It takes about 200 miles to drive down I-80 to get from Happy Valley to Madison Square Garden in New York City, and for many, that means one long road trip.
But for more than 2,000 Penn State students last year, it meant a chance to watch the men's basketball team cut down the nets after winning the 2009 National Invitation Tournament.
Along with students were football coach Joe Paterno, Penn State President Graham Spanier and Super Bowl Champion and Penn State alumnus Franco Harris. But there was one particular student -- Lady Lion guard Nicole Arcidiacono -- who sat in her seat in awe, starry-eyed as she watched the men hoist the NIT trophy.
Now, one year after watching Jamelle Cornley, Danny Morrissey and the rest of the men's team make history, it's Arcidiacono and the Lady Lions who are preparing to try to make a run in the WNIT. And they're using the men's success from last year as motivation.
"The whole MSG feeling as if it was the Bryce Jordan Center and watching them cutting down the net," Arcidiacono said, "it was like, 'I want this. I want do something like that.' "
Now, with the Lady Lions in the postseason for the first time in five years, Arcidiacono and her teammates have a chance to do something special -- something the men's team did last season.
The senior recalled the buzz and excitement on campus surrounding the NIT run last year and remembers congratulating all the players afterward on the championship.
So after watching the men's success combined with the additions to the team this year, Arcidiacono thought to herself this could possibly be the women's turn to do something similar.
"It's something we've been craving for a long time," she said. "It's something we knew we could do this year with this crop of girls coming in."
Arcidiacono said she hadn't talked to any of the men's players prior to the team's press conference Tuesday but said she is sure the players will talk to the men's team about last year's NIT run throughout the week.
And as for coach Coquese Washington, she said was "just leaving the dungeon" for the first time after immediately beginning to prepare for Hofstra as soon as the game was announced and didn't know if her players had spoken to the men.
But what she did know was the men's success definitely motivated the women all season, and she expects the men's team to be there with advice this week.
"They wanted the same experience, and we used that as fuel in the offseason and even during the year," Washington said. "So I'm sure they'll talk to the men about how much fun they had and how great it was, but I know experiencing it last year was definitely an inspiration for our team."
