Kudos to Peter Zellen for expressing his viewpoints about our basketball program. I want Mr. Zellen to know that there are some students and basketball fans that agree with him. There have recently been two letters to the editor that have decided that everything Mr. Zellen said is hogwash. The letters bring up numerous points that I would like to discuss.

Schedule: Two years ago, Bruce Parkhill accused Notre Dame of having a schedule catered to a twenty win season. If this year's mens schedule isn't catered to a twenty win season, please show me one that is. Be thankful we are not in the Big Ten, or for that matter in the Atlantic 10. Right now the Big Ten is one of the top three basketball conferences in the country. The Big Ten has four teams in the top 15 in the Associated Press poll.

The Atlantic 10 is no longer Temple and a bunch of teams. For proof of that, note that Massachusetts soundly defeated Oklahoma earlier this year. Also, with the highly competitive nature of the conference, it's nice to be on the outside looking in.

Graduation rates: So far, this maybe is Parkhill's biggest accomplishment at Penn State. Someone challegened Mr. Zellen to name another coach that has the same success rate as Parkhill. How about Mike Krzyzewski from Duke? While I don't have Coach K's graduation rates in front of me, but I can't help but think they are in the ninety percent range. Is he successfull? You decide.

Lack of Tradition: This has been an excuse for poor recruiting. Granted, Penn State basketball doesn't create a lot of ooh's and aah's, but recruiting can still be strong. The Green Wave of Tulane is a prime example. Three years ago, Tulane wasn't allowed to have a basketball program. Now, Tulane is ranked 14th in the AP poll. Recruiting helped make this turnaround possible.

Peter Zellen has done more homework than people think. Forgive me, please, but I can't help agree that the basketball program has gone as far as it can go with Bruce Parkhill.