It has spent nearly a month of trying to form a cohesive team from a group of players that includes just one returning starter. Now the Penn State men's basketball team will get its first opportunity to get its rotation on the court together against a team that won't be wearing blue and white.

Most teams in such a situation would likely schedule a patsy barnstorming squad of European league rejects that they could romp on in order to get some confidence from a victory and a good feel of what it will be like to play together.

The Nittany Lions will not be following this model.

Tonight at 7:30 at The Bryce Jordan Center, the Lions will play a team that defeated them in an exhibition game last year, and returns with a new sponsor and a fortified roster. Marathon Oil, who defeated the Lions 113-109 in last season's first exhibition game, was renamed Team Nike Elite and added former Syracuse star Todd Burgan, and former Florida guard Teddy Dupay, who recently left the Gators after being declared ineligible for breaking NCAA rules.

Also playing for Team Nike is former Drake guard Curt Smith, who scored 32 points on the Lions in last season's game, and former Arkansas guard Antwon Hall who led the squad with 16 points against Connecticut in their last game. Team Nike is 1-4 thus far, but those losses were to UConn, South Carolina, Villanova and Clemson.

It won't be an easy opener for the Lions, but the exhibition game will still give them the first opportunity to answer questions about how this team is going to operate with four starters from last year's Sweet 16 team gone.

The biggest question will be asking who will score for the Lions. They lost 80 percent of the scoring last season, and their leading scorer, senior forward Tyler Smith, averaged only 7.6 points per game last season.

"I think we have a balanced team this year and I think we have a bunch of guys who are all going to be able to contribute," Penn State men's basketball coach Jerry Dunn said. "I'm looking more from a get it done by committee as opposed to maybe looking at one or two prolific scorers or one prolific scorer. I do think that we will probably have one or two guys that will emerge as guys who step up and make clutch shots."

The Lions will also get to test their own team chemistry for the first time. Despite the team's losses, some have actually said the team is getting along better this season.

"That's one thing we didn't have last year was trust in teammates," sophomore forward Ndu Egekeze said. "This year, I trust them to do their thing, and they trust me to do my thing."

Not surprisingly, the Lions aren't expected to match their NCAA tournament run this season. Most preview magazines, including the Sporting News, have them ranked around 10th in the Big Ten.

Tonight's game will be the first chance they have to start proving the doubters wrong.

"We know a lot of people are doubting us this year," sophomore guard Sharif Chambliss said. "But we believe in ourselves. As long as we do that, we'll be all right."