PSU Hoops Making Some Noise By David Kopac Capital Times Staff Writer After a football season that left the Penn State faithful hanging their heads, the men's basketball team has finally put smiles back on faces in Happy Valley. Fans are quickly gaining faith that the Lions will make their first appearance in the NCAA Tournament since 1996. Unless they win the Big Ten confer ence championship, Coach Jerry Dunn's Lions will have to receive an at-large bid to the 64-team tournament in March. The strength of their schedule and their non conference record will do nothing but help the Lions receive a spot in postseason play. The Lions tore through non-confer ence play with a 10-1 record. In this stretch they defeated perennial tournament teams Temple, Princeton, Penn, Pittsburgh and Kentucky. They also won the East Coast Athletic Conference Holiday Tournament with a 74-71 victory over Hofstra With the conference schedule now underway, the Lions currently have a 12-6 overall record. Of their six losses, four were to top 25 Big Ten conference rivals lowa, Wisconsin, Illinois and Michigan State. To assure themselves a spot in the tournament, the Lions will have to come up with wins against some tough oppo nents during the remainder of this season. Four of their last nine games are against ranked opponents. The difficulty of their schedule has landed the Lions at 30 in the RPI rankings. In the RPI rankings, teams are rated by the combination of their winning per centage, schedule strength and opponent's schedule strength. Many of the top 50 teams in the RPI ranking receive bids to the tournament. dE556: aUri6122,67.2 Art hangs, sits and sells. It's a rare event when it walks and talks. PSH master of humanities student and radio station WPSH manager, Jesse Gutierrez, joined the ranks of walking, talking art when he became part of The Living Art exhibit at the Art Association of Harrisburg Jan. 27. Gutierrez and 17 other clients of Camp Hill master tattoo artist Tattoo Jim stood, walked and talked to hun dreds of curi ous art afi cionados. The tattooed exhibits allowed their arms, legs, backs and feet to be stared at and examined closely. "It felt funny, but when I real ized I was doing it for a reason, I didn't The Lions have been able to face their challenges all season with tremendous heart and spirit. Seniors Joe Crispin, Titus Ivory and Gyasi Cline-Heard, and junior forward Tyler Smith have been matched up against bigger and stronger players all season. They have responded remarkably. Cline-Heard is averaging 14 points per game and ranks second in the Big Ten in rebounding at B.6rpg. His partner, Smith, is shooting an astounging 53 percent from the field. Both have been given considera tion as the Big Ten's most-improved play- Coach Dunn has called Ivory the spir itual leader of the team. With his 15.7ppg and relentless defense, Ivory has been receiving early recognition as a candidate for Big Ten player-of-the-year. Ivory's leading 2.6 steals per game, 4.5 assists per game and 87 percent free throw shooting shows his all-around ability. SPORTS/CULTURE iviN6 otrar OF By Cathie McCormick Capital Times Editor In Chief me," Gutierrez said. During the reception, Tattoo Jim explained the history of tattooing and described the different styles of tattoos to the packed gallery. Gutierrez and the rest of the models had been chosen for the show because their tattoos demonstrate the different types Tattoo Jim produces. Several were full-color. Others were black with gray shading or dark black. Some of the tattoos were created from photographs of loved ones. Many people asked Gutierrez about the reasons he chose his designs. Gutierrez got his first "tat" from Tattoo Jim 8 months ago. Jim created the web design around the skeleton put on Gutierrez's upper arm by another artist. The full-color tattoo on Gutierrez's right arm is five months old. Gutierrez is making plans to add to the spider-web design, eventually sporting a full-sleeve tatoo. Tattoo Jim has a web site high lighting his studio, resident artists and a photo gallery of his favorite work. mind peo ple looking at Ivory's toughest competition for play er-of-the-year will be teammate Joe Crispin. With his league-leading 21.5ppg, Crispin has not only garnered considera tion for Big Ten player-of-the-year, but has received early All-American recognition. Crispin, Ivory and sophomore Jon Crispin have placed the Lions on their three-point shooting shoulders and carried them throughtout their tough schedule. Shooting 38 percent from behind the arc, the Lions have hit an amazing 144 three-pointers this season. The Lions will depend on more help from Brandon Watkins, Ndu Egekeze and Jamal Tate off the bench through the remainder of their tough schedule. Four of the next six games, however, will be at home. The Lions faced Illinois at the Bryce Jordan Center on January 31, and welcomed Indiana on February 3. Michigan follows on February 7. www.theillustratedman.com
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