Penn State's game with St. Joseph's tomorrow afternoon at 4 isn't going to be televised, but we will be making the trip to the historic Palestra and we hope to blog live from the game. The only thing that can prevent us from doing so is the wireless access at the Palestra, but hopefully we will be alright.

As for the game itself, it will be a tough test for Penn State. St. Joe's does not have any impressive wins yet this year, but it nearly beat Syracuse at the Carrier Dome earlier this month, and took No. 19 Gonzaga to overtime at home last night.

One thing Penn State has going for it is that it will be the third game in five days for the Hawks. In addition to the Gonzaga game, St. Joe's played Ball State on Tuesday night, so the Hawks could be a little worn down.

-Steve

Well we're here at the Bryce Jordan Center for tonight's game between Penn State and Virginia Tech, but it sure doesn't feel like the BJC I'm used to. There are actually students here, as most of the student section is filled. We're still not close to a sellout, but there could be close to 10,000 people here tonight.

Andrew Jones has gotten the starting nod over Brandon Hassell, which doesn't come as a total surprise, as Jones got more minutes than Hassell in Florida.

They just honored Jeremy Herbstritt and the victims of the Virginia Tech shooting in a very nice ceremony and are getting ready for tip off in a few minutes.

The students have blue and white flashing pom-poms that look pretty cool with the lights turned off for the team introductions.

I'll have more after tipoff.

14:38 left in the first half

PSU 10 Va. Tech 10

Thanks to some nice rebounding from Geary Claxton and a nice steal and fast break from Talor Battle the Lions have kept it tied and kept the crowd into it. Brandon Hassell came off the bench and added a nice two-hand jam in the paint. Maybe starting on the bench motivated him.

Some kid has a pretty sweet sign that just says, "Beer!" I wonder how long before it gets confiscated.

8:55 left in the first half

PSU 20 - Va. Tech 18

Geary Claxton is on the bench right now, but his four rebounds have been a spark for the Lions, as has improved outside shooting from Danny Morrissey and Mike Walker, who have both connected from 3-point range.

The crowd is into it, and the players are too. It's a much different feel than in Florida and it's good to see. The team could have gotten down on itself after last week, but it hasn't.

5:35 left in the first half

PSU 30 Va. Tech 22

3-balls from Mike Walker and Stanley Pringle, as well as some nice play from Brandon Hassell have helped give the Lions an 8-point cushion. Walker and Hassell lead the team with six points each. What a difference some decent outside shooting makes.

They're doing the kiss cam on the jumbotron right now, and I must say it is nice hat the basketball game is more entertaining then the kiss cam tonight. However, they showed Collegian editor-in-chief Devon Lash and Arts editor Kevin Doran on the kiss cam which is pretty good stuff.

3:25 left in the first half

PSU 35 Va. Tech 22

The same Penn State team that lost to Rider and Central Florida last week is now leading Virginia Tech by 13. The team has played great, but remember in Florida they blew big first-half leads so it will be interesting to see how it ends the first half.

Most of the student section is wearing all-white, but there are two kids wearing ketchup and mustard bottle costumes. All I can say is why?

Halftime

PSU 38 Va. Tech 28

Talor Battle finally hit a three to keep the Lions ahead by double digits.

Ed DeChellis couldn't ask for a better first half. The team has held its own underneath, as Tech only holds a 19-17 advantage in rebounding, and the outside game has made a triumphant return led by Mike Walker who leads the team with nine points on 3-of 5 from 3-point range.

The halftime show is a couple of former Moscow Circus performers called Bounce. Their act is a combination of jumping rope, juggling and bouncing rubber balls. It sounds lame but it's pretty entertaining.

15:55 remaining in the second half

PSU 45 Va. Tech 36

Danny Morrissey opened the second half with a three to put Penn State up by 13 momentarily but the Hokies have responded somewhat and kept their deficit to single digits.

Perhaps the most amazing thing about Penn State's performance tonight is the fact that Geary Claxton only has six points. Claxton is in foul trouble with three fouls, but the Lions have gotten solid performances from pretty much every player tonight, and hasn't had to lean on Claxton. Despite being scoreless, Andrew Jones is having a nice game, collecting four rebounds, three of them offensive.

11:46 left in the second half

PSU 45 Va. Tech 38

The only basket since my last update was a put back by Virginia Tech's Jeff Allen. Allen leads all scorers with 12 points, and he has given Penn State trouble under the basket, collecting nine rebounds as well. Allen is a freshman, and he is really the type of player Penn State doesn't have, a physical big man with good hands.

