Rene Portland had to chuckle. Jackie Donovan pretty much ignored it. And Helen Holloway just shook her head, as if to say, "Why can't you leave it alone?"

The "it" was the inevitable question the Lady Lions' coach and senior co-captains faced at the press conference previewing their first-round NCAA tournament game. But the first question wasn't about the game. It was about the past.

"I think that this team is a different team," Portland responded when asked about her teams' infamous tournament history. "They have stuck to their game plan and they have stuck to each other. This is a unique team, and this is a team that should be given the opportunity to do what they can do and not compete with the ghost of Penn State Lady Lion basketball."

For Penn State (25-2), the No. 1 seed in the Midwest region, the goal is to forget its tournament past heading into a first-round matchup with 16th-seeded Fordham (21-8) at 7 p.m. Wednesday in Rec Hall. For the Lady Lions, who have been to the tourney 12 of the last 13 seasons but never advanced past the regional semifinals, it may seem a tall order. Portland maintains that the past is just that, and says her team is ready to go.

"We're just very thrilled to be in the position we're in right now," Portland said. "The girls worked very, very hard, did a great job in the Big Ten, and as we head into the NCAAs, we're as ready as we can be."

Fordham, making its first-ever NCAA appearance, is a slightly different story. Coach Kevin Morris took the the Lady Rams to a Patriot League title and an automatic bid in his first season at the helm, but his squad didn't face a ranked team en route to its 21 victories. In his role as monumental underdog, Morris just seems happy to be there.

"Obviously, coming out of the Patriot League, we realized we weren't going to be a high seed," Morris said. "We try to be realistic. Nobody expects us to go to the Final Four."

While Fordham may not seem a likely candidate to displace Penn State, Portland isn't without concern. Her biggest worry is that she just doesn't know all that much about the Lady Rams.

"The problem of the unknown," Portland said. "We know what league they're from. Honestly, I couldn't tell you much else about them."

Surprisingly, Morris claims he's in the same boat. It might be hard to believe that a Division I coach wouldn't know much about one of the nation's top teams, but Morris says he's in the dark about Penn State.

"At this moment I don't really know a lot about them," Morris said. "All I really know is what I read in the Sports Illustrated article."

Regardless of what this likely lopsided matchup holds, Portland vows not to look ahead. Just like the questions that won't go away, neither will the Lady Lions' nightmarish tournament past if Penn State tries to overlook its first-round foe. But the cautiously confident coach did allow a moment to think about what the future might hold.

"Do I have a prediction on the Final Four?" Portland said when asked to ponder who might make it through the tourney. "Other than Penn State, I couldn't tell you."

Note:

-- Tickets for Wednesday night's first-round game go on sale this morning at the Rec Hall and Beaver Stadium ticket offices. The offices will be open from 8:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. today and tomorrow, and from 8:30 a.m. until tipoff on Wednesday. Tickets, with a maximum of four per student, are $3 for Penn State students and youth and $6 for adults. The athletic department is asking that Penn State students buy their tickets at Rec Hall.