It's just about that time again. The leaves are falling, the temperature's dropping and sports fans everywhere are getting ready for another season of college basketball.

The first of many tests for the Penn State men's basketball team comes this weekend at the Black Coaches Association Classic in Milwaukee, Wisc. The eight-team tournament starts Sunday afternoon, and Penn State's first round game against Illinois State is at 6:30 p.m.

The Redbirds are in a similar position to that of Penn State: Both teams are entering their second year with
a new head coach and had almost
identical records last season. Penn State went 9-19 and the Redbirds were 10-19.

Depending on who wins the first contest, Penn State will face either Marquette or Western Carolina Monday.

Surrounding the Nittany Lions this year are the usual questions: Will there be enough offense to compete in the Big Ten? Who will step up and be a presence in the middle? Can the team make free throws when needed most?

And this season, there's an added bonus: Who will actually start? Other than young guards Marlon Smith and Ben Luber, and senior forward Aaron Johnson, two starting spots are there for the taking. It appears freshman Geary Claxton and junior college transfer Travis Parker will get the opportunities out of the gates, but coach Ed DeChellis has maintained throughout the fall that there is no set starting five.

"Early on, we were tinkering with the lineups, but over the last week or so we have had Geary and Travis on the blue [practice] team with [Johnson]," DeChellis said.

So far, both Claxton and Parker have impressed Johnson.

"[They are] the two biggest additions," he said. "I wish we had them last year. Geary has tremendous athleticism and Travis has tremendous versatility. We won't be starting two 7-footers out there, but I would take Travis and me over two 7-footers any day."

The other newcomers are sure to get plenty of playing time as well, as DeChellis wants to see how they deal with their first real pressure situations.

"This weekend will be important to us in terms of throwing young guys into the fire right away, out of their comfort zone, on the road, so it's important to see how they react," DeChellis said.

At the same time, DeChellis knows not to overreact to his team's play in the tournament.

"If they don't react positively, I'm not going to panic," he said. "We have a lot of time to work on things and get them more comfortable. If they react great, that's tremendous, but we still have a lot of work to do."

Another reason the new players will likely see plenty of time is the status of Luber. The sophomore injured his ankle at practice last week and aggravated it against East Stroudsburg during Sunday's exhibition game.

"He's not 100 percent yet," DeChellis said. "It's just one of those things we are monitoring. ... It could flare up at any time, especially with the schedule we have had."

The Lions will end the tournament with a third game on Tuesday, no matter how they fare in the first two contests.