10 I WEDNESDAY, DEC, 1 2010 Big East move necessary for By Jared Shanker WATCHING the Big East welcome TCU into the conference Monday afternoon, I could n't help but won der why the announcement was being tele vised on ESPN. It would have been much better suited for the Discovery Channel, right in between episodes of "Man vs. Wild" and "Survivor Man." After all, TCU, which stands for Texas Christian University, agreeing to join the Big East, smells of des peration, of a school and confer ence battling the elements of an ever-changing college football landscape. Why would a university based in Ft. Worth, Texas sign up for a league based in Providence, R. 1., 1,770 miles away? Why would a league take in a university that is a 14-hour drive from the nearest Icers set to begin grueling second half of schedule By Greg Garcia COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER The first half is up After capturing 11 wins, the first half of the season is completed for State Icers. Now, ICERS they will turn t eir attention to the next 15 games. The final 15 will be no easy task for the Icers (11-4-0). Coach Scott Balboni's squad will face off against 13 teams ranked in the top 25 of the ACHA. "This is a huge make or break point for us," junior forward Paul Daley said. "It starts this weekend against No. 4 Delaware." According to Daley, the leers' offense has struggled through the first half of the season. The offense has simply struggled against stronger opponents. The Icers have combined to score 84 goals this season, but more than a fourth of those were produced in Awards From Page 8 certainly something that we're proud of the players getting recognized and we under stand that there were a lot of great players at all the other schools." Brown finished the regular season sec ond in the conference with 4.14 kills per set and 4.75 points per set. And as one of Penn State's three senior co-captains, the Purcellville, Va. native helped lead the No. 8 Lions (25-6, 16-4 Big Ten) to an eighth straight Big Ten title. think it's a reflection of the coaches and the players that I've gotten to play with over the years," Brown said not long after learning of the award via text message from one of her former coaches and from her father on Tuesday. "This is such a great atmosphere to become better because everyone forces you to be better - Starting in every match this year, McClendon totaled 351 kills, good enough for second on Penn State behind only Brown, who had 431. A Louisville, Ky. native, the 6-foot-1 McClendon also record ed a .329 hitting percentage, which was sev enth in the conference. mean you always hope you're in the Bracket From Page 8 enrollment: 3,260 at 7 p.m. on Friday night at Rec Hall in the first round. Should they advance, the Lions would face the winner of Virginia Tech and Delaware. Based on RPI a mathemati cal ranking system that factors strength of schedule as well as home and away records to formu late national rankings Penn State has an easier road to the Final Four than other top squads, such as Nebraska, the tourna ment's No. 2 overall seed. Of the 16 teams in Penn State's region which includes five squads in the American Volleyball Gymnastics From Page 8 Attendees will get the chance to see the unveiling of the 2011 season posters for both teams, as well as enter their name in a drawing for free tickets to the Penn State-Maryland basketball game at 9:15 tonight. Jepson highlighted the event as a chance for the men to showcase their young team, and get people familiar with the gymnasts. There are five freshmen on the team and 10 sophomores, so people might not be familiar with the gymnasts, according to Jepson. Jepson hoped people will come out and meet the new members. The women's team will be announcing the creation of the "Flip Zone" student section. The first 50 students attending any home gymnastics meet will receive conference member? The answer is simple: It's sur vival of the fittest, and the Big East and TCU are looking pretty out of shape right now. The Big East and TCU need each other if they plan on staving off the BCS buzzards. Since 2002, the Horned Frogs have finished the season with double-digit wins seven times, including consecutive undefeated regular seasons. Only Boise State, Ohio State and Texas have finished with more double-digit win seasons than the Horned MY OPINION Frogs during that span. However, this season will mark only the second time the Horned Frogs will crash the BCS party as they will likely spend New Year's Day in Pasadena, Calif. at the Rose Bowl. Prior to last season, the Horned Frogs, who have spent time in the WAC, Conference USA and the Mountain West con ferences since 2000, had never even finished in the top 10 of the final BCS Standings. The MWC was gaining steam two games against unranked Towson in a 25-goal outburst. When the Jeers traveled to Rhode Island to take on their divi sion rival they managed one goal in 120 minutes of play. The offense was stifled by Rams' goalies Paul Kenny and Andrew Marks. To improve for the second half, Daley said the team's main focus is supporting the puck. The junior forward said his teammates need to continue to help one another and if they can execute they will score more goals. Daley used the Icers' last two games as an example of how suc cessful the offense can be. "We're a little disappointed, but as of now we ended on a positive note scoring 25 goals," he said. "We need to carry that over into the second half." One of the Jeers' strong points through the first half was their play on the defensive side of the puck Balboni received a boost when Coaches Association (AVCA) Top 25 poll the average RPI is 47.4. Meanwhile, the Cornhuskers (27-2) are in the Seattle region, which features seven teams in the AVCA Tap 25. The average RPI of those 16 teams is 42.9. The NCAA selection committee cites geographical location