travis Parker, when PSU pulled off the unbelievable win over #6 Illinois on the road. )

However, other than that win, my dreams of waking up to see the basketball team on ESPN.com would never come to fruition during college.

This years squad whistles a different tune. The Lions are currently 19-8(8-6), which is good enough for 4th in the Big Ten. Slowly and ever so cautiously, people have begun to notice.

Yes, this season has had as many roller coasters as Six Flags, but the ups have heavily outweighed the downs. ESPN has had two stories about the Nittany Lions THIS WEEK, which is two more they may have had during the past 4 seasons.

Although their work is still cut out for them, beginning with next week's contest against the Buckeyes, it's hard not to smile while watching this team. Despite the three game losing streak and the impossibly hard to watch offensive performances (*cough Illinois cough*), it's a great time to be a PSU fan...and I'm certainly loving every second of it.

Read about the Lions on ESPN here:

ESPN.com Bracketology

ESPN writer Andy Katz on PSU's key road win...

BENCH PLAYERS COME THROUGH TO SPARK UPSET

2009-02-19T23:07:00.006-05:00

Shon Morris, the analyst for Wednesday night's game against Illinois easily had the call of the night late in the second half after the Illini committed a flagrant foul. Play-by-play announcer Wayne Larrivee said that Talor Battle appeared to be hurting after he was taken to the ground by an Illinois defender and Morris, without missing a beat, chimed in, "He's hurting so good, Wayne."

John "Cougar" Mellencamp references aside, Ed DeChellis must have been feeling the best out of all the Lions after finally finding some productivity from his bench. One of the biggest roles a coach has is to find the right combination to give his team the best chance to win, understanding that that combination could change from night-to-night or even minute-to-minute. Wednesday night, Eddie D pushed the right buttons when he gave freshman Chris Babb a season-high tying twenty minutes of playing time, including the final seven-plus minutes.

Babb responded with seven points (just one off of his season-high, but nearly 20% of the Lions' scoring on the night) as well as a monumental steal that led to a Stanley Pringle layup to give Penn State a lead it would not relinquish. In total, the Lions' bench players produced 13 points and only had two turnovers in 57 combined minutes. By comparison, the five starters had 25 points and eleven turnovers in almost triple that time.

For much of the year, Danny Morrissey and David Jackson had been the sixth men. Now, with Jackson seemingly taking over the starting role from Jeff Brooks and Morrissey's knee bothering him, Babb might have become the first man off the bench after his clutch play against the Illini.

Andrew Ott deserves some praise too after playing inspired basketball on Wednesday. The big man chipped in four points, four rebounds and one huge block in just 12 minutes.

LIONS WIN UGLY AGAINST ILLINOIS

2009-02-19T22:33:00.006-05:00

It is often said that for team "A" to upset team "B," the former must play an absolute perfect game. That was certainly not the case when the Penn State Nittany Lions, assuming the role of team "A," outlasted the sixteenth-ranked Fighting Illini 38-33 on Thursday night in Champaign. Neither team would claim any style points in this turnover plagued, brick-laden affair, but Penn State would claim its second road victory over a ranked team this season and thrust itself into the discussion for an at-large berth in the NCAA Tournament.

Perhaps we were all a little premature when we said that Penn State had turned the corner after upending Michigan State in East Lansing last month. That game fit the generic description of the underdog playing way over its head to pull off the upset. Wednesday's game was different from the upset of the Spartans in that the Lions did not play a good game offensively, but still found a way to get a win on the road against a ranked team in February. It was exactly the kind of win fans had been waiting for. A win that exclaimed, "Penn State can beat you anywhere at any time." And even if that proclamation doesn't turn out to be exactly true, the players now have the confidence to believe such a statement, and that means more than it's absolute validity.

Suddenly, Ed DeChellis's claim that the Lions had to win four out of their last five to get a bid to the tournament doesn't seem so far-fetched. Not with the next game coming against a reeling Ohio State team; and not with return match-ups against Indiana, Illinois and Iowa - three teams the Lions have already beaten this season - to end the season.

