What do the Penn State men's basketball team and Rodney Dangerfield have in common?
Both get no respect.
The Nittany Lions may have thought that their epic upset of North Carolina and their trip to the Sweet 16 would give them credibility coming into this season. They were wrong. The Lions in most publications are projected at or near the bottom of the Big Ten.
The Lions lost four starters from last year's team, Joe Crispin, Titus Ivory and Gyasi Cline-Heard due to graduation and Jon Crispin chose to transfer to UCLA to play his last two seasons. Senior Tyler Smith is the lone starter that returns this season.
Despite the projections of a cellar-dwelling Big Ten finish this season, the Lions come into practice confident. Smith has heard these predictions his entire career at Penn State and says it is nothing out of the ordinary.
"Nothing new, that's what I think," Smith said. "Every time I talk to you guys on the phone you know the same picks are made —we are 9th we're 10th we're 11th— whatever. If we were picked 1st or 2nd then its like oh man they expect us to do well, but that just isn't something we are used to, so really being a underdog isn't anything new or different for us this year."
The Lions will get a chance early in the season to garner some respect. They will travel in a week's time span to Boston College and Temple, and in between those games they will face Clemson in State College as part of the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.
"Our non-conference schedule might be too tough," Penn State coach Jerry Dunn said.
"We are playing BC (Boston College) who is a ranked team on the road, we are playing at Pitt who is a improved team, we are playing at Temple and we are playing at Cal with a young team. I'm not sure if I'd want to play any tougher schedule."
The key to their success may lie in the hands of junior Brandon Watkins. Watkins had an increased role last season and this season will man the point guard position for the Lions.
Watkins was used mainly for defensive purposes in his sophomore season, but showed flashes of brilliance on offense scoring 12 points during the Lions' loss to Temple in the NCAA Tournament.
"I still want to keep my defensive presence 94 feet," Watkins said. "I want to give them hell up and down the court. I think that's gonna be an advantage because now I'm tiring them out. I think I'm smart enough to pick my spots, its going to be a threat either way on offense or defense because many people are not looking for me to score. But, their going to be shocked because I worked so hard over the summer."
Respect in the Big Ten is all about the low-post game, and that is exactly what the Lions sorely lack. Cline-Heard was the Lions' only legitimate threat in the post last season, and with him graduating the Lions will look to Smith to shoulder the load.
A conference that has such bruisers as Reggie Evans of Iowa and Michigan State's Aloysius Anagonye features this type of player. The Lions will need to have someone else step up in the trenches along with Smith and the Lions are yet to fully solve that problem.
Sophomore Ndu Egekeze is likely to see a lot of playing time, but is just 6-7. Junior Stephan Bekale has served as a reserve player in his first two seasons, but may see more time this season if he can prove that he is up for the task.
Otherwise, the Lions might need to look to their freshman class and players like Kevin Fellows and Jan Jagla, who stand 6-10 and 6-11, respectively.
A team who reached the Sweet 16 for the first time in the modern era is not going to be considered a basketball powerhouse, but expectations rise fast when a team starts to experience success.
The bottom line for the Lions is that if this team wants respect from the nation they probably need to reach the NCAA tournament, and for this team to do that may be an even bigger challenge than reaching the Sweet 16.