and limiting the amount of potential flights as one of the factors it uses when putting together brackets. "They have some different parameters that certainly one would say are advantageous to schools in the Northeast or the Midwest that can play schools from smaller conferences," Rose said. "Where the California schools are playing matches with more running," McClendon said with a wide smile. "I felt like I was playing well just because as a freshman, I'm playing a lot. But you never know. There's so many great freshmen." Rose said it's terrific his players were honored, but he would have liked to see his starting setter get recognized, as well. "I'm disappointed that Carpenter wasn't recognized in some way because she was the 5-1 [rotation] setter of the team that won the conference championship," Rose said of Carpenter, a sophomore who tallied 11.34 assists per set in her first season as a starter. "But people have to vote the way they vote and it was a very strong year in the conference. There were a lot of great players, but certainly I think [Carpenter's] performance warrants more than a ques tion mark" Ultimately, though, Brown said it's not about the awards for the Penn State play ers. The three-time defending national champions open up NCAA tournament play Friday night against Niagara at Bec Hall. "We still have a lot of time left in this sea son," Brown said. 'And we want to make sure that the team atmosphere is what's really getting the main focus." To e-mail reporter: Jyksl42@psu.edu free T-shirts allowing them unlimited access to the Flip Zone student section, as well as opportunities to meet with the team and attend other special events. Coaches on both teams are hoping that students and members of the community will come out to meet the teams, get familiar with the gymnasts and build sup port for the teams as they look toward the upcoming season. "[We hope to] get people excited about it, meet the girls, meet the guys, and see that both teams are working together," Thompson said. "They're both going for the same thing a national champi onship." Jepson felt the event would be a good chance for people to interact with and get excited about the team. "It's a chance to get [the young gym nasts] out in front of people and give fans a chance to connect with our team a little more," Jepson said. SPORTS in its bid to gain automatic-quali fying (AQ) status with the addi tion of Boise State, but BYU (foot ball independent) and Utah (Pac -10) have decided to pack their bags since, a "significant blow to the conference," TCU athletic director Chris Del Conte said As a member of the Big East beginning in 2012, though, the Horned Frogs will be in a BCS automatic-qualifying conference. "Having BCS automatic-quali fying status was a priority for our football program and a great reward for the success we've had the last decade," Del Conte said in a statement. Without the addition of TCU, though, the Big East might not have been an AQ conference for long. The idea that the confer ence should lose its bid began in 2004 after Miami (Fla.) and Virginia Tech (and Boston College in 2005) bolted for the ACC. The Big East responded by adding Cincinnati (eh), Louisville (blah) and South Florida (aren't they I-AA?). In 2004, an 8-3 Pittsburgh team junior Kevin Miller transferred from Robert Morris to help pro tect the blue line in Happy Valley. Miller has also used his long 6-foot frame by playing the point on the powerplay. Sophomore Rich O'Brien has helped establish an identity for the defense by playing hard, physical hockey. The defenseman's efforts could be found most on the penal ty kill, with the Icers refusing to surrender a goal 84.4 percent of the time. Between the pipes, the leers could be viewed as a carousel, with senior Teddy Hume, sopho more Dan Ivanir and freshman Mathew Madrazo all rotating in the starting spot. Madrazo has been the recent hot hand after posting his first career shutout against Towson on Nov. 19. The freshman described the series against the Rams as an "eye opener" and is hoping the team can continue to come togeth er. Standing up after the play, the Penn State linebacker favored his right shoul der because of an injury suffered at Ohio State. After the loss to the Buckeyes, he was subsequently sidelined against Indiana and the first three quarters against Michigan State. The separated shoulder leaves Mauti questionable for the Lions' upcoming bowl game. About a month off from game action should give him time to heal more, and he has been practicing this week, a source said. Defensive coordinator Tom Bradley said Mauti had his shoulder wrapped, and the redshirt sophomore saw limited time practicing last week before Michigan State. The linebacker's availability for the bowl game is up in the air "I don't know," Bradley said on Saturday concerning Mauti's bowl status. Bradley referred a question on Mauti's status to team physician Wayne Sebastianelli, who was unavailable for comment. Bradley, though, said the mag nitude of defensive injuries disabled Penn teams that were ranked during the year" Sophomore setter Kristin Carpenter said she understands that. She said when she looked at the Seattle region which also includes No. 4 California, No. 7 Hawaii, No. 11 Washington and No. 12 Minnesota she felt over whelmed. But she said the Lions are not focusing on that at all. They're only worrying about what they can control. "Anything can happen, any team can come out and have a really good game," Carpenter said. "So we need to be ready for every match, whether it's [No. 2] Stanford, or it's Niagara. We have to play our best every time, and Men's basketball From Page 8 plans focused on stopping Williams. "That'll definitely be Drew Jones," for ward Jeff Brooks said. "He'll be down there battling with [Williams] and we're going to give him help as well. Whether it's digging in down in the post