Earlier this year, the Lions strung together four straight conference victories, only to suffer three straight double-digit defeats to completely reverse any momentum they had gained. Now, after back-to-back wins against teams ranked ahead of them in the Big Ten standings, the real challenge will be to avoid a similar slide and play their best ball of the season as the calendar turns to March.

TIME TO MAN UP

2009-02-17T16:51:00.003-05:00

No way around it, no pretty way to disguise it, and certainly no way to sugar coat it...the Nittany Lions will need to man up Wednesday night on the road against # 18 Illinois. Their tournament hopes depend on it.

You don't get to the tournament by receiving votes. You get there by winning.

NEWEST VIDEO FROM NITTANY NATION

2009-02-13T13:35:00.005-05:00

With only three home games remaining this season, the Lions will look to end their 3-game losing streak tomorrow against Tubby Smith's Minnesota team. If the game is anything like the last time the men's team played on Valentine's Day, it will certainly be exciting.

During the 2006-07 season, #1 Ohio State came into the BJC in the middle of a snowstorm and squeaked by with a 64-62 win. In front of a large crowd that was treated to free tickets and a National audience on ESPN, the Lions furiously rallied from a 20 point deficit in the second half, only to have Mike Walker's game-winning three clank off the front end of the rim as time expired.

Let's hope a large crowd shows up again tomorrow to show this team some love on V Day.

The newest video from Nittany Nation is out, and can be seen here...

KEEP ON KEEPIN' ON

2009-02-12T13:13:00.010-05:00

Well, the backup never came last night in Penn State's loss to Purdue. If anything the team, which once again failed to score more than 30 in a half, looked even more tired and lifeless than against Wisconsin last Saturday.

It's no secret that star guard Talor Battle is currently in an awful slump he can't seem to shake, and when Battle struggles the team struggles. Although the sophomore had six assists, he failed to score any points for the first time this season. going 0-7 from the floor with three turnovers.

However, his struggles stem farther than anybody can see from watching the Big Ten Network. According to an article by David Jones posted on Pennlive.com, Battle is currently struggling with things off-court which clearly have had an impact on him and his presence on-court. Read the entire article to see exactly what i mean.

Read the entire article here...

How coach Ed DeChellis is going to keep the team motivated and hungry on the court is a key question at this time. After the Lions win against Michigan State, fans were looking at the remaining schedule wondering who could possibly beat this team. Now, only two weeks later, it's tough to pick out a winnable game.

I personally am doing my my best to keep the Nittany Lions in good spirits. Maybe some of them just need some extra reps in the gym, maybe some need some positive reassurance. But what if maybe...just maybe, all they really need is a friend?

Bam! Like an injection into A-Rod's left buttock, I come flying in. By friending all of the Nittany Lions on Facebook this morning while at work, I did more than any late-night gym session ever could. I showed that I care.

By Talor Battles response, I know he cares too.

I expect the W's to come back beginning with an explosive and motivated performance at home against Minnesota on Saturday. You can thank me later.

CALLING FOR BACKUP!

2009-02-11T15:22:00.005-05:00

It's a common theme among war movies; the scene where the ground troops are locked in a deadly gunfight with the enemy, calling for help to anyone who will listen. Cheers and whistles breakout when the American planes fly over, spraying the enemy with gunfire, thus saving the troops on the ground.

Do you see where I'm going with this?

Penn State's big three (Jamelle Cornley, Talor Battle and Stanley Pringle) are in a firefight right now, constantly battling Big Ten's biggest and quickest enemies. The three are averaging 47 of PSU's 68.5 points per game at this time. However, they're calling for backup right now...to anyone and everyone on the PSU roster who will listen.

The Lions back court of Battle and Pringle have combined to make only 14 of 54 shots (25.9%) in the last two losses and 2 of 22 from three point range (9.0%). While Cornley has put up 29 points in the past two games, only 4 of them came in their home loss against Wisconsin (he had 4 at the half).

