#NCAA Tournament Preview: Penn State v. Temple and Wednesday Headlines

          

Penn State and Temple re-new their long standing rivalry as they travel to Tucson to play one another tomorrow in the first round of the NCAA tournament. The Owls are 4-1 against Penn State at neutral sites with Temple beating Penn State 84-72 in the 2001 South region semifinals.

             What does the NCAA tournament selection committee do when they pit two teams separated by 194 miles, send them both nearly 2,300 miles west to play. The NCAA selection committee brain-trust should have thrown both teams a bone and scheduled this match-up closer to both fan bases. Washington D.C.? Cleveland? I'm sure the players are enjoying the sun after their cold dark and gloomy winter travels through Big 10 country and along the east coast.

              So, Penn State (19-14) and Temple (25-7) will meet for the 92nd time tomorrow at approximately 2:10 est on TNT. The Owls of Philly own Penn State in basketball with a convincing 59-32 record. The two programs date back to the days of the old Eastern Eight Conference and, before moving to the Big 10, Penn State and Temple rivaled as members of the Atlantic 10 Conference. Temple, still in the Atlantic 10 Conference, has gotten the best of this rivalry as of late by winning six in a row with it's last win coming on a 45-42 in Philadelphia. The Owls last loss came back in 2001 at the Bryce Jordan Center, 66-60. Temple also holds an edge over the Nittany Lions at a neutral court with a 4-1 record.

             With all that said, these aren't your grandfather's, dad's or even your drunken older brother's Nittany Lions, these Nittany Lions have won seven of their last 10 games, have beaten two teams ranked in the top 25, have five wins against teams ranked in the top 50 and has set the new standard for Nittany Lion teams to come with it's first ever appearance in the Big 10 Championship game. These Nittany Lions have blazed a new trail behind the lights-out shooting of senior Talor Battle.

           More important than Taylor's great shooting this season,  is the remarkable poise this team has when things begin to go wrong. That's when the character of a team is defined. Penn State tends to dig themselves into a whole early on in games. Some teams would cave in and accept the underdog status but this team has proved odds makers and the so-called experts wrong night after night.(see Big 10 Conference tournament)

          They're not the sexy team; they're not the funnest team to watch (see Big 10 Conference game against Wisconsin), no McDonalds All-Americans coming out of high school. They are a team in every sense of the word. They play their game and head coach Ed DeChellis does a fine job of keeping them focused on what they're good at-ball control, perimeter shooting and attacking the boards. Penn State should have taken something away from the loss against Ohio State- they played Jared Sullinger the best they could. Sullinger is a freshman freak of nature and very few teams have a player like that. They played the No. 1 team in the country as a tune-up game heading into the NCAA tournament. As a competitor, who could ask for more of a litmus test.

Wednesday headlines

*Hours after a story surface about Chad Johnson owing nearly $12,000 dollars to a Cincinnati clothing store, word comes that he plans on trying out for Sporting Kansas City of Major League Soccer. 

*The NFL competition committee has said that it will look in to moving kickoffs form the 30-yard line to the 35. Also, instead of the ball being placed at the 20 after touch backs, the committee will look in to spotting the ball at the 25-yard line. 

*Randy Moss is trying to  boo-hoo his way back to New England by flattering Belichik with greatest coach comments. Yeah Belichik is a great coach and that's why Moss is no longer on the team.

*The suddenly fragile Tiger Woods will take his naughty skills to the Arnold Plamer Invitational he announced today. Like his caddy didn't know. He was the butcher's dog.