So far this offseason, the itinerary for the Penn State women's basketball team has included more than just 5:30 a.m. practices.

Campus walks, bowling and dinner with a movie were some of the essentials that bonded together a Lady Lions team that has only three returning players.

"We needed to get together to get that team chemistry, which was good, it skyrocketed," junior forward Amanda Brown said. "It was hard in the beginning, everybody was shy. Now people are opening up."

Along with Brown, sophomores Adrienne Squire and Romana Vynuchalova are the only players to actually suit up for the Lions last season. Sophomore Kamela Gissendanner, who sat out last season while transferring from North Carolina State, saw Penn State play from the bench and is now a co-captain with Brown.

What Penn State women's basketball coach Rene Portland has to do now is mesh another four freshmen and Gissendanner into a team that will rely heavily on Brown and Squire, who return 9.1 points per game to the starting lineup.

"Well you can look at it one way and say, 'How difficult is it?' Or you look at as it's a new job," Portland said.

Portland's coaching has been supplemented by the aforementioned team field trips, but also numerous guest speakers and a couple of former players assisting the team's progress. Tanisha Wright, who was the 12th overall pick by the Seattle Storm of the WNBA, has had one-on-one battles with two freshmen, Mashea Williams and Brianne O'Rourke.

Wright has given tips to both Williams and O'Rourke as they guarded each other in practice. Jess Strom, last year's starting point guard, has also been back on campus to tutor O'Rourke, who is probably going start at the point for an offense that utilizes three guards and two forwards.

This doesn't mean that all the freshmen, which also includes forwards Courtney Molinaro and Rashida Mark, need to be parented along in their development.

"We have not had to waste time babysitting them or educating them," Portland said. "Thank God the track coach was not in the facility because she would have stolen at least two of them."

The workout regiment for the Lions has been tailored to withstand injury because depth will be an issue with only nine players on the active roster. Portland emphasized that simple things such as extra pushups to strengthen joints are being implemented. But bodies will need to be added, and that is why tryouts were held yesterday and will continue tonight.

"I'm going to look, but I'm not going to take if I don't think the person can understand the flags in our arena," Portland said referring to her Big Ten Championship and tournament banners.

On the other hand, Portland was especially quick in bringing out the two-dimensional model of the Bryce Jordan Center to remind anyone that was willing to listen that the Lions haven't lost to Indiana, Michigan State or Minnesota while playing in front of their home crowd.

Players received their building statues during another "team building exercise," where the team wrote down their goals for the upcoming season.

"Defending the Jordan Center is No.1," Portland said.

"If we stick to the traditions we've had here at the program, defending the Jordan Center, that makes you undefeated at home, and we've always said go steal what you can on the road."

If Penn State can actually come up with those wins is still up in the air. Portland might not know yet if her players are for real, because they haven't really started scrimmaging or formulating a game plan yet, but she does understand something after just a few weeks into her team's practices.

"I know a lot more about their hearts and souls," Portland said.