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As a kid growing up in State College I loved going to Blue White games, I remember sitting next to the Blue Band wondering why they had to play so loud and thinking about how cool it was to see Mount Nittany from the stadium (that is correct kids, the upper deck hasn’t always been there). Little did I know at the age of 7 what was really going on down there on the field. Of course I understood football, but I didn’t know how much pressure and how little practice the players had going into that game. Now many years wiser I present to you, Things To Remember, and Things To Look For at this weekends game.

Things To Look For–

1. Passing–-Jay Paterno said earlier this week that “(This was out…)Last Spring Practice Today before the Spring game. We’ve pushed the QBs & thrown the ball more than any spring this decade.”

Now this could mean two things.Penn State is going to be a pass heavy offense, or Penn State’s quarterbacking needs a lot of practice to get it together. Chances are that it is somewhere in between. Young guys are going to need more practice, but Penn State isn’t going to win if they don’t make use of their seemingly expanding receiving corps. Joe traditionally likes to run the ball (surprise) but has been known to unleash the cannons when need be. Let us not forget Todd Blackledge threw for 12 TDs in the first 4 games of the 1982 season so Joe will open up if need be. Matthew McGloin is generally considered the gun slinger of the two quarterbacks, but if Newsome can control his arm and developes his mechanics nicely his feet should give him the edge. Keep an eye out for the quarterback who looks comfortable in the huddle, works well with the receivers and controls the pace of the offense. Don’t be suprised if McGloin gets the start with the first team offense.

2. Offensive Line— It isn’t a great big secret that Penn State’s offensive line was riding the struggle bus last year. Iowa and Ohio State pretty much dominated the line of scrimmage which in turn dictated the outcome of those games. Generally speaking your offense goes as your offensive line goes, and considering how many times this line has played musical chairs this offseason, the Blue White game will be a chance to look at what is going on in that department. The biggest move came in Wisniewski moving back to guard from center, generally speaking Wisniewski has been solid at center whereas he dominates at the guard position.

“Steven Wisniewski, who was named the Big Ten’s first-team center last year, said his unexpected position shift came four days into practice. The coaches prefer Wisniewski at guard, and if Klopacz can prove himself at center, the change should become permanent.”

3. Linebacking— With Bowman and Lee headed to the next level it has left two spots wide open for a list as long as my arm of young linebackers waiting to step up and get the job done. Nate Stupar has shown a lot of talent on special teams and Chris Colasanti, and Bani Gbadyu are looking to make their mark as well. Chaz Powell has moved to the Cornerback position so it will be interesting to see how he is looking after the switch.

Things to Remember–

1. This isn’t the final product– As always, the Blue White game is just an indication of how things might go next season. The players have had limited practices, and are still figuring out in some cases which position they’ll be playing. The playbook will be watered down, the defense will run limited packages, and on the whole the game is only part of the puzzle. The biggest thing that comes from the Blue White game is a look at the chemistry in the huddle, the players mechanics, and a chance for players we haven’t seen before show us what they’ve got.

Just give it time…

This is what Craig James, and Mark May had to say about the Penn State–Alabama game this season. In their defense they were trying to change the topic after they had talked about Mike Leech and his favorite form of post-practice treatment. I’m pretty sure Leech put the wrong guys in the closet—-

Craig James-”Well Penn State can come here to Tuscaloosa, take their lickin’, and find out where they’re weak.”

Rece Davis responds-”Well I doubt Joe Pa and the team are looking at the road trip that way.”

Mark May-”Well that’s right up until pregame when they see the guys in Crimson in pads, and that speed. Then they’ll go back to the rest of their schedule and everything is slower.

That’s sort of a embarrassing way to go about it.

File this one under, “who the hell knows why” but in Curley and Co’s excitement of building a vision for the program they have pulled out of maybe the most legit early season tournament they’ve been invited to. Remember the 76 Classic this past year had teams like West Virgina, UCLA, Minnesota, Clemson, Texas A&M, and some team called Butler in it. My gut feeling is that Curley is a little to worried about his vision coming to fruition and ED is slowing the pace just a little bit to build some sort of tension before showing off the mega-super-awesome non conference schedule they have built.

So what does that leave us with? At the basketball banquet this past friday, they all but confirmed that the home opener is going to be against LeHigh, so you can mark that one up as the first game. Outside of that we know of a trip to Virgina Tech, and some team from the gutter of the ACC at home for the Big Ten/Acc Challenge. If you’re into torturing yourself, you can try to figure out how we get to play UNC. That being said, I wouldn’t waste too much energy on those prayers. A Indiana-UNC game has a lot more going for it.

