Two years ago, Calvin Booth roamed the middle of the paint for the Penn State men's basketball team. Booth dominated the glass and became the All-time leading shot blocker in Nittany Lions history with 428. His presence inside often changed the dimension of some teams' styles of play and forced opposing players to shoot from the outside instead of driving the ball down the lane.

Now, two years later, Penn State has yet to find a replacement for him.

One of the biggest problems Penn State faces as it enters the season is that it does not have a center that can give the production Booth did. Though the Lions were put in a similar position last season, they did have Jarrett Stephens, who averaged a double-double almost every time he touched the floor. He also was considered by most coaches and opposing players as one of the toughest players in the post.

"I knew it was going to be tough playing against him because the young man works extremely hard," Kent coach Gary Waters said. "He deserves all he is going to get in the future because he works extremely hard to get what he wants in life. When you are a guy who is 6-foot-5 playing in the post, it's not easy in the post. You got to work at it."

According to Penn State men's basketball coach Jerry Dunn, the Lions have no starting center going into the season.

"I have no idea who is going to start at center," Dunn said. "Once again we could play with two big forwards. We could play with a big forward and a center."

While names like Stephan Bekale, Marcus Banta, Jarad Houston and Scott Witkowsky are all up for the starting job, the leading returning rebounder from last season is senior Gyasi-Cline Heard, who averaged more than five rebounds per game.

Though Bekale and Banta are sophomores, they seem to be the most likely to contribute the most at the center position. Bekale is considered by some as a power forward and spent the offseason working on his game.

"I play power forward and center and I've worked hard this summer," Bekale said. "I've played all over the country and it gave me a whole lot of excitement, so coach can say he doesn't have no true center yet, but that can change and I can be one of those people."

Houston, who red-shirted last season after transferring here from William & Mary, spent the offseason putting on weight and getting and stronger.

"Jarad worked very hard this summer on building his upper strength and getting himself in shape for the season," Penn State strength and conditioning coach Darren Pletcher said.

Houston and Witkowsky are the lone seven-footers on the team and will more than likely see action this season.

However, starting might be out of the question, especially for Witkowsky. According to Pletcher, Witkowsky came back to school overweight, which might have put him back into Dunn's doghouse, which is a familiar spot for him since he struggled with this problem before.