Unfortunately for the Lions, who have been playing with this three-man offense most of the season, the remainder of the season is a remake of the last bridge scene in Saving Private Ryan. They're out-sized, playing in enemy territory, and as "experts" say: "simply overmatched". Luckily, the end of this season doesn't need to replicate the end of said movie, where Tom Hanks perishes on a bridge. If Penn State's backup can come in time (preferably tonight), the Lions have a fighting chance of seizing back their momentum in the Big Ten and solidifying a tournament berth.

It's not like the Lions are pleading for backup into deaf ears. Danny Morrissey likes playing in Mackey Arena and is due for a huge game tonight. This is evidenced by his shooting 14-20 from three-point range and is average of 15.6 points for his career on Keady Court. The senior will be the first to tell you he's having a sub par year after shooting a combined 71% from beyond the arc in the last two seasons.

Andrew Jones III is another Lion who needs to step up his play if the Lions are going to advance into the post season. The 6'9" forward, who is listed at 245 lbs., is only averaging 5.4 points and 5.1 rebounds per game. Decent numbers, but not for someone who is playing 23.9 minutes per game. Coach Ed DeChellis needs his other big man to step in and take control of the lane - something Jones has seemingly been tentative of all season. However Jones did grab 11 rebounds (8 offensive) earlier this season against Purdue, so he should have another big game tonight against the Boilermakers.

Hell, the Lions will even take help from David Jackson, who has been disappointingly inconsistent since his highly touted arrival in Happy Valley last season. Although averaging over 20 minutes a game, the sophomore is only netting 4 points and 3.2 rebounds a game. It appears the forward wants to pass immediately every time the ball comes his way. However, after scoring 6 points on perfect shooting last game against the Badgers, Jackson may be ready to breakout of his shell and show Nittany Nation what he's made of.

If the Lions are going to upset #23 Purdue in West Lafayette tonight they'll certainly need the backup they've been waiting for all season. Let's just hope it gets here in time.

EVERYBODY GET BACK IN THE BOAT

2009-02-10T11:32:00.004-05:00

Wake Forest, Clemson, Xavier, Arizona State, Gonzaga, Purdue (three times), Syracuse and Ohio State (twice).

Those are the list of college basketball teams in the this week's Top 25 polls that have experienced back-to-back losses at least once this season - an unfortunate fate that befell Penn State this past week. Rather then yell, "The sky is falling," because our previously soaring Lions are headed into the toughest stretch of their schedule with no momentum, let's look at some positives.

Penn State currently sits sixth in the conference, just one spot away from a first-round bye in the conference tournament. Moreover, Jamelle Cornley and company are just one measly game out of sole posession of second place behind the Michigan State Spartans.

How about that minefield disguised as a schedule? The Lions are 3-1 against remaining opponents that they've already played once this season and could get to 20 wins just by holding serve at home. Although dates at Purdue, Illinois and Ohio State may appear daunting, home-court advantage has been anything but a sure thing this season. Previously unbeatable Wisconsin has already lost four times at the Kohl Center this year alone, where it had been 113-8 since 2001. Michigan State did the unthinkable, losing two in a row at the Breslin center to Northwestern and Penn State.

The above information is not to ignore the fact that Penn State's offense has been atrocious the last two games, looking completely lost without the normal scoring contribution from Talor Battle, or that it continues to get little to no support from its bench players; it's just to say that it's not all doom and gloom.

The team hardly resembles the squad that just two weeks ago was running up a four-game in-conference winning streak, but that same talent is there. If I were coach Eddie DeChellis, I would make sure the offense runs through Cornley. Get the big man a touch every time down the floor. Not only is he the most versatile scorer on the team, but having him touch it on the block will slow down the halfcourt set and inject some composure into an offense that has looked scattered against strong man-to-man defense the last two contests.

Secondly, Danny Morrissey needs to contribute. Imagine a three-point specialist that is fifth on the team in three-point percentage (!) and is 2-for-9 from three point range in his last four games. If he isn't shooting well, he isn't really giving much to the team, chipping in less than two rebounds and two assists per game. I would rather see his minutes split between Chris Babb and Cameron Woodyard.

