Big Ten Basketball Media Day was held Sunday in Chicago, and Penn State was picked to finish seventh in the conference by the media. Here's the complete poll:

1. Michigan State
2. Indiana
3. Ohio State
4. Wisconsin
5. Purdue
6. Illinois
7. Penn State
8. Michigan
9. Minnesota
10. Iowa
11. Northwestern

I didn't get to vote in this poll, but I would have put Penn State in the same spot. I think they can definitely finish seventh, but any higher will require upsets and won't permit slip-ups against lesser teams, two things that are never guarantees with Penn State basketball.

The coaches only voted on the top three teams in the conference, and their top three was identical to the media's. They did, however, name the pre-season all-conference team.

Geary Claxton was named to the pre-season All-Big Ten team, along with Michigan State G Drew Neitzel, Ohio State G Jamar Butler, Indiana F D.J. White and Illinois C Shaun Pruitt. Neitzel was named player of the year.

You may have thought you'd seen the last of former Purdue coach Gene Keady's comb over when he retired in 2005, but the coach is back. The Big Ten Network announced its studio broadcast team for the upcoming season, and it includes Keady, former Ohio State player Jimmy Jackson, former Northwestern player Tim Doyle and studio host Dave Revsine.

-Steve

Find CoQuestioner, the women's basketball blog, at www.collegian.psu.edu/blogs/coquestioner

While most of Nittany Lion Nation is focused on football this weekend, the wonderful winter diversion that is Penn State basketball is starting up for another go-round.

So as the Nittany Lion hoopsters have begun practice, we too are launching a blog devoted to the Penn State basketball program.

We intend to make this blog similar to the Footblog that covers the football team. We plan to use it to cover anything we can't get to in our newspaper coverage, as well as provide live updates from games. We would also like it to be a place for the readers to provide feedback as well.

We assume most of you are aware of Penn State's football game with Ohio State this Saturday. Many of you probably don't know that the basketball team will be making its first public appearance of the season, as they will hold a 40 minute intrasquad Blue-White scrimmage at 4 PM Saturday afternoon before the game.

The idea is to generate fan interest by making it convenient for the tailgating masses to poke their heads inside the Bryce Jordan Center for an hour or two and get a look at this year's basketball team.

The scrimmage is not without some intrigue, as it will be fans' first chances to see highly touted freshmen Talor Battle and Jeff Brooks, as well as redshirt-freshmen Andrew Jones and David Jackson and junior college transfers Stanley Pringle and Schyler King.

The real question will be if people will be willing to give up their tailgating to come watch the scrimmage.

We're betting that people won't be.

If you don't want to miss out on the tailgating and you still want to get a look at the team, they will be holding an open practice on Wednesday Nov. 1 that will feature a 3-point and slam dunk contest. However, this event is only open to students and season ticket holders.