March 18, 2001, seems like an eternity ago for the Penn State men's basketball team.

That was the day the Nittany Lions shocked then-No. 2 seeded North Carolina, 82-74, to advance to the Sweet 16. These two teams will renew their rivalry Monday night at the Preseason NIT.

Joe Forte, Julius Peppers, Ronald Curry and Jason Capel are no longer putting on the Carolina Blue and White. There is a new era of Tar Heels, which posted a mark of 8-20 last season, that are now residing in Chapel Hill. The new era is filled with youth including six freshmen and three sophomores.

The Heels' only two upperclassmen, seniors Jonathan Holmes and Will Johnson, have been suspended by the NCAA for one game for participating in a 3-on-3 charity basketball event.

Sophomore Jawad Williams will be expected to take on a leadership role but knows that freshmen will help him on the court.

"They add athleticism," said Williams, after the annual Blue and White scrimmage. "They all can play defense. Running up and down the court is going to be key this year, we need to play a lot of pressure defense."

Penn State will play a second-round game on Wednesday, if it defeats the vulnerable basketball dynasty, against the winner of Rutgers and Columbia.

As December rolls around, so will the Lions' best chance to pick up some much-needed victories before heading into the rigors of the Big Ten schedule. Penn State faces a pair of inferior teams from the NEC conference, a Patriot League team and pair of Ivy League teams.

The Lions lost by 13 points a year ago to Ivy League runner-up Yale and will host Yale again this season.

Penn State will have to travel down to the Palestra and play Pennsylvania, who have been picked by many to be the favorites to repeat as Ivy League champions.

The Quakers return all five starters and lose only two players from last season's squad.

Penn State opens its Big Ten campaign on the road against No. 21 Indiana. The Hoosiers will test the Lions early even without Jared Jefferies, who is now playing for the Washington Wizards. He terrorized the Lions for 39 points and 21 rebounds in the two games last year.

Indiana looks to replace Jefferies with Jeff Newton, who picked up his play last season in the NCAA tournament. The Hoosiers also return senior guard Tom Coverdale, who played superbly in last season's Final Four on a bum ankle.

The Lions travel on Jan. 22 to the Breslin Center to take on No. 9 Michigan State.

The Spartans return a pair of senior forwards in Aloysius Anagonye and Adam Ballinger, who will continue Michigan State's proud rebounding tradition.

They combined to average over 13 rebounds a game a year ago.

Preseason Big Ten Players of the Year, Illinois' Brian Cook and Minnesota's Rick Rickert, will both invade the Bryce Jordan Center. Cook averaged 13.5 points and 6.7 rebounds per game last season.

Rickert, who is only a sophomore, averaged 14.2 points and 5.2 rebounds. Minnesota men's basketball coach Dan Monson knows the importance of getting his star the ball.

"He's skilled offensively and he creates match-up situations for people," he said. "Our challenge is to get him good touches and try to exploit people with his abilities."