Joe Paterno is familiar with the difficulties of scheduling games as an independent. The Penn State basketball teams are not.

When Penn State made its exodus from the Atlantic 10 and prepared to enter Big Ten conference play, the men's and women's basketball teams were hurled into a temporary limbo.

The term of their stay was shortened Tuesday when Big Ten athletic directors, including Penn State, decided that the Lions and Lady Lions will compete for the conference title in the 1992-93 season. The football team will vie for a Rose Bowl bid in 1993.

The basketball programs, fearing two years as an independent, will now have to grapple with only one. After recommendations by the respective coaches' groups last year, Tuesday's decision finalizes the official integration dateline.

"I am thrilled with the word official," women's coach Rene Portland said. "The coaches decided back in November not to let us in next year but they voted 10-0 to allow us in the following year which puts us ahead of schedule.

"It's good to see that the next level has made the commitment to Penn State. It gives us a sigh of relief -- our scheduling problems are only for one year."

Men's coach Bruce Parkhill, in a telephone interview from New Brunswick, N.J., was enthusiastic about the decision but was disappointed that the decision took so long.

"The whole thing is very frustrating for me," Parkhill said. "There's no reason to justify our delay. We should have been given a firm date. Our program has suffered because of it."

Although specific matchups were not diclosed because of contractural agreements, the independent schedules for both teams are coming along, athletic director Jim Tarman said. The men's schedule is over half full, while the Lady Lions are faring slightly better, he added.

The athletic directors discussed Penn State's independent status Tuesday and several members encouraged institutions to help Penn State make the transition.

"The more time Penn State remains independent, the more it will hurt them," Illinois men's coach Lou Henson said in a telephone interview from Champaign, Ill., yesterday. "Now, the more it hurts them, the more it hurts us as a conference."

Some of the Big Ten schools have been very cooperative in the process, particularly Illinois and Ohio State.

"I can't tell if the other institutions are making the effort, but they should," Henson said. "Every program should try to help out Penn State. We're ready to do whatever we can do.

The Illini have a home-and-home series with both the men's and the women's teams, starting with a men's game at Rec Hall last December. While the men play their series over two years, both games of the women's series are next season.

The Buckeyes' men's team, ranked second in the nation, will host Penn State in Columbus in the 1991-92 season. The Lady Buckeyes, a perennial Top-25 team, will play two with the Lady Lions next season.

The Lady Lions have also scheduled games with Michigan and Michigan State, both of the Big Ten. In addition, the Lady Lions are in three tournaments next season and may schedule games with Temple, Vanderbilt and top-ranked Virginia out of conference. They will also participate in a post-season tournament in Alaska.

"Our schedule is on a week-by-week thing but we're very confident that we're headed in the right direction," Portland said.

The Penn State men's team has scheduled some home-and-home series over the next several years in order to guarantee a complete slate for next season.

Some shuffling may have to be done to accommodate those agreements and the Big Ten for next year.

"Our affiliation with the Big Ten is obviously positive," Parkhill said. "But their decision doesn't clear up very much. Their delay forced us to schedule these games which may be difficult to work around."

One solution is to spread the series over several years. Dusquesne, an Atlantic 10 foe, has indicated that a long-term agreement can be reached in which Penn State receives a needed game next season and the Dukes receive a future game against the Lions after integration. Temple coach John Chaney has also indicated he would continue the series if a national television game could be scheduled.

Penn State may use the leverage of the football team to try to maintain some other basketball rivalries in men's and women's basketball.

"We're always talking to people. It's a give and take process -- we try whatever we can," Tarman said.

"We realize that next year is not what we would like," Tarman said. "It will be a very difficult experience, but that is counterbalanced by the prospects of Big Ten play a year earlier."