The Daily Collegian Cha nge in •' jrseys doesn’t prove anyt avell everyt hon offense was in white, If anything, the ploy is almost in the next few weeks. But it’s is certainly ago and everyone on defense was in laughable now given everything more likely the threat of change But Minneso angeswere blue. we’ve heard. Perhaps the most without actual change will just intensity. Fbrme becoming. And the players took notice, troubling part is that even though lead to more of the same. Gophers coach much from too. the starting jerseys were stripped Reports out of practice are that was fired Sunda fter the last - The point did - . from first teamers, did anyone coaches still used the phrases al focus to the po get made to play- Fn nTR . 11 really expect a significant “first offense” and “second of his 1-6 squad. MKm ers’cornerback i-uuiohll change? __ offense” and aside from the jer- Now,theGop I? Anton Lynn And if the coaching staff made sey colors, the routine wasn’t to prove people said. “Last week, it was the most the switch simply to get passion severely altered. matter if Penn S - - intense week of that id te”' t >t of its t By Andrew J. Cassi PKRSONXKL Chi supposed to 1 We heard as multiple coaches al ;ames a pair of humiliat ing conference losses that left it painfully obvious the 22 starters : thrown onto the field simply weren't good MY OPINION enough. During last week's bye week, it finally looked like the staff was putting that plan into action. Following a day off last Monday, the coaching staff took away the typical first- and second-team jer seys. Like preseason camp. Junior Womack ready to By Andrew Robinson Ol X WAX STAFF WRITER » Last season. .Jan. 17 to be precise, the Lady Lions lost one of their most important role players to a torn anterior cruciate liga ment -At 1. But whorl Penn State's women's basket ball team takes the floor for its Nov. 7 e xhibition against Gannon. it will have junior guard Ranee Womack back. And Womack is looking to pick up right w here she left off - shutting down the opposition's best perimeter players. "I definitely think I'm a step behind right now. but I haven't lost that spark on defense." Womack said on the team's Oct. 11 media day, T think I'll be good once sea son comes and we're a couple games in I hen I'll get the rhythm back and 1 11 be get ting steals." Womack plow'd in l:i games last year before going down in the Lady Lions (ifi-tiO Men’s basketball lacking experience in frontcourt By lared Shanker Few teams in the Big Ten boast <i more experienced starting front- court Mian iVnn II thret starters iroin a year ayo. Only Illinois. ()hio Suite and Northwestern join Penn State with that distinction. I tiiikt those teams, though, the Nitlam Lions don't have much experience oft the bench. The Lions will iu\e to hope that 100 wards Jell Franks and I),I Jackson and center Drew Jones are in top shape, because behind those three, the Lions have a com bined 7.". minutes of game experi- Spend S5O at any Simply Tan Location and you will be entered to win 1 of 25 prizes The Grand Prize is ONE FREE YEAR Of UNLIMITED TANNING See store for details practice ttiai we've had. Everyone really stepped their game up a lot." Practice was fiery kicker Collin Wagner said there were skirmishes at the ends of plays, and the week culminated with an intense scrimmage last Thursday. Then Monday came, with it the depth chart for Saturday's game at Minnesota. The results? Aside from a few shifts because of injuries, nothing changed. home win over Michigan State. While the junior averaged just 2.8 points per game last year, she shot .405 from the floor and a respectable .333 on 3-pointers. But Womack has found her place on the defensive end. Despite coming off a long rehab on a serious knee injury, the junior isn't playing with any hesitation though her left knee will be encased in a black brace for pait of the year. ■‘MEN'S Despite having to wear a red non-contact jersey the first time she returned to the floor. Womack said being overly cautious isn't going to help her and she doesn't think about her knee when she's playing. SKETBALL "Mv mom actually asked me if I'm wor ried about tearing it again, and I'm not," Womack said. "There's people who tear once maybe twice, and there's other people who tear it once and are fine for the rest of their career so hopefully I'll be that person." Many times, it takes an athlete around a year to fully recover from an ACL injury and Lady Lions coach Coquese Washington said at media day she will cnee among its trontcourt. Kedshirt freshman Billy Oliver and senior walk-on Steve Kirkpatrick are the only trontcourt players with any experience, play ing in just 23 games none of which were starts in a com bined six seasons in State College. This season's front court looked like it would be a strength at the end of last season with, in addition to the return of starters Brooks. Jackson and Jones, all the Lions' primary reserves. Seven months later, however, the outlook is much bleaker. Bill Edwards, who averaged 16 min utes pei- game as a freshman last year off the bench, transferred to Miami (Ohio), Andrew Ott. a Villanova transfer graduated after his redshirt junior season, and 6- " Kitchen OpenTat?