Lastly, Eddie needs to find a way to affect Battle. My plan to get an, "In Talor We Trust," tattoo across my back has not been shelved, but the sophomore needs to learn how to balance his role as leading scorer and point guard. All the great point guards knew to make sure their teammates were getting off offensively before they looked to get their own game cooking. I know it's a bit different seeing how Battle leads the conference in scoring, but he needs to reailze that the more baskets he sets his teammates up for, the more that will take the defensive (and mental) pressure off of himself.

Lots of people have thought that DeChellis was a coach that could make this program competitive by giving it an identity and bringing in talented players. He's rarely, if ever, had any pressure to deal with since stepping onto campus. Now, with his team balanced on the fence between success and disaster, let's see if he really is a coach that can make Penn State a relevant team in the Big Ten. Let's see if he can push the right buttons to pull off another big road win against a ranked team (Purdue, Illinois, Ohio State) and get this program back to the NCAAs for the first time since 2001.

YOU READY?

2009-02-06T13:15:00.004-05:00

The latest 'pump-up video' was released today by Alex Cohen of Nittany Nation.

It's amazing the effort that Nittany Nation is doing to generate excitement off and on campus.
The students are ready. Are you?

Click for the video, then watch it with a friend...

FASTEN YOUR SEAT BELTS

2009-02-06T10:28:00.005-05:00

Although Penn State is coming off a 20-point loss to ...'deep breath'...Michigan on Thursday night, the team is actually still in better shape than most thought they would be entering Sunday's game against Wisconsin. If I was told the team would return 1-1 after this road trip, I would still eagerly await Sunday's contest believing The Lions were fresh off a win against the Wolverines and a humbling loss against the #9 team in the country.

Instead, the Nittany Lions received their coveted big-game road win with an impressive and eye-opening performance against Tom Izzo's Spartans. Although the Lions will most likely not receive any AP votes in the newest rankings next Monday, they maintained their pace to receive their first tournament berth since 2001.

Although it's cliché and Ed DeChellis even admits he's over saying it, the Lions will most likely benefit from this loss in the long run. Talor Battle and Stanley Pringle went a combined 6-29 from the field, and continued to put up contested shot after contested shot. Hopefully both of them learned that you're not hot 100% of the time and that the team can't rely on 30 foot three's all game as they did against Michigan State. Yes, both guards have the ability to hit those shots...but you can't expect to shoot lights out every night. At some point the offense needs to slow down, re-group and run their sets.

It's clear that although the guards have been the spark to this team most of the season, Jamelle Cornley has been the rock. The senior scored 25 points and shot 10-12 from the field against Michigan (putting him at 18-22 against UM combined). I'm sure the team will look long at hard at game tape as they'll find more ways to get the ball inside to Mel. There were many possessions Thursday night where Cornley never touched the ball and if this season is expected to carry on after the first round of the Big Ten Tournament, this clearly cannot happen.

Although Wisconsin will enter the Bryce Jordan Center on Sunday with a 3-6 conference record, it's obvious that they cannot be taken lightly. Fresh off a home win against #22 Illinois, the Badgers will look to carry their momentum forward as they'll need a strong February showing to make the tournament. Although they lost six in a row prior to their win against Illinois, the Badgers, who won the Big Ten title and tournament last season, held the lead in the final 3 minutes of regulation in five of their last seven losses going into Thursday.

Penn State basketball fans better fasten their seat belts as the Big Ten conference schedule is heating up and there's still a long road to travel before a tournament berth is guaranteed. Looking back at the Big Ten scoreboard, it's obvious any team can be beaten on any night.

Penn State teams of the past may have lost by 20 to Michigan, only to lose four of their next five and deplete themselves of any chance of a post season and/or fan base they have. However, the team and the media has preached all year that this IS NOT the same Penn State team you grew up watching. Hopefully a sold out Bryce Jordan Center will have a chance to witness that first hand on Sunday.

FULL HOUSE IN THE CARDS?

