I Friday, Nov. 12, 2010
... jgian file photo
The Nittany Lions celebrate in 2009 after winning the NIT.
Lions putting last season
By Alex Angert and Emily Kaplan
COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITERS.
What a difference a year can make.
Last season, the Penn State men’s basketball team was
fresh off a National Invitational Tournament
Championship with an uncharacteristic buzz surrounding
the team.
By the end of the season, things had changed dramati
cally to the point where Talor Battle can remember guys
not wanting to be here. The team was struggling, players
weren't having fun and the excitement surrounding the
team from the previous season was suddenly gone.
Simply put. the Nittany Lions lost the roar they had
found the season before.
But now another year has passed and with the 2010-11
season opening at 7:30 p.m. tonight against Lehigh at the
Bryce Jordan Center, that’s all in the past. And instead of
just adding a new chapter to the Penn State basketball
story, this year's team is writing their own book from
scratch and starting fresh.
“Were looking straight forward,” Battle said.
' Everything is ahead of us and all of that stuff is irrelevant
at this point We just want to have a good year.”
This vear's exnerienced Penn State squad has survived
both! , 'ows of college t asketball over the past
two years.
For the seniors on this year’s team, they have both an
NIT chamionship and a pitiful 3-16 Big Ten record on
their resume.
After doing a lot of evaluating of what they did right and
wrong last year during the offseason, the team has since
put last season —■ as well as the year before in the very
back of their minds.
We really try not to think too, too much about last year.
DAILY COLLEGIAN PREDICTIONS
»*J* I
•SHIP
Sophomores and freshmen at core of young team
By Jake Kaplan and Ryan Loy
COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITERS
In March, teams from anywhere in the
country will be competing at the Bryce
Jordan Center in the first and second
rounds of the NCAA Tournament.
The Penn State Lady Lions hope to be
one of those teams.
However, the goal would be the same,
regardless of whether
the tournament
in their
DAILY COLLEI
Alex Angert
Regular season: 15-14 (7-11)
Postseason: None
Must-see game: Jan. 5 vs. Purdue
What to look for: Experience help
ing team improve on last season,
but hard to envision Lions consis
tently competing with elite Big Ten
teams.
YOUTH MOVEMENT
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AN PREDICTIONS
Refriar season: 18-12 (9-7)
Postaoasow: NCAA tournament
Player to watch: Sophomore guard
Alex Benhif
What to look for A dangerous bal
anced scoring attack and time
spent on the bubble iate in the sea
son before a final sufge.
LAST SHOT
A frustrated Talor Battle after a loss last season
senior D.J. Jackson said. “We just know we have to do bet
ter because there’s nothing we can do about it. What’s
done is done."
Jackson, along with the rest of the Lions, is entering this
season with tunnel vision as the team tries to move for
ward and focus solely on the future.
It s no secret the coaches weren’t pleased with how last
season went either. Returning 75 percent of its scoring
from last year, the Lions are hoping another magical run is
in store like there was two years ago.
Practices have been much more spirited with a positive
energy this season and coach Ed DeChellis has noticed a
desire in this vear’s team to want to do better.
But when it comes to looking back on last year, the 2008-
09 Big Ten Coach of the Year is done worrying about the
successes and failures his team has experienced. Unable
to build off the potential shown two years ago, it's a new
season starting tonight.
"I'm done talking about last year to the guys,” DeChellis
said. "They know we didn’t do what we needed to do and so
it's time to move on.”
Leadership time
Danny Morrissey wasn’t in the locker room last season.
He doesn't know what was said or what was left
:nsaid.
But what Morrissey does know is that the 2009-10 squad
performed well below their preseason expectations. And
hr thinks he has a hunch on why.
"Last year’s team didn’t have senior leadership neces
sarily. that you typically have,” Morrissey said in a tele
phone interview Wednesday. “There was a certain factor
theyjust didn’t have. That ‘X’ factor. It goes beyond talent.”
Morrissey graduated in 2009, along with the tandem of
scoring threats Jamelle Comley and Stanley Pringle. The
*9* 2m,
its season at 7 tonight at Dayton.
“Our goal is to get there and let's take
advantage of the opportunity we have to get
a couple games at home."
Last season, the Lions looked to seem
ingly be on their way to a tournament berth
when they started 15-4. However, Penn
State dropped nine of its last 11 regular sea
son games and had to settle for an invita
tion to the WNIT, in which it lost in the first
round to Hofstra.
Much of the Lions' late struggles coincid
ed with the inability to succeed on the road.
With a young squad set to take the floor for
a second straight season, Washington said
the team is focusing on maintaining a high
level of play.