Even so, Penn State is still leading and needs to maintain its intensity. The offense is stagnating and needs to make some plays to get the crowd back into it.

8:20 left in the second half

PSU 50 Va. Tech 49

What looked like it could become a Penn State blowout is now a close ball game as Virginia Tech has battled back. Deron Washington has led the way for the Hokies scoring six points in the past couple minutes.

With Geary Claxton on the bench with four fouls, Penn State has gotten a boost from D.J. Jackson and Mike Walker. Walker, who missed an open layup underneath drove and made a layup in traffic on the next posession.

Stanley Pringle has been noticeably absent in the second half.

6:27 left in the second half

PSU 54 Va. Tech 49

Mike Walker continues to lead the Lions, as he now has 13 points on the night.

Pretty shocking that Geary Claxton and Jamelle Cornley have only eight points combined. Claxton just re-entered the game and is playing with four fouls.

17.9 remaining

PSU 64 - Va. Tech 61

Shooting woes aside, Talor Battle is one of this team's most valuable players. His layup with 39 seconds left put the team up by three and paved the way for Jamelle Cornley to sink two big free throws to push the lead to five. Penn State has the ball now, and Tech will likely foul. If the Lions can sink their free throws, they will win.

Final Score

PSU 66 Va. Tech 61

Mike Walker was almost the goat as he missed two foul shots that gave Va. Tech a chance to tie the game. Thankfully for Walker the Hokies missed their next shot and D.J. Jackson subsequently sank two foul shots to salt away the huge victory.

You really can't take anything away from Walker though, his performance was really the difference.

What a huge win for Ed DeChellis after such a rough week. We'll have more in tomorrow's paper.

-Steve

A couple of interesting things to mention before tomorrow night's game with Virginia Tech, set to tip at the Bryce Jordan Center at 9:30 p.m.

Remember those Orange and Maroon shirts that were sold before the Blue-White football game to honor the victims of the Virginia Tech shooting? Well the proceeds from the t-shirt sales will be presented tomorrow night in a pre-game ceremony featuring Ed DeChellis, Virginia Tech coach Seth Greenberg and the family of Jeremy Herbstritt, a Bellefonte native killed in the shootings. 110,000 dollars in total will be donated, with 55,000 dollars going to the Herbstritt Memorial Fund and the other 55,000 dollars going to the Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund.

Another item of note is that the student section, Nittany Nation, is declaring a "Blizzard Warning" which is like a football white-out. Students are encouraged to wear white to the game.

-Steve

The high expectations surrounding Penn State basketball can once again be disregarded before conference play even begins.

It's only two games, but yesterday's 74-67 loss to South Carolina and today's 82-73 embarrassing loss to Rider are a good indication that Penn State is still not ready to challenge for an NCAA tournament berth.

The Nittany Lions played a decent game against South Carolina, outrebounding the Gamecocks 50-28. Usually if the Lions dominate underneath like that, they would win easily, but the outside game abandoned them yesterday, as they shot a putrid 4-25 from beyond the arc.

Against Rider, things got even worse. The team had a much better shooting day, but didn't have the rebounding presence, and the defense was horrendous, allowing Rider to shoot 9-18 from 3-point range.

Fouls and poor free throw shooting killed the Lions in both games, as the differences in free throws made between Penn State and its opponents was larger than the margin of the game both days.

There were some bright spots. Jamelle Cornley saw his first game action yesterday and scored eight points while collecting nine rebounds in only 14 minutes of action. He scored 17 points against Rider. Andrew Jones also played well in both games, and if he continues to perform the way he has, he could overtake Brandon Hassell as the primary big man.

All that being said, the Lions have to remain positive, as they still have one game left in Orlando (against either Kansas State or Central Florida) and a huge matchup with Virginia Tech at home on Wednesday.

-Steve

We're here from the Bryce Jordan Center, where the Nittany Lions will be taking on the Canisius Golden Griffins (yes, that's really their name) in the second game of the season.

By my estimate, there are less than 30 people in the student section. Apparently, no one wanted to delay their Thanksgiving break to catch this historic college hoops rivalry. The elderly, however, are out in full force.

With less than five minutes until the game begins, the Canisius players came trotting out in some of the sweetest bright yellow sneakers I've ever seen. According to the game notes, the team's motto is "Be Bold - Wear Gold," so the players are outfitted with custom Nike gold sneakers. Sounds like something for the Christmas list (You hear that Santa?).