2009-02-06T08:23:00.004-05:00

Right underneath winning you'll find playing in front of a sold-out home crowd on the list of "Things You're not Accustomed to Seeing Penn State Basketball Do." But in this pleasantly surprising season that has the Lions tied for third place in the conference with eight regular season games remaining, all of your presuppositions for Penn State hoops are being erased.

An article in Friday's Daily Collegian discusses the possibility of a sold out Bryce Jordan Center for this Sunday's tussle with Wisconsin. Perhaps it's the Phillies' World Series Trophy tour that's stopping in State College or the marketing department creating buzz with a, "Wear Your White" campaign, but the team is looking forward to playing in front of its biggest home crowd in years.

"It's gonna mean everything to me," Cornley said. "When I first came here on my
visit in fall of 2005, I came into the gym and looked around the arena and
thought, 'This is a lot of seats.' "
As of Thursday afternoon, Ticketmaster listed the best available seat for one person as section 225.

Full Text: http://www.collegian.psu.edu/archive/2009/02/06/the_lions_could_sellout_sunday.aspx

MICH-AGAIN

2009-02-05T23:05:00.002-05:00

Jamelle Cornley couldn't do anything but sit and watch (and listen) as his team was serenaded by the Michigan student section with chants of "We Own Penn State," as the final seconds bled away in a 71-51 loss to the Wolverines on Thursday night. It was the team's first lost in five games, but fifteenth loss in sixteen trips to Ann Arbor.

There's only so many ways to score points in a basketball game and Penn State's options began and ended with Cornley on Thursday. The senior accounted for nearly half of his team's offense, pouring in 25 points, including an uncharacteristic 3-of-4 night from behind the three-point arc. The Nittany Lions shot just 32% from the floor as a team and missed 17 of 25 three-point attempts, while Michigan connected on a 47% clip and enjoyed a 31-9 advantage in bench production.

It was a night to forget for guards Talor Battle and Stanley Pringle who shot a combined 6-29 (20%) and had six of the team's 13 turnovers. Jeff Brooks and David Jackson continued their season-long "deer in a headlight" impersonation combining for zero points, three turnovers and five fouls in 32 minutes.

Penn State's last lead of the game was a two-point cushion with 15 minutes left in the game, but the Lions were outscored 17-3 over the next seven minutes as Michigan blew the game open.

The loss was especially frustrating since the Wolverines had no answer for Cornley inside, yet the Lions' offensive attack regressed into a series of one-on-one battles ending with contested jumpers instead of running the offense through Cornley and allowing him to control the paint and the pace of the game. Ed DeChellis even mentioned that same point on his way to the locker room at halftime, yet no adjustment was made in the second half.

This game is not a deal-breaker, Crisler Arena proved a tough place for Duke to play earlier this year as well, but Penn State better get this loss behind them quickly with the Wisconsin Badgers coming to town on Sunday and the Lions getting ready to face ranked teams in three of its next five games.

Anytime you score 50 points in a game and one player has half of them, you're not going to have a good chance of winning. It just really sucks that this loss had to come with former coach Jerry Dunn on the other bench and those fishstick-breathed Michigan students mocking our team until the final buzzer.

ROAD WARRIORS AT IT AGAIN

2009-02-04T23:46:00.006-05:00

The last thing Penn State fans need is another reason to hate the University of Michigan.

The second-place Nittany Lions will take their conference-best four-game winning streak into the Crisler Arena in Ann Arbor Thursday, its second of five road games scheduled in the month of February.

The Wolverines and Lions certainly represent two ships passing in the night. Behind CollegeHoops.net's national player of the week honoree, Talor Battle, Penn State is streaking to its best record in years while Michigan is plummeting after a hot start, dropping five of its last six conference games, and in the unfamiliar role of spoiler against the Lions.

To add insult to injury, two of John Beilein's players have suffered flagrant-foul ejections in each of its last two contests (both losses) against Ohio State and Purdue. The Wolverines' leading scorer, Manny Harris, was tossed out of the team's game against the Boilermakers early in the second half after an vicious elbow delivered to the face of Cris Kramer. While Harris has avoided a suspension, teammate Zack Novak wasn't as lucky after his ejection for an excessively hard foul against the Buckeyes earned him a one-game benching.

