So it hasn't been released quite yet, but I did get a chance to hear about this years media guide in which had 11 games already taken care of. The details are being worked out, and something MAY change, but for the most part this is what they call a "Sources say" moment.

So here you go.

When reading this over I would be quick to tell you not to just go by names. People often forget that it doesn't take playing Duke 6 times to make the tournament. Davidson played a lot of really good teams and just didn't win enough of those games to make it. You have to balance teams that you can beat with teams that can win after you beat them. For the most part I think this is a very solid schedule and could be the foundation of an interesting season. I'm not going to guess how it'll go, but I think this is the schedule we need to make it, or in the very least put us in a better position.

One game at a time.

So maybe the title is  little misleading,but I figured you'd enjoy this

Story #1. Evan Turner apparently didn’t take too kindly to the jeering he was getting by the student section, as soon as the game ended he made his way over to the student section yelling at us that we were all “F’n B*tches” before walking off the court.

 Story #2. William Buford fouls out of the game, he too is rattled by the apparent harassment from the crowd and commences to grab his crotch, shake it at the student section, and point at the scoreboard.

I posted the video as a fanshot.

As you may already know State High  is playing La Salle College next weekend in the PIAA AAAA State Championship game. A win would be the first state title since the playoff format changed and only the second title in school history.

La Salle College is a Philly school so they're going to bring a lot of fans. If you're a Penn State student and a townie finals are over on the 18th and considering we all have like 5mins to drive to get home I think it'd be pretty sweet to get out there and get our Alum on.

If you still go to State High then you better be going and have little reason not to go.

If you just live in State College come out and support the town, take a bus or make the drive. Alex Kenney is Penn State bound and is putting up pretty good numbers and is a real talent to watch.

So come on out, the drive isn't that far, and there are prob going to be fan buses too. It would be a huge win for the school and the town, come be a part of it.

Coming into this year your average  fan had pretty high expectations of the Penn State basketball season. After winning a school high 27 wins and the NIT Championship it is pretty hard to imagine what sort of school wouldn’t have lofty expectations of a team returning a large portion of their starters and an All-American candidate. True, they lost their heart and soul in Jamelle Cornley and two streaky three ball shooters in Morrissey and Pringle, but the likes of Chris Babb, Tim Fraizer, and Talor Battle brought hope to the Lion faithful that those roles would soon be filled.

With expectations so high, every possession is critiqued, but what are sports without armchairs? With that in mind you would think that people would have  a pretty good idea of what to expect out of this team a whole 6 (7) games into the season. The general response to that question is along the lines of  :"We’ve got no idea what the hell to expect." Lets take a look at what we do actually know, what we can expect in the future, and a few reasons not to lose hope after a 4-2 start.

Quick shots-Positives
–The team is shooting 43.3% from the field. Only .6% from last years average
–Averaging 70.3PPG
–Shooting free throws at a 77.2% clip, 12% better than last season (15th in the nation)
–Six players averaging 7 or more PPG, three of which average over 10ppg. (last year only 3 over 7 PPG)

                                                                           HEY RIGHT HERE.

Ever wonder what would happen if Ohio State's "Confidence rating" tanked for no reason? Well now we can find out. Here is what you need to do.

1. Google: Along The Olentangy

This is the most important part, you don't want to click out of a Penn State blog. We want this to look like it just....happend. Clicking out of a Penn State site will lead to trackbacks.

2.Vote: They can't be feeling too good right now right ;)

Anyway, back to last season's basketball team. Pro-Tip== Bet on 3 Big Ten wins.

• Rebounding: If you can shoot the ball better than the other team and out rebound them, you’re almost guaranteed to get the W. So far the Lions are only taking care of shooting side of things, and although the Lions are out rebounding teams by a +1.7 margin, it is the sort of thing that doesn’t really show on the court. Plenty of the close games this season could have been much more in the Lions favor if they had a few more timely rebounds. That aspect of the game should get better as the season goes along but it still should be addressed.
• Defense: All of the games the Lions have lost this year have been close within the last 4mins of the game. The biggest issue with the Lions has been finding the defense that can stop teams for a few possessions and get themselves back on track or long enough to hang on and win. So far this season when the Lions focus on defending the lane it has left the outside shots too wide open, when focusing on the outside the inside becomes weak. The key for the Lions success will be finding a balance on defense that works.
• Playing inside: Andrew Jonesended last season with high hopes, averaging almost a double-double in the NIT Jones was expected to keep that pace up and give the Lions a inside go-to. So far that position hasn’t really found it’s dominating player and Jones hasn’t been what he was in the NIT. In the two games Bill Edwards has played in he has shown a great ability to get the ball to the glass but he isn’t a pure big man so that only sort of solves that problem. The sooner the inside game gets figured out the better.

                        –The nice part about the negatives of this season so far is that they are all related. The sooner a big man stakes his claim on the paint the sooner the rebounds will go the Lions way and the better the defense will become.

Odds and Ends- This year has had an odd start, in both of the Lions losses they had the chance to win it and personally I believe that they win both of those games if they had played those games at home. On paper this team is better than the NIT Championship winning team last year. The issue has been finding everybody a role and executing on both sides of the ball. At times this team has looked special, and at other times they have showed their youth.