^*" the I Allen Street SPORTS and excitement out ot n .earn, it's going to have to do a little more in the coming weeks to right the rest of the ship. Sure, the emotion wasn’t up to par with Penn State teams of old, but that wasn’t all that was lack ing in three losses, each by at least 20 points. Passion alone won't cure poor blocking and slow defense. Maybe the change in jerseys motivated players and the prac tices will translate onto the field foot-9 Serbia native Sasa Borovnjak suffered a season-end ing anterior cruciate ligament tear in his right knee before pre season practice even started. "It affects us a great deal |in the frontcourtl." Brooks said Monday. "For us to lose a guy like Sasa early hurts. " The Lions, who have only one healthy player standing 6-foot-9 or taller, do have a number of guys capable of playing multiple posi tions in the frontcourt. Brooks and freshman Jonathan Graham, who both stand at 6-foot-8, have the ability to slide into the center posi tion when the Lions take out Jones and move to a smaller line up. Oliver, also 6-foot-8, can play either forward position, and guards Tre Bowman, Jermaine The players get it. The backups thought they were given a chance, but in the end, they feel they never really were. Deception doesn’t go over well in an organi zation, whether or not it was intentional. If the players feel they were deceived, there will be negative repercussions in future weeks of practice. The starters, on the other hand, got one week of spirited practice, and intensity return from knee injury try to ease Womack back into play. When the season starts, it will be roughly 10 months since Womack last played. The guard said a positive attitude was a big fac tor in getting through rehab quickly. “That was a big thing, even right after I tore my ACL," Womack said. “I just tried to keep a positive mind and not think too neg atively on it and let it slow me down." Though Womack is healthy enough to practice, Washington said the junior is still a little up-and-down with how much she can do. But for now, the coach is glad to have her defensive ace back in the rotation. “We do not want to wear her out too much now in October so she is sore by the end of the season," Washington said. "But she is doing fine and we are going to need her speed, her defensive intensity, and what she brings to us in that area, the transition area of the game; getting deflections, flying in for rebounds and being a defensive stopper for us." To e-mail reporter: adrso79@psu.edu Marshall and Cammeron Woodvard. all 6-foot-4 or taller, can eat up some minutes at small for ward. “There are times without Sasa now," coach Ed DeChellis said, “that we'll have to play a different style of lineup, maybe with two forwards instead of a natural center." Though inexperienced, Graham and Oliver are both potential breakout candidates. Graham was a three-star recruit and ranked the 40th-best power forward coming out of Baltimore's Calvert Hall by recruiting service Scout.com. In a high school game. Graham recorded a triple double with 16 points. 18 rebounds and 10 blocks. BE A PAMT m THE PRIDE W THE LIONS Penn State's Basketball Pep Band 1) Go to hlip. , v>'M'w.bji.n?biJ.u(J.p»u.o4iij/'pot! 1) Click on the How to loin" tab 3) Follow the link to Sign Up! Tyler Sizemore/Collegian Womack unleashes a pass at media day. oUhe Friday, Oct. 22,2010 I 9 hing tod thing. >ta will match that Golden Tim Brewster ly, shifting nation ior performance ihers are hungry wrong. It doesn’t Jtate is intense. Both sides are. It’s football. A loss in Minnesota will kill all that, making that week of practices and switched jerseys meaning less. There’s a funny thing about passion and practice. When win ning is involved, they seem to go together a lot more often. Andrew J. Cassavell is a senior majoring in journalism and is a Collegian football writer. His e-mail address is ajcs23B@psu.edu. Graham also has strong basket ball bloodlines. His father. Ernest Graham, was drafted by the NBA out of Maryland in the 1980 s and ranks in the top 15 all-time in scor ing and assists in Maryland histo ry. Oliver, in his third year at the program after taking a redshirt two years ago and a medical red shirt last season, earned a nomi nation as McDonald's All- American in high school. 'Bill brings energy and perime ter shooting." Brooks said. “Every time Bill gets it and he's open, it's a knockdown jump shot. Defensively he's all over the place, blocking shots, getting deflections, getting rebounds." To e-mail reporter: jpss226@psu.edu
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