From the time the referee throws the ball
up for the opening tip-off of each game,
Washington wants her team to be thinking
about one thing consistency.
“We want to be consistent on the road, we
want to be consistent at home, and we want
to play our style of basketball every night,”
Washington said. “If we do that we are
going to win some on the road, we are going
to win some at home. We are going to be a
tough team if we can play consistent bas
ketball.”
In 2009, lyra Grant accounted for almost
30 percent of Penn State's scoring. This
year, the Lions hope to be successful with a
more balanced scoring attack. They
showed their potential to do that in last
SPORTS
Emily Kaplan
Regular season: 14-15 (7-11)
Postseason: None
Must-see game: Jan. 8 vs. Michigan
State
What to look for: Chemistry on and
off the court between brothers Talor
Battle and Taran Buie - key for a
team struggling for an identity.
Sunday’s scrimmage against Gannon (Pa.),
when eight different players scored and five
of them finished in double digits.
Senior Julia Trogele will provide a veter
an presence for the generally young Lions.
It-ogele, who said she’s sometimes called
“Sergeant” by teammates, provides leader
ship by example for the team.
Th)gele said she is looking to do what she
can to help the team. That doesn’t neces
sarily mean scoring, but she said that would
be welcomed.
“[1 want] to continue to lead the team in
rebounding, play hard defense, possibly add
to the scoring aspect because we lost Tyra,”
Trogele said. “I’m not really that concerned
about the scoring though because, as I’ve
seen in practice, we don’t have an issue
with that. It will be more so filling in areas
that we may need work in.”
The Lions will rely on more than just
their starting five. Freshman Maggie Lucas
and junior Renee Womack are expected to
be key off the bench. Womack is a strong
defender off the bench, while Lucas could
be one of the conference’s top outside
shooters.
The first step toward earning that spot in
the tournament begins tonight at Dayton,
and Washington knows it will be a tough
opening task.
The Flyers are an experienced team who
made it to the second round of the NCAA
tournament last season before falling to
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Players huddle before a preseason scrimmage last weekend.
in rearview mirror
trio led Penn State to the 2009 NIT Championship, the pro
gram’s first-ever postseason tournament win.
Last year’s roster featured just two seniors: former
walk-on Adam Highberger and the serviceable reserve
Andrew Ott. Neither were main contributors on the court.
“Everybody thought after the NIT they could’ve contin
ued the success and kind of carried what we had done the
year before and use the momentum to keep going,”
Morrissey said. "I added a little bit here and there, but
when you lose three senior leaders, it’s going to be difficult
to repeat what you did the year before.”
Now, coming off an 11-20 season that included only one
home Big Ten win and a 12-game losing streak, the Lions
are looking for redemption. And they have a group of five
seniors including starters Talor Battle, Jeff Brooks, D.J.
Jackson and Andrew Jones who have experienced both
the highs of hoisting a championship trophy and the lows of
finishing the season last in the Big Ten standings.
“We’ve got seniors and I think they want to do something
special so they are committed to that,” coach Ed DeChellis
said at media day last month. "I don't think they’re going to
let anything stand in their way.”
This is their last shot to make a statement, and they
want to make sure everyone is on board for the ultimate
goal making the NCAA tournament for the first time
since 2001.
“The seniors have definitely played a huge role on my
behalf here,” said sophomore guard Tim Frazier, the only
underclassman in the Lions’ opening day starting lineup.
“You got them in all positions.”
With that, Morrissey believes Penn State will be better
than last season. The Lions always had potential, he said.
The ball just didn’t bounce their way.
The Daily Collegian
To e-mail reporters: adal47@psu.edu, exkSo49@psu.edu
Jared Shankar
Regular season: 13-16 (6-12)
Postseason: None
Must-see game: Dec. 1 vs.
Maryland
What to look for: Non-confer
ence tests helping to gauge
where team stands before a cru
cial stretch in mid-January.
2010 STARTING LINEUP
These players make up the starting
five going into the season.
■ ■■
Alex Bentley Zhaque Gray Nikki Greene
(So.) (Jr.) (So.)
■ i
Julia Trogele Marisa Wolfe
(Sr.) (So.)
top-seeded Tennessee
Washington hopes a win at Dayton could
be a springboard for more success in its
new campaign.
“I am hoping to build off last year in the
step that we made forward in terms of a
winning season and getting into postseason
play,” Washington said at media day. “We
want to build on that and just continue to
move forward in that direction.”
“We want to make more noise in confer
ence play and compete for a conference
championship this year.”
To e-mail reporters: jykSl42@psu.edu,
rmlsl3B@psu.edu