'Who Knew the NIT Would Feel So Good?'

I grew up a die-hard Penn State football fan. In high school, I applied to one school and one school only for college: Penn State. I spent four years at the University Park Campus, missing only one football game due to a funeral in my four years. I graduated from Penn State. I'm a football season-ticket holder. Essentially, I bleed blue and white.



And yet, I've never really gotten into Penn State basketball. Throughout my entire life, Penn State has been the laughing stock of college basketball. Save for a few years with the Crispins and Calvin Booth, they never won anything. At all. Being a Philadelphia boy, I was an avid Temple fan when it came to basketball, and thanks to the incredible dominance and must-watch factor of Michael Jordan, I began to follow North Carolina — who just so happened to have a Philadelphian as one of their best players, Rasheed Wallace. That's not to say I didn't root for Penn State from time to time, especially for the likes of Titus Ivory and Brandon Watkins, but I was more indifferent toward the program.



Honestly, they stunk, and my father, who attended Penn State for a year and graduated from Temple, had the same rooting interests as me (save for UNC). He was a die-hard Penn State football fan and a die-hard Temple basketball fan. But honestly, during my four years at Penn State, I was dying to be at a school with a good basketball program.

As you've probably gathered, I truly love basketball, and I always imagine what it must have been like to be at a school with a decent basketball team. When I was at Penn State, they weren't even decent. They were dreadful. Ben Luber, a player that would have been hard pressed to start on a Division II team, was the starting point guard. Jan Jagla, a 7-footer that made Shawn Bradley look like Shaq, was the center. And beyond Brandon Watkins, there wasn't a single athlete on the team when I arrived.

Of course, Geary Claxton provided a truly talented, athletic and exciting player, but the team was still awful. Jamelle Cornley showed up and offered toughness and skill, but still, the team was awful. I just couldn't get into a team that was so bad and coached by a guy who seemed to have clue what he was doing. The only game I even remember being excited about was when the Dee Brown/Deron Williams Illinois team, then ranked No. 1 in the nation, came to the Bryce Jordan Center and steamrolled Penn State.



I never could foresee Penn State basketball providing much excitement. And then, in January, at the behest of one of my roommates (who had just moved in), I began to follow a Penn State team that he assured me wasn't bad. And lo and behold, as I watched, I noticed how much Stanley Pringle had developed, how incredibly good and underrated Jamelle Cornley is, how exciting Talor Battle plays, and how a bunch of young guys were hustling their tails off to try and turn around the perception of Penn State basketball.

A couple months later, the Nittany Lions found themselves squarely on the NCAA tournament bubble. They had a legitimate argument, defeating Michigan State, a team that is now in the Final Four, in East Lansing. They hung with the top teams in the Big 10, a conference that often gets derided by many, myself included, but a conference that always seems to send numerous teams to the tournament that cause all kinds of problems.

When they were left out, I thought it was a bad break. But in reality, going to the NIT was the best thing that ever happened to this program. Heading into last night, Stanley Pringle, Jamelle Cornley and Danny Morrissey, three seniors who had endured nothing but failure, were given the opportunity to go out as winners, to go out as champions, with just one more victory. Had they gone to the NCAA tournament, they surely wouldn't have had that chance. More than likely, they would have been one and done.







Well, the Nittany Lions took the opportunity in the NIT and ran with it. They made it all the way to the finals, even beating Notre Dame from the big, bad Big East. And last night, with a raucous crowd full of Penn State students and alumni in Madison Square Garden, Penn State did something they've never done in my lifetime: They won a basketball championship, defeating Baylor 69-63.

Sure, it's just the NIT, but the significance really cannot be overstated. First of all, it allowed a warrior like Jamelle Cornley go out on top, and if there ever was a Penn State basketball player that deserved it, it's Jamelle Cornley.



Clearly the heart and soul of this basketball team, Cornley has been a truly terrific player the past four years who has flown under the radar, mostly because Penn State has been nothing more than an afterthought. At his size, he won't get a shot in the NBA, but his game is NBA-ready. Had he been just a little taller, perhaps 6'9" or 6'10", he'd be mentioned among the nation's top power forwards. But, as they say, you can't teach height.

