So if it's not the NCAA's "Big Dance," then call it the NIT's "Little Cha-Cha."

And what a way to kick off the Lion Trail to New York -- with a melee with archrival Pittsburgh Wednesday at Rec Hall.

It's The National Invitation Tournament with a field of 32 teams that have one common goal --to get to The Big Apple and the NIT Final Four in Madison Square Garden.

While the players of Penn State's 21-7 independent squad would have preferred to strut their stuff in the NCAA Tournament, the NIT for them is obviously the next best thing. The players were disappointed, but all-in-all they seemed to be in good spirits after the announcement. They're even happier that their playing the Panthers.

"I think it's great," Barnes said of playing the Panthers."I'm happy to have the opportunity to play against them. Maybe we'll get more fans."

"It kind of surprised me," said forward Eric Carr. "I was expecting to play somebody else, like a Midwest team."

Greg Bartram was also surprised.

"I'm pretty excited," he said. "I was a little disappointed not to get in the NCAAs. We have to re-focus and being home will help us a lot."

DeRon Hayes, however, was a little disappointed not playing in the NCAA Tournament.

"I was kind of sad," said Hayes. "I was watching every bracket hoping maybe we'll be next. But I knew it was a poor chance of us getting in. I was surprised that teams like Temple and Iowa State got in. We were 50-50 but we weren't even mentioned with the bubble teams."

Forward Jon Dietz, who played such a vital role in last year's NCAA team remains optimistic, even though his playing time has drastically decreased this year.

"Everyone was disappointed, but we had a good year. It doesn't ruin our season. Hopefully we can go out and get on a winning streak."

Senior center Dave Degitz said earlier in the season that he just wants to play more games. Period. That's if the 6-foot-9-inch center can actually play. He has a bad back and didn't practice last week.

After four days off, the team members practiced, figuring they would be playing in a postseason tournament.

"Everyone enjoyed the break," said Coach Bruce Parkhill, who admitted he was disappointed. "We did some fun things, but injuries have been the story of our year."

But now, the story for the Lions is to play well enough in the NIT to get back to the Garden. Guard Freddie Barnes has fond memories of the Big Apple and he wants to go back. "Our primary goal is to get to New York," Barnes said.

In the 1990 NIT, Barnes, as a sophomore, helped lead the Lions to wins over Marquette, Maryland and Rutgers before they yielded to Vanderbilt in the NIT final four at MSG. The Lions then rallied to beat New Mexico in the consolation to finish third in the tournament.

Said Hayes: "We're veterans of New York."

Dietz remembers that trip when he was a freshman.

"It was a lot of fun playing in Madison Square Garden," said Dietz. "It's one of the top arenas in all of basketball. It was a great experience. Anytime you get to the final four of any tournament it's a great achievement."

The independent Lions are part of a competitive NIT field that after Pitt, could sport potential matchups with Virginia, Notre Dame, Villanova, Tennessee, Wisconsin-Green Bay, Purdue, Minnesota, Washington State and Arizona State.

"The NIT should be a pretty good field," Barnes said. "But its been a good field in past years with teams that didn't win their conference tournaments."

Looking at the NIT from the three seniors' standpoint, Barnes, Monroe Brown and Degitz are still playing basketball for Penn State. And they get at least one more game at Rec Hall.

"The kids have had a good year," said Parkhill. "They (seniors) shouldn't feel bad. They should feel great in what they accomplished here in the four years and what they accomplished this year."