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.
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