The boredom of traveling across the Indiana countryside quickly got to me as soon we crossed the state line and traveled past rows and rows of -- get this -- "Tom Raper Indiana's Finest RV's" billboards.

And the inflatable roof of the building formerly known as the Hoosier Dome sprung a leak as the Lady Lions' quarterfinal game was delayed for 15 minutes because of a puddle of rainwater along one of the court's baselines.

But these events pale in comparison to the display in Penn State's 77-75 loss to Illinois in the semifinals of the tournament Sunday, when for the second time this season, Penn State lacked direction from its coaching staff near the end of regulation.

Rubbing the sleep out of my eyes as I walked through the stadium tunnel to the floor, I noticed someone sitting in my assigned seat on press row -- it was Penn State assistant Annie Troyan. Thinking that possibly she was lost and looking for the locker room to help get her team ready for its upcoming contest, I nonchalantly set down my bag.

"Are you from the Collegian?" Troyan inquired, looking at me like a bulldog that had marked its territory.

After I answered yes, Troyan quickly justified why she was sitting in my seat for the first semifinal, pitting Purdue against Ohio State.

"Are you guys covering this game, because we would like to sit behind Purdue's bench and scout them," Troyan said.

Like the true gentleman that I am, I rolled my eyes and said, "Yeah sure."

How silly of me to expect to be able to sit in a seat clearly marked for myself. And I still regret the fact that I didn't offer to wipe the seat clean for Troyan, or to see if she wanted anything to eat or drink from the lovely buffet of hot dogs and popcorn the Big Ten provided.

I just hope that Troyan, along with fellow assistants Michael Peck and Tina Nicholson, got a good look at Purdue because I fully expect their vantage point of the Boilermakers' 72-59 victory over the Buckeyes to be the difference in a Penn State win next time they meet.

Let's see, that will be in either January or February 2000.

While Troyan and her gang were scouting Purdue, they, along with Penn State coach Rene Portland, forgot to make the finishing touches on their own squad -- evident in the last 25.8 seconds of Sunday's game.

With the game tied at 75-75, and a rematch against No. 1 Purdue waiting in the wings, Portland called timeout. The play that followed as the Lions broke the huddle made just about as much sense as a game being cancelled due to inclement weather in a domed stadium.

There was a four-second difference between the game clock and shot clock so logically it appeared Penn State would either hit the game-winning shot, or miss and leave the Fighting Illini a mere few seconds to get off a desperation shot.

Instead the Lions chose plan C -- as in catastrophe.

Helen Darling took the inbound pass and quickly forced up a shot well before the shot clock was going to expire and missed. After center Andrea Garner was stripped of the rebound, Illinois was left with plenty of time to win the game -- and it did on a last-second jump shot.

Whether Portland designed the play as it unfolded, or Darling went against her wishes and took the shot early is irrelevant. Penn State's last-second blunder instead shows that Portland does not have this team mentally prepared heading into its first NCAA Tournament appearance in three years.

Indiana RV king Tom Raper guaranteed on his billboards, "Quick turnaround."

Penn State's coaching staff might want to invest in a call to him because one is definitely needed in the discipline department before the NCAA Tournament begins next week.