Other than that the OOC is pretty much a crapshoot. There is a game against Ole Miss rumored but at this point, if Penn State is going to back out of a game against BYU and the 76 Classic then nothing is really certain. If you want to believe in something good coming out of this, Pitt and Northern Iowa are looking for games over the same weekend as the Classic. We can file that under, “I wish”

That being said, it isn’t a stretch to assume that ED has gone about filling the void with a game or two or a tournament closer to home. While plenty of people are unhappy about losing the TV exposure, there is something to be said for finding competitive games that you can win, rather than getting on TV just to get your butts handed to you.

Brian Siegrist did have this to say about it on his twitter–

“Ah, the blogosphere. Contrary to recent posts, PSU decision not to play in the 76 Classic had nothing to do with last season’s record…nor was it decided by tournament organizers. PSU elected not to play in Tourney back in December and notified 76 organizers then…just took this long to update their website…taking a lesson from Minnesota which played in last year’s 76 and went 1-3 while playing…four games in six days and crossing 5,000 miles, including going straight from Classic to ACC Challenge at Miami…Lions decided against 3 games in Anaheim, the last Sunday evening, & return for a possible ACC game on Monday or Tuesday in State College”

Keep your pants on, Talor isn’t going anywhere. Although he will enter his name into the 2010 NBA draft pool, he will not be hiring an agent. That almost guarantees that Battle will be back for his senior season and is just going to NBA workouts and to get a gauge on his stock and what he can improve on in his final year. As of right now 4 NBA teams have Battle anywhere from a late 2^nd rounder to an undrafted free agent. Chances are Battle will be told to improve his speed and his shot consistency. If Battle can up his shot percentage a few clicks next year it could go a long way. Either way, Battle should learn a few tricks and put his name out there which will only help out the Nittany Lions.

“I’m just looking to see what’s happening for me out there,” Battle said by telephone today after a workout. “He wants to test the waters,” added Battle’s high school coach Rich Hurley.  Battle will not retain an agent meaning he can opt out of the draft until May 8th.  That is the deadline day when he must tell Penn State if he is returning to school or not. “He’s rated a late 2nd round pick to undrafted by 4 NBA teams,” Hurley said.  “So he’s on the board.” “I’m excited,” said Battle. ” But at the same time, this is what I’ve worked for my whole life.  Hopefully, I perform as well as I can, not be nervous and just be myself. 

Talor isn’t NBA ready, and I don’t think that he thinks he is. Going to the workouts with the NBA scouts is just another step in the process. Maybe he’ll surprise us and finish his time here at Penn State early, but it would be a shock to see him leave, even more so after spending much of his postseason media face time telling us how he is going to help the team next year. I don’t think leaving would do that.

OHHH YEAAAA!!

Now I wasn’t lucky enough to give Curley a piece of my mind, but the Center Daily Times got to sit down and ask him some of the questions that we’ve all got on our minds. For the most part Timmy said everything that we already knew, just using the same words in a different order. Honestly, its sort of disturbing, I’m all about being patient, and I understand that as a fan things don’t happen over night like we want them to, but it is pretty obvious that things aren’t going swimingly–we shouldn’t pretend that they are.

For your entertainment, I’ve included below the CDT’s questions, Curley’s answers, and my humble translation of my favorite questions. Check it out after the jump.

CDT:What are your goals for the program?

Tim Curley:I think the goals for the program are real simple. One, like any college basketball team, we want to win our conference championship and we want to win the national championship. Realistically, we want to be in the upper echelon of the Big Ten and we want to be in the NCAA tournament every year. Because once you get in the tournament, you never know what’s going to happen, as evidenced by this year. That’s where we ought to be shooting for year-in and year-out

• Translation: Winning is nice, but I would also settle for not sucking. Maybe if we make the tournament we can randomly win a lot of games and then I won’t have to deal with it. Other than that we’re going to go from 0-60 in some amount of time less than or equal to forever. I hope.

 CDT:You do turn a profit with men’s basketball (about $3.3 million last year), but do you feel like that could be more of a money-maker than it is? If there were more wins, would it lead to more tickets sold?

Tim Curley:Absolutely. We have room to grow revenue-wise in men’s basketball. We do turn a profit now and that’s a positive, but we still have room to grow in that area. Certainly with the economy, the budgetary and financial pressures everybody’s under, that’s an important area for us, and we want to try to make sure we maximize that as best we can.

• Translation: We spend less money than we take in, I learned once that was good, therefore nothing needs to change. Since we spend money like it grows on trees we need to be careful not to spend a few more dollars on…wait…that isn’t right.anyway….anything related to basketball, we try not to spend moneyon

CDT:You upgraded the basketball offices last year and have made similar upgrades during the last few years. Does DeChellis have all the resources in place that he needs to win?