And while he may be undersized for an inside force, he's been a dominant one. Last night, there was no player more dominating. With a chance to finally feel what he never was able to before, Cornley literally put the Nittany Lions on his ailing shoulders and carried them to victory. As Talor Battle struggled with Baylor's zone, Cornley feasted on it. He scored a game-high 18 points on 8-15 shooting, nabbed 7 boards and calmed his teammates down, barking orders, commanding respect. He wouldn't let the Lions lose, even at the end, when it looked as though things may slip away. Jamelle Cornley wouldn't let that happen. He was going out a winner, or he was going to die trying.

And it was great to see Pringle and Morrissey follow their fellow senior's lead, each having a big hand in the victory. Even with a quiet game, Pringle hit big free throws down the stretch to help ice the game, finishing with 10 points. Morrissey, leaving the floor bloody and battered after diving for a loose ball, hit a string of three straight NBA threes that helped propel Penn State to its game-winning run. All nine of his points were vital.

The experience wasn't just a nice sendoff for the seniors either. This experience gave this team, a team full of young players, a taste of winning. Suddenly, a program that they came to with a reputation of losing has become a winning program. Now, after a season toughing it out in the Big 10 and coming away in the upper half, these young Nittany Lions, full of sophomores and freshmen, got to experience postseason basketball. They got to experience a tournament atmosphere. And with 27 wins, and an NIT championship, they now know what it feels like to be a winner. Now they can expect to be winners.

As for the game itself, Penn State showed tremendous grit. Talor Battle, the Nittany Lions' lead guard, struggled mightily against the zone. But he never pressed. He never forced the issue. He never got thrown off his game. He let the game come to him, and when for some reason Scott Drew switched from the very successful zone to man defense, Battle took over, exploding to the hoop, setting up teammates and regaining his confidence.



By the time Drew put his Baylor players back in the zone, it was too late. Battle had his swagger back, and Penn State had the NIT championship all wrapped up. Admittedly, I never really thought I'd get excited for the NIT. Never in a million years. And I never thought I'd get excited about Penn State basketball, at least not any time soon. But this team drew me in. They were exciting. Fun to watch. And as Arkansas Fred said to me via text message: "Who knew the nit would feel so good?"

The excitement was there, and now, this very well could help Penn State in its recruiting. In fact, it already has:

Talor Battle's half-brother, the #37 ranked player for the class of 2010, committed on the team bus after tonight's victory. He picked us over programs such as Maryland, Notre Dame and Georgia Tech.

I have this from MULTIPLE sources close to the Penn State men's basketball program.

What a wonderful evening. Our Nittany Nation student section takes over the Garden and wills this team to a championship, and now this. Truly the biggest night in the history of Penn State basketball.

Make sure to let my man, K. Masenda, know that his Baylor Bears were no match for my Penn State Nittany Lions.

Oh, and here are the highlights:

'I Want to Ride Sammy All Game'

It's funny how a simple comment like the one in the headline, which was uttered at the Sixers game last night, can revert me back to a 13-year-old, laughing hysterically as if it is the funniest thing I've ever heard.



Quite a gas indeed. Anyway, onto the game. Now, I'm not sure what the attendance was last night, but considering the Sixers were playing the team that they very well could play in the first round of the playoffs, it's sad to see that very few fans seem to care. The building certainly wasn't full, but I will say that the crowd was into it, which was nice to see. Well, most of the crowd. The guy sitting in front of us did scold Joltin Joe for putting his foot on his friend's arm rest when his friend got up to go to the concourse. That was weird.

The thing is, for all the people in this city who are down on the NBA and the Sixers in particular, they missed a golden opportunity to witness an incredible individual performance by Josh Smith, who rode Sammy his own way:





Smith, the guy I wanted over Brand, put on an incredible offensive performance, scoring a game-high 33 points. He missed just two shots on the night, going 13-15 from the field, 3-3 from three and 4-4 from the line. Oh, and he chipped in 5 rebounds, 2 steals and 2 blocks for good measure.