This is a dangerous time to catch the Wolverines, as it will be as desperate a team as the Lions will face all season. Penn State has only won once in 14 trips to Ann Arbor, but the Nits broke winless streaks of 15 games at Indiana and 16 games at East Lansing already this season.

The first time these two teams met this season, Penn State led by as many as 26 points on its way to a comfortable 15 point win. The Lions shot 58% from the floor that night and were led by Jamelle Cornley who left Michigan defenders absolutely dumbfounded. Don't expect it to be that easy in Ann Arbor, but this is a game the Lions must have to sustain momentum and keep pace with the upper crust of teams in the conference.

The four-game winning streak that the Lions are riding is the team's longest in 13 years. As a matter of fact, Thursday's game has a little extra meaning for those of us old enough to remember that team 13 years ago and what happened when it took on the Michigan Wolverines.

The Nittany Lions basketball program had never had its stock rise so high. Not only did Penn State have a competitive basketball team in just it's fifth season in the Big Ten, but the school had just cut the ribbon on the brand new Bryce Jordan Center, moving the team's home games across campus from venerable Rec Hall in mid-season.

The Nittany Lions had one of the best back courts in the nation with sharpshooter Pete Lisicky playing the two-guard and current assistant coach Dan Earl running the point. Inside were forwards Glenn Sekunda and Matt Gaudio and the shot blocker extraordinaire, Calvin Booth.

Remarkably, all five starters were averaging double figures as the Nittany Lions raced out to a 13-0 start, the best in school history, and a #14 national ranking. Penn State had everybody wondering if they were for real and were granted a huge stage to showcase their talent on when CBS made the Lions' game against Michigan a national broadcast in late January.

Simply put, the Lions choked.

Penn State was down by as many as eleven in the first half and committed 21 turnovers in the game, rarely looking like the team that had played so efficiently all season. Still, trailing by one, the team had a chance to keep the perfect season alive when Earl's runner in the lane was swatted away by Maceo Baston at the buzzer.

Sure, there were excuses as to why the Lions came up short:

Lisicky was nursing a bum ankle that had kept him out of the team's last game and wasn't as effective as he usually was...Sekunda claimed after the game that he was wide open on the last possession and Earl should have passed it instead of trying to loft a teardrop shot over the Wolverines' center...and many more could havea, would haves and should haves.

The bottom line was that Michigan had cracked the Lions confidence and the team would drop six of its last fourteen games before a first-round exit in the NCAA Tournament to Arkansas, the victim of a classic 12-5 upset.

Nobody wishes that kind of ending for this year's team, but the 2008 Lions could learn a valuable lesson from that 1996 squad. It only takes one bad game, one momentary lack of focus for all your momentum to disintegrate and there's no telling if you can get it back again before it's too late. Battle and company must play just as sharp against Michigan as they did against Michigan State, and continue to show why this team refuses to be identified with any of the underachieving teams that came before it.

THE GREAT AWAKENING

2009-02-03T22:57:00.007-05:00

I have a confession to make. It's been eating away at me for a while now, and it's something that I have to alleviate from my conscience right now.

I've been selfish.

I've been taking all the joy from this magical ride that Penn State has been on and keeping it locked up inside me, instead of sharing it with all of you. Every improbably victory, every Jamelle Cornley double-double, every electrifying performance by Talor Battle and every hair-whitening performance at the free throw line has been absorbed by my greediness instead of reflected onto all of the hungry, success-starved fans of Nittany Nation that have waited for me with this. And it's got to stop.

This is too big for one fan to hog to himself, it's probably too big for all of us to understand right now and it's too big to be overlooked.

Penn State basketball...welcome. We've been waiting for you.

We, the fans, have been waiting through a seemingly endless winter that has seen the program in full hibernation mode, poking its head out only seldomly to test the temperature of the Big Ten and always finding it too warm for its liking. But when the 2008-09 season tipped off, the Lions, trying to replace one of the program's best talents ever after the graduation of Geary Claxton, emerged from it's snow covered cave in bermuda shorts and sunglasses, ready to face the full glare of a conference currently ranked second in the country.