Freshman Talor Battle will be getting his first start as a Lion tonight. He is joined by Geary Claxton, Brandon Hassell, Jeff Brooks and Danny Morrissey. Starting for the Golden Griffins are Elton Frazier, Rishawn Johnson, Frank Turner, Willie Hassell and Jovan Robinson. I just made up that Willie Hassell is Brandon Hassell's cousin and someone believed me.

As the game is about to get under way, the student section has grown to at least 34 people.

Here we go...

15:21 remaining in the first half - At the first timeout, Penn State leads 9-5. Four of the Lions' starters have a bucket so far.

13:06 - Mike Walker, Andrew Jones and D.J. Jackson came into the game for Penn State. Hassell, Morrissey and Brooks came out. There's a pretty sizeable contingent of Golden Griffs fans sitting opposite the Penn State student section. There are about 20 yellow-clad supporters, which at this point is about a third of the size of the student section.

11:53 - Claxton hits a three for his tenth point of the game. When his shot is falling, Claxton is one of the Big Ten's best. (19-5 PSU)

9:54 - Greg Logins scores for the Griffs to end a 14-0 PSU run. (19-7 PSU)

The 20 or so Canisius fans have been more vocal than the 5,000-plus Lions supporters so far. They're also really classy. During one Penn State free throw, a Griffs fan yelled "Austin Scott!" Presumably, Austin Scott is not in attendance.

6:22 - Mike Walker drilled two straight 3s to give the Lions a 28-11 lead. It's starting to get ugly. But really, this game was essentially over when Penn State's opponents came out wearing warm-ups that said "Griffs" and bright yellow shoes.

3:31 - One of the Canisius players is wearing white shoes. Did they not have enough bright yellow ones for him? Is it just some guy they picked up off the street before the game? I would like to know. My prediction: this kid doesn't see the floor tonight.

End of first half - Penn State leads 44-24. If you're a Lions fan, you couldn't ask for a much better half. The team is shooting 42 percent and has turned the ball over only four times to Canisius' nine. Claxton leads the team with 19 points and has added five boards. If he gets enough minutes in the second half, he could easily have a 30-10 night. But Ed DeChellis will probably want to get him some rest. Hassell's grabbed six rebounds and Battle leads the team with three assists. Mike Walker has 11 points on 3-for-6 shooting from behind the arc.

Start of the second half - The Lions really need to keep up the pace in the secon half. They're going to win the game, but anything short of a 20ish point victory is not acceptable against the Griffs. If the team wants to fill the BJC, they have to prove they can win. That starts by putting bad teams away.

Canisius' Greg Logins is wearing 00, which is a sweet number to wear in my opinion. The game notes say that he is the first Canisius player since 2001 to wear 00 and the fourth in their history. I'd like to be the guy whose job it is to find out things like that.

16:03 - The Griffs haven't scored in the second half and the Lions are filling it up. They lead 55-24.

15:10 - Jeff Brooks just grabbed a defensive rebound and went coast-to-coast for a big layup and the foul. He converts on the 3-point play. (61-24 PSU)

14:02 - Claxton grabs a defensive board for the double-double. This is his second double-double in two games this season and the 19th of his career. (62-27 PSU)

8:46 - Penn State just opened up a 50 point lead, 79-29. The Lions look really good right now, but it's safe to say that Canisius is not good at basketball.

7:14 - Nikola Obradovic and Joonas Suotamo enter the game for Penn State. This is the first action for both of them this season. (84-31 PSU)

The Golden Griffins fans are on their feet, but looking pretty dejected. It will be a sad 4+ hour drive home for them.

4:15 - Seldom-used Will Leiner just drove to the basket and made a lay-up that put the Lions up 90-32. More importantly, he got the crowd annd the bench on their feet. Why? Because the junior had one career point before tonight. So the guy just tripled his point total with that basket. Props to Will Leiner.

Penn State currently leads by 58 points. The most lopsided victory in team history was 58 points in 1953 against Ithaca. We're witnessing history here, folks... boring, boring history.

2:42 - Rishawn Johnson just scored to give the Griffs ten points in the second half. They're being outscored 46-10 this half. Needless to say, Canisius will need to play better than this if they are going to contend for a national championship this year.