It isn’t unreasonable to assume a lot of the Lions basic issues will work themselves out as the season goes along, how much they are worked out will be the difference in how this season goes. It’s easy to look at the two losses and assume you know what will happen this year but this team has serious potential and could find itself sooner than you might think. The biggest key will be getting a tougher defense going and finding a place for all the talented players this team has. Bill Edwards and Tim Fraizer are the real deal, it is only a matter of time before the rest of the Big Ten finds out.

Disclamer--in tough times I'm going to believe anything to make a teams problems smaller, but I dont really believe this one, I just want to.

I'll be first to admit, I've watched the past two basketball games and we lost based on our play, but I think there is something worth mentioning. The NCAA doesn't have a regulation ball, so as long as it bounces and is some shade of orange you can use it until it:

A) Pops

B) The game is over

C) Zug runs onto the court and steals it

Now where it gets interesting is the ball used in the Charleston Classic. It's called The Rock and it's similar to a street ball, it's sticky, and it's slippery when it get sweat on it (If I had a dollar for everytime I've head that..) but I digress..

Just so happens that the two teams Penn State has played so far in  this clusterpryor of a tournament both use The Rock on a regular basis throughout the season, and while a ball is a ball a few things beg to question if somebody had an advantage going into the past two games.

The first game of the season Talor Battle is 11-20 for 27 points, he pretty much hit any shot he wanted, the next game he doesn't play much and isn't needed for a good portion of the second half because Chris Babb goes off and the team hits 12 threes. On the whole the first two games work out as follows:

First two games averages:  FG=50%   3pt=40%

The next two games averages: FG=31%   3pt=23%

Meanwhile UNCW is shooting over 55% in every catagory including going 10-16 from three and Tulane and 8-19 from three.

Now I'm not suggesting anything, and I'm not trying to make up for bad defense or poor shooting but I do think it brings to light the need to have a single ball for NCAA games. You dont see teams and players go from the showings they had (70,80 point games) to games where a three ball shooting team couldn't hit a shot to save their life two games in a row. I would believe it maybe if the teams they were playing were top notch, but we're not exactly talking the big name teams here. It'll be interesting to see if the stats turn around once we're back home.

Heres to a good rest of the season, come out and support these guys, we've gone too far to give up on them for 2-2 record.

Alex Kenney is nasty. I've been saying that since to people at Penn State when it was his first year as a starter at State High 3 years ago. The kid can glide, a lot like how Pryor glides across the field. The fact of the matter is that anytime he touches the ball he can score. Just this past Friday he turned a screen into a 60 yard TD. I've seen him run north and south the width of the field and turn the corner. I dont know how he will turn out on the D1 level, but this kid has the skills to be the real deal. All in all State High has a really pretty solid team. This friday should be a great game and if you haven't ever seen a State High game, it's a fun way to spend a friday night. I know I and a bunch of Paternovillers intend on going to a few more games this season. He is currently on the Army All American watch list, and could really make a name for himself at Penn State.

So far Kenney has played 4 games this season. This is how he has done.

Week 1: Kenney had 5 carries for 116 yards and 3 TDs

Week 2: Kenney had 17 carries for 96 yards 2 TDs and 1 INT (on defense)

Week 3:Kenney had 18 carries for 165 yards and 3 TDs and

Week 4: Kenney had 4 carries for 81 yards and 2TDs  1 catch for 60 yards receiving and a TD (swing pass) (All in first half, did not play in second half, second teamers in)

SEASON TOTALS-44 Carries/458 Yards/ 10.4 Yards Per Carry/ 11 total TDs

I dont want to say that this is 100% going to happen, but if you're in the stadium Saturday during the game you might see a first for the student section. I dont want to give it away, but the front row of students is about 170 people long. Just imagine what you could spell with that many letters...

In other news Herbie stopped by Paternoville tonight, he has a cannon. Safe to say he hits the gym...I think I've reached my 75....funny considering that this whole post has to do with letters and spelling.....

Heres the info that is getting passed around, wanted to get it on here too..

""Every weekend you turn on Gameday and you see a bunch of excited SEC fans going wild and holding up signs. It's cool, but nobody ever makes a statement. WE ARE the #1 student section in the nation and it is time to change the culture of the College Gameday atmosphere. So here is what YOU can do:


1. Wear WHITE
2. DONT make a sign, bring a plain white poster. If you can't bring a poster, or dont want to buy one, the Gameday crew always gives out posters at the show. DONT put anything on them. Imagine what schools will see when they turn on the show...a huge whiteout, and all of the signs say the same thing..WHITE..we're the best, we've got the best team, and we dont need a poster to show it. If we pull this off, it'll be sweet. Bring your friends, bring your voices...WE ARE... """

Wasn't sure how to report this, a shot or a post. But Evan Royster is "Sick..very sick" according to his facebook page. So I'm not sure what that means  as far as the long haul...if the team is about pass around ye'old Pig Flu or if Royster is just sick. But now we know that it doesn't look good for tomorrow....for him that is..I'm sure we'll still win...if not we've got bigger issues than that.

Now I need to get a few more words into this post..