or double box-outs or anything like that, we're going to do our best to keep him off the glass." Brooks added rebounding is going to be the key to the game if the Lions want to beat Maryland and avoid their second loss. However, if that's the case, finding an answer for Williams will be crucial as the forward averages more than four offensive rebounds per game. Nevertheless, despite being a double- TCU, conference was the Big East's BCS sacrificial lamb as it was blasted in the Fiesta Bowl by a Utah team with out a head coach. The cries from the Big 12, Big Ten and SEC for the repeal of the Big East's AQ status only grew louder this year, as it's possible a five-loss team will represent the Big East in the BCS. "When the Big East looked to expand, we sought to add a mem ber that...would make us not only bigger, but stronger and more competitive," Big East commis sioner John Marinatto said Monday. "Our focus was to add a quality institution to our football mem bership. Clearly, the tremendous success of the TCU football team adds enormous strength to the Big East roster" Now, there's no doubt the addi tion of TCU will undoubtedly throw off the balance in just about every sport not named football. Not only do the Horned Frogs automatically become the red headed stepchild in basketball (congratulations, DePaul), they "I think the goalies have played some goals in the net and start pretty well so far;" Madrazo said. rolling from there." "We haven't had much help on offense, but hopefully we can get To e-mail reporter: gjgso44@psu.edu Lynn McGowan Collegian Paul Daley (27) fights for the puck in a game against West Chester. The Icers will play 13 ranked teams in 15 games. Mauti From Page 8 across field and make the ankle tackle that's all that we, as a team, can do. It doesn't matter what hap pened last year, it's only about now" Penn State's strength of sched ule for regional play solely based on math is virtually the same as last year, when the Lions were the No. 1 overall seed and entered the tournament with a perfect 32-0 record through the regular season. The average RPI of the 16 teams in Penn State's region last year was 49.6 roughly two points higher than the average of the Lions' region this year. Yet this year's bracket has one glaring difference, and one that could give the Lions a major advantage: Penn State's potential become the 17th basketball mem ber, a nightmare for Big East bracketologists. And that banging noise heard across the nation was athletic directors slamming their heads on their desk. Athletic directors, many of whom are already crunching numbers and cutting costs, now have to plan for that annual 1,000-mile trip to "Where the West begins" in at least eight different sports (baseball, men's and women's basketball, football, men's and women's tennis and women's soccer and volleyball). It's not even just the money, but the travel on students. Good luck to Syracuse or Rutgers send ing one of its teams to Ft. Worth for a mid-week contest. To the Big East and TCU, though, it will all be worth it, because it's much better than the alternative. Jared Shanker is a senior majoring in history and journalism and is the Collegian's sports columnist and a men's basketball writer. His e-mail address is Jpss226@psu.edu. State from using a set rotation this sea son. Mauti is just one of a list of banged-up defensive players who have been both sidelined with injuries and played through them. Mauti falls into both categories. He missed games against Illinois and Indiana with different injuries and played through the setback to his right shoulder against Ohio State and Michigan State. Mauti hasn't been able to avoid the injury bug during his career. Coming into the year, he returned from a tear to his ACL in his right knee. He also dealt with a sprained right ankle earlier this season. The redshirt sophomore has a reputa tion for bringing an added element that ups the play of the defense. His oft-described intense demeanor has a chain effect among defensive team mates, as players have previously noted this season. think all linebackers are great, and they make good plays but he has a presence," Colasanti said. "He has an enthusiastic presence. He's just a good player. He's enthusiastic, and we build off that. You just need those guys around you." To e-mail reporter: bjmsl46@psu.edu trip to the Final Four in Kansas City, Mo. goes through Rec Hall. The Lions' home court, of course, is where they have estab lished an NCAA-record 90-match winning streak. If they continue that streak by four more wins, they'll be in the Final Four for the third straight year "With our bracket, it's not who you play, it's how you play," senior Fatima Balza said. "At this point of the season, everyone's playing well. And I'm just so excited we get to play at home, to get to this point of this season. And we're just going to play every match like it's the last match." To e-mail reporter: exkso49@psu.edu double machine with five already this sea son, Williams does have his weaknesses. The most glaring problem area for the sophomore like many other powerful big men - is his free-throw shooting. Williams averages more than seven free-throw attempts per game and he is shooting only 56 percent from the charity stripe. In Maryland's two losses this season, he went a combined 5-for-12 from the free throw line, giving Penn State and other teams a blueprint on how to control him. But the Lions are well aware it's going to take more than one or two men to defend the star player and help the Big Ten earn only its second victory in 12 chances in the yearly conference showdown. "I've seen him play, he's a great player," guard Tim Frazier said. "He's definitely a great post player and I know it's going to be a team effort against him." To e-mail reporter: adal47@psu.edu THE DAILY COLLEGIAN
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