1:11 - Leiner just hit a 3 from about 5 feet beyond the arc to give Penn State the 93-40 lead. I think that was the dagger right there.

End of game - Penn State wins 93-40. Sadly, no record.

Claxton led the team with 20 points and 10 rebounds. Morrissey had 17 points and Walker finished with 11. Battle contributed five points and eight assists.

The Lions did what they had to do. It will be interesting to see how they fare against some real competition next week at the Old Spice Classic in Orlando, Fla.

In the post-game press conference, Canisius coach Tom Parrotta said that he had to buy pizza for all the fans that came to the game to watch the team play. he seems like a really nice guy.

He also added that he thought his team could have beaten Penn State and polled his players, who agreed with him. Riiiight. Dude, you just got beat by 53 points.

So to recap: Tom Parrotta - really cool guy, but might need to lay off the pipe a little.

-Nordeman

As expected, Billy Oliver has signed with Penn State. He held a press conference at his high school yesterday.

The 6-foot 8 Oliver averaged 13 points, 8 rebounds and 4 blocks per game last season. Oliver also has a decent outside game, as he shot 39 percent from 3-point range last year.

The outside shot is nice, but it will be interesting to see what kind of inside game Oliver has, as the Nittany Lions will have a hole to fill down low next year when Brandon Hassell is gone.

-Steve

Pregame Observations

Well it's finally here. That's right the Penn State men's basketball season begins tonight, and judging by the student section, not much of the student body has noticed. To say the crowd is sparse is a gross understatement. This is Steve and I'll be updating the blog tonight.

The team has taken the court for pregame warmups and D.J. Jackson is dressed, though he is not in the starting lineup. Jackson missed last Wednesday's exhibition with Slippery Rock when the foot stress fracture that caused him to miss most of last year flared up.

Here are your starting lineups:

Penn State

Mike Walker
Geary Claxton
Brandon Hassell
Jeff Brooks
Danny Morrissey

St. Francis

Devin Sweetney
Chris Berry
Sorena Orandi
Cale Nelson
Bassirou Dieng

If Sweetney's name sounds familiar, it should. His cousin is former Georgetown standout and current Chicago Bull Mike Sweetney.

Sweetney, Dieng and reserve Chris McFarland all played their high school ball at Riverdale Baptist in Maryland. Kansas State wunderkind Michael Beasley played his sophomore year of high school at Riverdale Baptist as well. Penn State could potentially face Beasley and the Wildcats at the Old Spice Classic next week.

More updates to come after the game starts.

13:56 left in the first half

St. Francis 7 PSU 6

Pretty ugly offensive performance so far by the Nittany Lions. Geary Claxton got his own rebound off a missed alley-oop to score the first points of the game, he also scored on a nice drive.

Devin Sweetney is in some foul trouble for the Red Flash, as he has picked up two fouls.

Talor Battle is going to enter the game after this timeout. Ed DeChellis didn't waste much time getting D.J. Jackson in there for Jeff Brooks, as Jackson subbed in with just over 16 minutes left in the first half.

8:13 left in the first

PSU 17 St. Francis 16

St. Francis is in some serious foul trouble. They already have 10 team fouls, and Devin Sweetney who leads the team with 7 points, already has 3 fouls. Talor Battle is at the line when this timeout ends.

Battle and Stanley Pringle have provided a nice spark on defense, but Penn State has had trouble converting its fast break opportunities.

4:54 left in the first

PSU 22 St. Francis 19

Andrew Jones is the primary big man on the court right now, and he needs to pick it up. He was unimpressive against Slippery Rock and he has been nonexistent tonight. This team absolutely needs him to improve, especially with Jamelle Cornley injured.

Halftime

PSU 33 St. Francis 29

Penn State is leading, but I doubt that Ed DeChellis is very pleased with his team's effort so far.
The offense has been sluggish to put it lightly, shooting 34% from the field. Danny Morrissey and Mike Walker are a combined 1-3 from 3-point range. That has to change. The team also needs to start getting Geary Claxton some better looks. He leads the team with 9 points, but is just 3-8 from the field.

Aside from a pretty nice hook shot Andrew Jones has been invisible, collecting only one rebound. Brandon Hassell has four rebounds, but he has been unimpressive as well.

The Nittany Lions need to pull away in the second half. Although it was an exciting first-half, the students here want to see Penn State blow out opponents like St. Francis, and if Penn State doesn't start disposing of small non-conference opponents in dominating fashion, it can expect more small and cynical crowds like tonight's.

