Penn State is just not the same in the spring. It feels almost as though it was any other university. Almost.

The alumni who grace the streets on the weekends from August through November returned to their homes around the country awaiting next year's kickoff. The gray skies accompanied by the seething cold combine to strip State College of the school spirit so abundant in the fall.

This year's unseasonably warm fall coupled with hopes for the men's basketball team created some optimism in a region desperate for relevance in the winter.

Instead, sure enough, another winter settled over Happy Valley this week, the first week back on campus.

The cold has returned, and the men's
basketball team is beginning its tradition of solidifying the foundation for next season.

The Nittany Lions lost their third consecutive game Wednesday, this time to Michigan, 77-57, and they've yet to win on the road.

It almost seems as if the team is always on the cusp of respectability before it systematically destructs in the waning minutes of contests.

Last year's win at then-No. 6 Illinois proved to be an aberration, not the defining moment that some believed would be a turning point.

Penn State followed up the biggest upset in program history by losing at home by 11 to Minnesota (1-7 in the Big Ten prior to the game), in front of an announced attendance of 6,183. The response by both the team and the fans illustrate the apathy of everyone.

Hopes of qualifying for the NCAA Tournament this year are vanishing fast, as the team's record 10-7, 1-3 in the Big Ten, sees the loss total catching up to the win total rather quickly, as it always does once conference play begins.

Unless the team goes on a streak rarely witnessed at Penn State, another NIT appearance, and if the program is lucky, a first-round home game in the degenerate tournament, are still within reach. Regardless, Ed DeChellis, the men's basketball coach, has let me down.

His first season coincided with my freshman year (2003-04), and, hoping to promote the program, he visited my first-year seminar of about 20 journalism students. He fielded questions and campaigned eagerly so that we'd help fill a rather desolate Bryce Jordan Center.

One student asked him how long it would be until the team was good again. DeChellis responded by promising an NCAA berth by the end of our four years.

That day seems so long ago, yet his failure to deliver serves as a reminder that not much has changed.

While the shortcomings largely don't fall on DeChellis -- players have transferred (most notably Sharif Chambliss) and gotten injured (most notably Marlon Smith) and recruiting for an urban sport in a rural area has to be difficult -- the effects in the Centre region are pronounced.

The area, devoid of a big-time, successful sports team, loses its fervor.

Although we all may attend class and go out on weekends, the campus seems much bigger, as there is no cause for the community and student body to rally around. Everything becomes a routine. Penn State becomes school and not a culture.

Not that it's all bad, the calm becomes a blessing.

Often, I look forward to the end of football season because the time the season requires on Saturdays cuts the weekend in half.

Sometimes, it almost feels as though commuting to and from Beaver Stadium is an obligation. Not having to do so is almost liberating.

Almost.

One begins to miss the electricity on campus shortly after returning to campus for the spring semester.

Everything, literally everything, is dead, and the routine becomes monotonous.

Everybody talks about the fall and eagerly awaits kickoff the following fall. They recall the better days.

The biggest event is a scrimmage, which often takes place in a cold, April rain.

Maybe, some day it will change.

It's just a shame it's not this year.