I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate and to thank the Penn State men's and women's basketball teams for an absolutely tremendous job well done.

While most people were thinking about the "last this," the "end of that," and the "it's over syndrome," I was thinking about firsts. I was thinking about the many firsts accomplished this year by the two programs.

For the men, 1990-91 was the first time they won the Atlantic 10 Tournament. Consequently, this season they were in the NCAA tournament for the first time in 26 years. They won their first game in the tournament in 36 years by beating UCLA for the first time (in as many tries.) And, finally, Bruce Parkhill became the first head coach to win a tournament game his first year in the tournament.

Congratulations and thanks for the memories to graduating seniors Lem Joyner, Marty Joyce, Tony Soskich, C.J. Johnson and James Barnes.

The 1990-91 season was one of firsts for the Lady Lions as well. They were the first Lady Lion team to win 29 games. They were the first Lady Lion team to be ranked number one by the Associated Press poll. They were the first team from the Northeast to be ranked number one in the AP poll, which has only had 14 other teams occupy that spot in the history of the poll. Finally, this was the first season they drew more than 5,000 and 6,000 fans for the Rutgers and James Madison games respectively.

Congratulations and good luck to Terri Williams, Shelly Caplinger and Tanya Garner, the graduating seniors.

It's been a great year and a hell of a run, but let's not forget the most important "first" of all; the Nittany Lion and Lady Lion basketball teams will always be first in our hearts.

Thanks again for a fantastic year!