I heard a fan say, "I can't believe I pay to watch this crap," as he got up from his seat at halftime.

Even though it's only St. Francis, Penn State has a lot to prove in these next 20 minutes.

17:03 left in the second

PSU 42 St. Francis 29

Penn State has started off the second half nicely, going on a 9-0 run. Geary Claxton is entering double-double territory, as he now has 11 points and 7 rebounds.

Mike Walker finally got on the board with a long three, and D.J. Jackson provided a much needed layup with a nice move down in the post. Injured or not, Jackson is still one of Penn State's better post options.

Stanley Pringle just got his sixth steal of the night and then dished to Claxton for a beautiful dunk that has gotten the crowd fired up.

12:19 left in the second

PSU 46 St.Francis 40

St. Francis responded with an 8-0 run of their own that was broken up by Talor Battle being fouled on a 3-point attempt. Battle sunk two of the free throws.

D.J. Jackson had a nice baseline hookshot. He has eight points on the night.

St. Francis' Grant Suprenant has 17 points, including 5-8 from 3-point range. As long as he's hot, St. Francis will be in this game.

6:50 left in the second half

PSU 58 St. Francis 46

Geary Claxton finally took over. The senior has scored Penn State's last 7 points, and now has 20 points and 10 rebounds on the night. He did however, just pick up his fourth foul.

Devin Sweetney and Bassirou Dieng also have four fouls for St. Francis, which has finally cooled off from 3-point range.The Red Flash have missed their last two 3-point attempts, but are still shooting 9-22 from beyond the arc tonight.

2:30 left in the second

PSU 69 St. Francis 57

Brandon Hassell has stepped it up in the past few minutes, as he now has 11 rebounds on the night. Geary Claxton, playing with four fouls, just knocked down a trey.

D.J. Jackson has had a good game tonight, but we saw him limping off the court with about 6 minutes to play.

Stanley Pringle's seven steals equal the Bryce Jordan Center record and is one off the school record.

Final Score: PSU 74 St. Francis 64

D.J. Jackson re-entered the game with about minute left, so his foot must not be bothering him too much.

Geary Claxton fouled out. His final line is 23 points and 10 rebounds. He was 9-18 from the field, and his personal 7-0 run set the tone for the second half.

Check out the full game story tomorrow.

The early signing period for recruits begins on Wednesday, and sports information director Brian Siegrist said the team is expecting to have a recruit sign a letter of intent.

While the team cannot publicly comment on any recruit until he signs a letter of intent, Scout.com is reporting that Billy Oliver, a 6-8 forward from Chatham, N.J. has verbally committed to Penn State, so it would seem logical that he would be the mystery player expected to sign with the team.

Here's a link to Oliver's Scout.com profile. http://pennstate.scout.com/a.z?s=157&p=8&c=1&nid=3345739

-Steve

Hello, everybody. Wayne here to bring you the action from the BJC.

Penn State is playing a Division II opponent tonight, but recent history suggests the Nittany Lions should be prepared.

No. 8 Michigan State has already lost to Grand Valley State in double overtime. So maybe that was a one-shot deal.

But Ohio State just lost to Findlay, 70-68. Maybe this is just coincidence.

But if Penn State falls today, that means Division II victories will become a trend.

The starting lineups:
Penn State: F Geary Claxton, F Jeff Brooks, C Brandon Hassell, G Mike Walker, G Danny Morrissey
Slippery Rock: F Jade Burka, F Joseph Vines, G Erroll Robinson, G Darnell Johnston, G Jamar Scales

Right now, it looks like redshirt freshman David Jackson is in street clothes.

Good start for the Lions, as veteran Hassell follows a missed shot with a putback to make it 2-0 PSU.

7-0 PSU
Penn State makes steals on two consecutive defensive sequences and followed it each time with a Claxton bucket.

Penn State 13, Slippery Rock 0; timeout SRU
The Lions are being a force defensively, one area coach DeChellis wanted to see his team improve on. Only three minutes in, and PSU has hit three 3-pointers.

Talor Battle, Stanley Pringle and Andrew Jones III have come in for PSU. This is ESPN 150 recruit Battle's first action in a game in front of the home fans.

Penn State 16, Slippery Rock 4
SRU gets on the board with two free throws from Burka, but the Lions answer right back with another 3 by Walker. It looks as though all those 3s in the Blue-White game will carry over to the season.