Tim Curley:We think we have all the pieces of the puzzle in place. Can you have more? Absolutely. Could we use another basketball practice gym and a larger weight room and a couple of those things? Yeah, those are things that we could always improve upon. But we think that what we have right now is comparable to other schools that are in our situation.

• Translation: Ed has mentioned the broken toilet seat before and we’re working to get a new one at trash-to-treasure. I do recall mentioning money being tight…toilet seats are expensive so he’ll need to wait his turn.

CDT:What are your thoughts on potential expansion of the NCAA tournament to 96 teams? Do you think that’s something that would be good for the game?

Tim Curley:Well, I haven’t seen anything anyone has yet on exactly all the details of what the 96-team format would be. They’ve got a great committee put together to look at this issue. My biggest concern is how much missed class basketball players, both men and women, will have. It’s too early to make any real comment. The fact of the matter is right now, the financial pressures on college athletics are very challenging, and I’m sure that had a great deal of thought going into it. 

• Translation: It was my idea…and would be a great excuse for 15-16 seasons. If NJIT can make this thing than we might be a 24 seed, not to mention TV makes me money, and I don’t have very much of that at all.

Commence the head banging…

Information will be posted as it is known.

So the offseason has started up and Penn State is out on the recruiting grind looking for some bodies to fill their 3 scholarships.  Ed hasn’t disappointed and has already found the newest member of the squad. Tre Bowman, a 6’2 shooter from York PA an 86 on ESPN and the #92 shooting guard in his class. His school is the alma mater of Devin Ebanks, Antonio Pena(Nova) and Dan Jennings(Washington), Edwin Ubiles(Siena’s graduating leading scorer). His highlights show him to be a pretty good shooter with good hustle. If there is one thing Penn State needs right now it’s a good shooter to pick up where Babb left off. Bowman doesn’t seem to have any issue taking the outside shot and has a pretty pure jumper; so he seems to be a good pick up for a Penn State team that doesn’t have the luxury of a million people to offer too.

 Bowman’s style of play really complements the driving ability of Taran and Talor so he could be key to any drive and dish opportunities Penn State might have. Bowman won’t need to shoot the same number of threes as Babb did a game, but if he can supplement the three-point shooting of Brooks, Battle, and Jackson it’ll be a big help. Highlights after the jump…

• ESPN — 86/100, #92 SG
• Scout - 2 Star, NR

From the New England Recruiting Report
2010 Stock Risers
Tre Bowman, St. Thomas More – His rise up the board didn’t happen suddenly after one big game or week, instead it was a gradual escalation that started in January and now schools like Duquesne, Drexel, Oregon State, and Rhode Island are all said to be involved.

ESPN–”Bowman is a versatile player who does a number of things well but isn’t great in any particular area. He’s a good shooter with his feet set, shows good athleticism slashing to the basket and finishing, and is solid defensively. He makes good decisions handling and passing”

You want some drama in next years out of conference schedule, you’ve got it. Sources very close to the basketball program confirmed today that on Saturday December 18th(Time may change) Penn State will travel to the Times Union Center to play BYU and Jimmer Fredette in a showdown in Albany of epic proportions. Three of New Yorks brightest stars will face off in the Times Union Center in Albany NY which is close to the hometown of star Cougar guard Jimmer Fredette and Penn State stars Talor Battle and Taran Buie. BYU and Penn State haven’t released their nonconference schedules, but BYU coach Dave Rose acknowledged last month that the Cougars were trying to get a game in New York so Fredette could play close to home his senior year.

“Former Bishop Maginn coach Rich Hurley said he’s been involved in talks about a possible BYU/Penn State game in recent days because of his connection to Battle. Hurley said he was asked to reach out to Penn State by Glens Falls Councilman-at-Large Dan Hall, who has been one of the leaders in the effort to bring BYU to Glens Falls.

Hurley said he made a call to Penn State earlier in this week. He said one day later he got a call from Penn State saying the schools had agreed to play, and asked him to contact the Times Union Center. Hurley said he was “99 percent” sure the game would be played.”

This is already in part of a OOC slate that has the following teams (see below). Maybe Ed isn’t going to sit back after all.

• Confirmed:
  76 Classic (Neutral – Anaheim)
  VT (Away)
  ACC/Big10 Challenge (Home)
• BYU (Neutral)
• Rumored:
  Lehigh (Home)
  Ole Miss

For those of you who haven’t heard of one or both of those players you can check a complete side-by-side comparison here.