There isn't a more athletically gifted player I've seen than Smith, and he's easily one of my favorite players in the NBA. The best part about his 33-point performance though, besides his facial of Sammy, was that the Sixers still won, 98-85. The worst part was Thaddeus Young having to be carried off the floor by Marreese Speights and Theo Ratliff in the first quarter.



We were sitting behind the opposite basket, so I missed what happened to Thad, but at first glance, it looked like he was in big trouble. I was relieved to find out his X-rays were negative, but I don't expect the Sixers' rising star to be back until the playoffs, which sucks bit time.

Even without Thad, who I think has been the best Sixer of late, the Sixers were able to top the 4th-seeded Hawks in impressive fashion. Four Sixers scored at least 15 points, led by Andre Iguodala's 19, along with Andre Miller (18), Speights (16) and Willie Green (15), proving once again just how balanced this team is in the scoring department.

And just as impressive, every player who took the court scored at least one bucket. Reggie Evans had a particularly strong game, scoring 8, Sammy and Thad each had 6, Lou Will and Theo each had 4, and Royal added a deuce. And per usual, the Sixers were led by the Andres. Of course Iguodala had a team-high 19, not to mention 8 assists, 2 steals and 3 rebounds, but he also played tremendous defense, limiting Joe Johnson to just 11 points on 3-9 shooting.



Of course, it was Miller who was running the show, evident by his 10 assists to compliment his 18 points. As Joltin Joe said last night, no matter how much announcers and analysts like to tell us that Kevin Love throws the most incredible outlet passes, there's no doubt that Andre Miller is the best in the business when it comes to outletting his teammates in transition. He threw a full-court outlet, immediately off a rebound, without setting his feet or even gathering his balance, right on the money. It was a thing of beauty. No disrespect to Love, but he can't hold a candle to Miller's outlet passing skills.

It was a good win to bring the Sixers back within a half game of Miami for that 5th spot, and a step closer to taking on Atlanta in the first round. Let's hope they can get there. More importantly, let's hope Thad can recover in time and suffer no ill effects from the dreaded sprained ankle.

After the game, I eagerly headed back home to catch the Penn State-Notre Dame NIT semifinal game. My anticipation grew even stronger when some moron named slingshot sent me this message while I was on the el: "Did u hear what jopa just said bout bball bein a black mans game?" I missed what he said, but I heard it was pretty funny and honestly not offensive. When I walked through my front door, there was about 2 minutes left in the first half and my alma mater was destroying Notre Dame.



They took a 31-18 lead into halftime and looked poised to play Thursday against Baylor. Jamelle Cornley, clearly determined to go out a winner, was completely beasting Luke Harangody, who absolutely did not deserve to be an All-American this year, all night. Jamelle scored 15 points, grabbed 8 boards and clearly frustrated the oafy Irishman. Harangody shot a horrendous 5-16 from the field and was shut down for the majority of the game.

He did, however, managed to get 17 and 10, going off down the stretch to bring the Irish within three. A once huge lead shrunk to a one-possession game late because the Nittany Lions were doing just about everything in their power to give the game away: missing free throws, turnovers, fouling ND, giving up threes.

But they righted the ship, hit some clutch free throws and won 67-59 to play in the NIT championship game Thursday. Penn State played very well. Talor Battle did his thing, scoring 17, and Andrew Jones III had the best game I've seen him play, scoring 16 points, nabbing 15 rebounds and shooting 5-6 from the field and 6-7 from the line.



Stanley Pringle added 10 to give Penn State four players in double figures, while aside from Harangody, the Irish had no one else in double digits. It was a gutty performance that shows this team has no quit in them. Now they get to play one more time.

Update: About that JoePa quote:

During an interview, JoPa spouted about the good old days - when basketball was a Jew sport: "Everyone says it's a black mans game. When I played it was a Jewish mans game." Bill Raftery: "Yeah a city game right?"

Fantastic.