A little delay in action, as the scoreboard has gone out.

Penn State 16, Slippery Rock 10
A 6-0 for The Rock, led by Scales has put a damper on the Lions' quick start. Penn State seems a little out of sync on the offensive end right now. SRU is trying to slow down the Lions' speed game with a press.

Penn State 20, Slippery Rock 12; 11:26 left in the first half
What a first impression by Battle. He makes a steal and goes in for the dunk to excite the student section. That ends a scoring drought of about 4 minutes. Penn State continues to be strong on putbacks with another basket down low.

Penn State 33, Slippery Rock 14; 7:11 left in the first half
On a side note, the scoreboard is still not completely fixed, as the teams on the board are Blue and the P-Squad.

As for the game, there has been great ball movement for the Lions as Pringle hits the open jumper. The Penn State band has been entertaining, chanting "You can't do that" after SRU committed a foul.

Battle, Part II: another steal, another easy basket. Two more good plays by Battle, as he takes it in himself off of a turnover.

Penn State 35, Slippery Rock 20; 3:20 left in the first half.
The scoreboard went out again for a second or two. THe Lions have slowed down on offense, their second drought this half. But the defense continues to take advantage of poor passes by SRU.

Penn State 40, Slippery Rock 24; halftime
Morrissey continues to hit the open 3-pointer. He's been open everytime. Some sloppy play for both teams as the half ended, with many passes stolen. Battle tried to end the half with a half-court three, but he shot it up a few seconds early, mistaking how much time was left. He laughs it off, but he is 0-5 from 3 in the first half. But he has been a factor defensively, stealing the ball four times.

Balanced scoring for Penn State at the half, with Morrissey totaling 10.

Morrissey may have a challenger for 3-point shooting. A halftime contestant just hit a 3-pointer at the "buzzer" during a challenge to earn money.

In other Big Ten scores, Michigan State is beating Michigan Tech, 38-30 in the second half and Northwestern is beating Chicago, 27-15 midway through the first half.

Penn State 57, Slippery Rock 28; 15:34 left in the game
Penn State's lineup to start the second half is the same as the one that started the game. The Lions have gone to the press early on in this half. Again, Morrissey is hitting the open 3. Hassell has done well underneath the basket. It will be interesting to see if that continues once the regular season starts.

Penn State 68, Slippery Rock 34; 11:34 left in the game
Pringle joins in on the 3-point shooting. Penn State continues to crash the boards well on both offense and defense. Pringle also has shown his speed, breaking away from the pack a couple of times this game and scoring on an easy layup.

Battle has been a surprising success below the basket, scoring a couple of times in the paint without any initial cutting inside.

Penn State 81, Slippery Rock, 39; 7:04 left in the game
Morrissey continues to be left open, and he continues to knock down the open 3. Pringle has been taking the ball inside all game, and he has really been tough to stop due to his speed. The Rock continue to struggle on transition with the speed of Battle and Pringle.

Penn State 85, Slippery Rock 47; 3:21 left in the game
Lions catch a break on a possession, as Joonas Suotamo hits a long two-pointer with the shot clock winding down. Another steal for Battle. He has struggled on his touch tonight, but he has really put pressure on the ball handler.

Final: Penn State 94, Slippery Rock 57
It's only an exhibition game, but it's already apparent the impact Battle and Pringle will have on the team. Even though both had some trouble shooting, each used his speed to crash to the basket to get easy looks either inside or through kick-backs out to the 3-point shooters Walker and Morrissey.

Penn State hasn't played a regular season game yet, but it has already gotten off to a better start than last year after losing to Shippensburg to open 2006-07's campaign.

The Lions' first regular season game is on Monday, Nov. 12 against St. Francis (PA). This is Wayne, saying good night from the BJC.

Geary Claxton has been named to the pre-season Watch List for the Naismith Trophy, which is awarded annually to the best overall player in the country.

Claxton is one of four Big Ten players on the list. Michigan State's Drew Neitzel and Raymar Morgan, and Indiana's D.J. White are the others.

Here's a link to the complete list http://www.naismithawards.com/pressbox_102507_preseasonwatchlist.asp

-Steve

Nordeman

Like I said, you can take my Danny Morrissey prediction to the bank. As for Talor Battle, he made it to the finals of the dunk contest, but couldn't put one down in 30 seconds. If the Big Ten Tournament is played out in gimmicky contests, expect to see more choking from the Nittany Lions if tonight was any indication.