Predictably, the team bullied a limp non-conference schedule, suffering setbacks only to Temple and Rhode Island who are a combined 37-15 on the season and have an average RPI ranking of 55. Still, there was nothing in this early-season success that indicated this year would be different from the last few seasons. An impressive win in Atlanta on national television over the Yellow Jackets at least raised an eyebrow, but it was immediately followed up by a loss at home to the Owls to help bring fans' expectations back down to Earth.

When the team boasted an 11-2 mark as it readied itself for Big Ten play, it was the fourth season in a row that Penn State posted a winning-record in non-conference play, but the team had yet to post a winning record overall for a season since the Sweet Sixteen run in 2001.

In the time that spanned that riot-inspiring until this season, Penn State basketball has had little to hang its hat on. Incoming recruits could be wooed with banners that showed a .346 winning percentage since 2001 including a jaw-dropping 7-68 record on the road. The Bryce Jordan Center had gone from the crown jewel of Big Ten basketball arenas when it opened its doors in 1996 to a venue referred to as "soulless" by ESPN's Pat Forde, and one where home-court advantage was only a rumor.

It would take up far too much time to provide a detailed chronicle of Penn State's hoops odyssey, but suffice it to say that the program seemed to be stuck in a samsara of college basketball. A cycle of suffering that had no end in sight...until now.

This team can break the cycle. This team has swagger. That's an overused word in sports these days, but a suitable replacement term has yet to be found that connotes the exact same idea. Swagger is much more than confidence and much more refined than cockiness. Pounding your chest after burying a contested three-pointer on the road or releasing a primal scream as you throw down a two-handed dunk after a turnover are characteristics of swagger, but they don't tell the whole story. To get that, you have to watch this team play.

It's impossible to tell how far this squad can go. A NCAA tournament berth seems to be well within its grasp, maybe even a run into the second weekend and beyond. But this season, as much as it is about the team is also about the fans. We've waited a long time to have a team that looked as hungry for success as we were and even longer for one that could acheive it. So don't tread lightly. Don't hold your breath when you see the the five road games coming up on the schedule. Don't fear for the worst...expect the best.

Sometime soon, history will put this season in perspective. It could be the turnaround we've all waited for, or maybe just another temporary flare up. But for now, let's just live in the moment and enjoy this run with the recklessness of a Battle pull-up three-pointer, the emotion of a Cornley offensive rebound and the fulfillment of a starving nation of fans finally getting a taste of the success we've craved for so long.

TAKE NOTICE

2009-02-03T20:31:00.004-05:00

For all of you who have been counting down until the Blue and White spring football scrimmage, it's time to hone in on the guys on the hard court. The Nittany Lions are now 17-5, (6-3 in the Big Ten), tying them for 3rd best in the conference. Penn State is riding a 4 game winning streak and has wins over both #13 Michigan State and #12 Purdue, the top 2 ranked Big Ten teams.

The Lions are being led by sophomore point guard , Talor Battle. Leading the Big Ten in both scoring, and assists, Battle is solidifying himself as one of the best guards, not only in the conference, but the entire country. His 29 point performance against Michigan State this past Sunday was disgusting. Battle continues to develop into a very special player for this Penn State program. To honor his recent play, Battle was named "National Player of the Week" yesterday. You can check out the article here.

HE WILL EAT YOU

2009-01-25T21:34:00.007-05:00

Shame on you if you missed The Jamelle Cornley variety show on Saturday during Penn State's 63-59 comeback win over Iowa. The big man was a beast and the key component in the Lions last two wins. The senior put up 24 points and played EVERY SECOND of the game. Try running the length of a basketball court twice and let me know if you're tired. It's clear Cornley is playing the best basketball of his college career and it's come at a key time of the season as the Lions will face 4 ranked teams during their next 6 games. PSU now has a week off until they have two road games in a row beginning with Michigan State on Sunday.

Cornley is excited. And if Cornley is excited, you better be exited with him.

Or else.