Going to the Garden

So did anyone happen to catch the NIT match-up between No. 1 seed Florida and my alma mater, 2 seed Penn State? I know Black Shoes Diaries did:

This team doesn't know when to quit. They don't understand that they are supposed to be slow and nonathletic. They don't understand they are hurt and tired. They don't understand that Penn State basketball was supposed to end their season two months ago so as not to take attention away from spring practice in football. They don't understand that they aren't supposed to go into Florida and beat the team that won back-to-back national championships a few years ago by nine points. They don't understand that when you choke a ten point lead away into a two point lead in the final minutes in a hostile environment you are supposed to roll over and die.

But this team does understand two things. They understand that nobody believes in them, and they understand that they hate to lose.

And one man in particular wasn't prepared to lose, wasn't prepared to end his collegiate basketball career.



Last night, Jamelle Cornley was a certifiable beast. 23 points. 12 rebounds. 11 of 14 from the field. And a steal and two assists for good measure. In Florida. Against the Gators.

Sure, it's just the NIT, and no one really remembers who wins the damn thing, but as my roommate said last night, only two teams get to call themselves champions at the end of the year. Penn State has a chance to be one of them.

That's pretty impressive no matter how you slice it. Sure, the goal is to get to the big dance, but for Penn State, a program that has been virtually nonexistent save for a rare tournament appearance here and there, it's big. The team gets notoriety, recognition and, more importantly for a team as young as the Nittany Lions, confidence. With sophomore stud Talor Battle, fellow sophomores David Jackson, Jeff Brooks and Andrew Jones, not to mention talented freshman Chris Babb, gaining this experience, there's reason for optimism in Happy Valley.



But last night was about the seniors: Jamelle Cornley, Stanley Pringle, and yes, even Danny Morrissey. Pringle didn't have his best game, but he scored 15 points on five three pointers — all of them big — and added 5 boards, 4 assists and even a block. Morrissey, for a player who has tremendous inadequacies and seemingly has overstayed his welcome at Penn State, did make a key three in the game and didn't fuck things up.

But it was Cornley who stole the show.



Plain and simple, the Gators had absolutely no answer for the man who looks a lot more like a football player than a basketball player. But make no mistake about it, Jamelle Cornley can ball. He's a beast inside, a strong rebounder and a player who has extended his range each and every year. He's a warrior, as last night showed, playing with an injured left shoulder, and he really is the leader on Penn State's young squad.

It's really a shame the 6'5" 240-pounder doesn't have another 4 or 5 or 6 inches of height or so, because if he did, there's a good chance he'd be playing in the NBA some day. He has that type of game. But then again, if he was 6'10" or 6'11", he probably wouldn't be at Penn State.

No matter. What matters is that Jamelle Cornley, disappointed by his failure to reach an NCAA Tournament during his four years at Penn State, simply isn't ready to be finished. He could have put his down and not shown up. Hell, he could have used the injury as an excuse to call it quits. But that's the type of player, the type of person Jamelle Cornley is. He wants to keep playing. He wants to go out a winner. Because after three long season of losing, Jamelle Cornley and his teammates "understand that they hate to lose."

I Feel Like Talking Gibberish

This is how I feel at this moment.

The Eagles need a wide receiver. A number 1 guy would be great but I would settle for a legit number 2 with height.



I would say the Eagles also need a running back with some size and power but everyone knows that they wouldn't use him anyway.

I would also say that the Eagles need a fullback but maybe instead of not resigning Runyan or Tra Thomas they could turn one of them into a fullback. Or possibly Trevor Laws or even Lorenzo Booker.

ESPN is starting to make me want to set fire to my television. I swear I heard about A RUMOR of Gruden replacing Weiss at Notre Dame three times within a half hour this morning. The Notre Dame AD was saying the RUMOR was an outright lie. If it is not true, don't report it in the first place. Just give me highlights.

I'm going to the Flyers game tonight and I wouldn't mind seeing Danny Briere play.



Larry Johnson Sr should be named Joe Pa's successor.

I also hate Lance Armstrong.

Anyone who thinks that we are all going to die because of who new president is should probably lead the way and kill themselves first. I'll just sit tight and wait it out.

Penn St. beat Michigan in basketball last night. Jamelle Cornley is a pretty decent player. If he was three inches taller, he could be a first round draft pick. After seven games, the Lions are 4-3 in the Big Ten. Thats pretty impressive for those guys.