But things did pick up, and the players really showed their personalities. And Joonas Suotamo, he will break you.

Staats

While I missed on my predictions, the team definitely put on a show for the fans. Those costumes were hilarious, even if DeChellis doesn't resemble Sly Stallone to any extent.

A second video was shown following the contests, and this one was much more involved and longer. Some pieces of game footage and players' faces were introduced to the video, two things that were missing from before.

And like DeChellis said, the team can definitely play better than it can dance. But then again, that's not saying much.

Maslowsky

One thing I took away from tonight was that the Nittany Lion has big ups. During warm-ups the Penn State mascot threw down a pretty nice dunk. If the Lion had entered the dunk contest, he probably wouldn't have finished last.

We're here live from the Bryce Jordan Center, where a mildly enthused crowd is on hand for the Dinner and Dunks event. So far, the cheerleading squad has been teaching the crowd some embarrassingly basic basketball cheers that show that Penn State is a football school through and through. (I didn't know people needed to be taught the De-Fense! Chant). This year's Penn State basketball video just showed on the scoreboard, and the crowd was not impressed. The announcer said that a new video will be unveiled next week, presumably at the Slippery Rock exhibition game.

The team is being introduced, and the players are in costume. The guards are dressed in an Ocean's 11 motif, and Stanley Pringle is rocking a pretty sweet white suit.

The forwards are dressed as NBA greats. Schyler King is sporting some green hair as Dennis Rodman, and the injured Jamelle Cornley came onto the court in one of those motor scooters dressed as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

The centers are dressed as Rocky characters, with Brandon Hassell as Apollo Creed and Joonas Suotamo as Ivan Drago.

Ed DeChellis entered the arena to the Rocky theme music wearing a sweatshirt with the words, "Win Lions Win."

After the intros, the entire team did the "Soulja Boy" dance for the crowd.

Yesterday, director of basketball marketing Loren Crispell said that one of the goals of the event was to show the fans the players' personalities, and so far, mission accomplished. The crowd is finally starting to get involved.

We have word that Derrick Williams and Jordan Norwood (who was a reserve on last year's team) will be the celebrity judges of the dunk contest. We have some predictions for the competitions.

Nordeman:

3-Point Contest
Danny Morrissey was the leading three-point shooter in Big Ten games last year at 49.3 percent. I mean the guy is practically a 3-point shooting legend! Well, maybe not... but that's good enough for me. He'll win. Mark it down.

Dunk Contest
There's no doubt that Jeff Brooks has some hops. And we've all seen Geary Claxton light up the BJC with some spectacular dunks. But I'm going in a different direction. Remember the NBA dunk contest a few years ago when, little Nate Robinson (5-9) stole the trophy from Andre Iguodala, who remains one of the sickest dunkers in the Association, because the crowd had a soft spot for short people? (Plus, those judges were more corrupt than Philadelphia mayor John Street.) I see a similar result tonight, with Talor Battle (5-11) winning over Derrick Williams and Jordan Norwood with pluck, grit and possibly a cash payoff.

Maslowsky:
3-point Contest
Mike Walker. Walker admitted to us after the Blue and White game that he needs someone to get him open in order to be an effective shooter. Well, there won't be any defense tonight.
Dunk Contest
Jeff Brooks. After a quiet performance in the Blue and White game, Brooks has something to prove to the fans, and his dunking ability will help him do it. It will be interesting to watch Talor Battle in this contest, as he is generously listed as 5-11. We did however see him dunk at Media Day.
Staats:
3-point Contest
Mike Walker. He hit nine 3-pointers in the Blue White game on Saturday, so if he continues to hit from behind the arc with that consistency, not even 3-point marksman Danny Morrissey will beat him/

Dunk Contest:
Jeff Brooks or David Jackson. Brandon Hassell won't compete in the event, so this figures to be one wide-open event. Freshman guard Talor Battle is also competing, as has already been discussed, but don't be surprised if another freshman steals the show from the judges.

Another pre-season, another key injury for the Nittany Lions. Last year it was Geary Claxton, and this year it's Jamelle Cornley.

Sports Information Director Brian Siegrist informed me that Cornley will be out for the next 2-3 weeks with a bone bruise in his left knee sustained during Saturday's scrimmage. This means Cornley will likely miss the season opener against St. Francis on Nov. 12. His recovery just requires rest, and he will be on crutches for the next week to 10 days.
-Steve