The men's basketball team must now play the waiting game.

The Lions ended their regular season 21-7 after their 79-73 win over American on Monday. They now have 11 days until the March 15th tournament bids go out and at least two days after that before their post-season would begin.

The next two weeks will be ones of rest and anxiety for the team.

Coach Bruce Parkhill reflected a little on the regular season after Monday's game and said he was glad it was over given how strange a year it was. Now he just wants to get his team ready for whatever lies ahead.

"I figured the best thing we could have done was give them four days off," Parkhill said. "We'll work hard this week and then they'll have four days to look forward to . . . from a psychological stand point that will be good for the guys."

The long layoff could play a factor in the team's first post-season game. The Lions had a week off before the American and their shooting performance suffered.

Penn State shot 39.1 percent from the field. The main culprits turned out to be Monroe Brown and Freddie Barnes who went a combined 6-for-33. After the game the two joked that they had a bet on who could miss the most shots. Brown won with 15 to Barnes' 12 misses.

Parkhill said the team will do a lot of scrimmaging and full court work. He hopes the scrimmaging will keep the team fresh to game-type situations. The players have various feelings about the break.

"I think I need the break," Barnes said. "After sitting out for awhile you get hungry to play."

DeRon Hayes said, "I just want to play. If we do go (to the NCAA tournament) I believe we'll be prepared for it because we're really hyped for it."

Notes: The close game with American hurt Penn State in the latest Sagarin Computer Poll. The Lions dropped eight spots to No. 80 in this week's poll, but the team did garner a vote in this week's Associated Press Poll.

-- The ceremony before Monday's game to honor the three seniors was a nice moment to reflect on their career. But one person who wasn't thrilled by it was American Coach Chris Knoche who said, "it was a nice presentation, but it was too (explicit language) long."

-- Elton Carter continues to disprove the theory that practice is needed. Carter, who sat out the previous three games with a fractured finger, was productive on Monday. He grabbed five rebounds and scored two points. Carter has battled injuries all season yet at times was a major contributor off the bench. "He must have iron lungs," Parkhill said.

-- The Notre Dame watch continues. The Irish, who basketball analysts feel will be the lone independent team should they win 15 games, won again on Tuesday. The Irish beat Xavier and are now 14-12. They have two games remaining against DePaul and Evansville.