Nitt Picks Shoots Free Throws Like Rick Barry

It's Go! Time.  As you can see in the previous post, football recruiting is down to Jelani Jenkins, Justin Brown, and Jim Noel -- barring any sort of last-minute surprise.  Donnie Collins has your schedule:

Jelani Jenkins -- Announcement at 10:45 a.m.
Justin Brown -- Announcement at 2 p.m., last I heard.
Jim Noel -- Still haven't heard a concrete time for announcement.

Also, Eric Shrive is signing with Penn State during a ceremony at West Scranton High School at 10 a.m., last I heard. Expect full coverage of that here on BS&T and in The Times-Tribune on Thursday.

But Have You Tried Football...On Weed?  Maurice Evans and Abe Koroma will enter the Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition (ARD) program for their Up In Smoke episode.  Seems about right to me.  The charges will eventually be expunged, assuming no further incidents.  Still, they won't really disappear.  You know, Google and all that.

Ear Rubbing As A Form Of Self-Expression.  Hey, there's a new Nittany Lion mascot!  Freshman (and club gymnast) Clint Gyory won the competition, turning back seven other candidates.  How did he win?  Being a gymnast helps.  Making fun of Charlie Weis probably sealed it:

In his skit, Gyory spoofed the James Bond movie “Goldfinger” and mocked Notre Dame. An evil man in a Fighting Irish sweatshirt — with some padding in the stomach — strapped a cheerleader to a deathtrap table. A man with a Joe Paterno mask was handcuffed to the device, as well.

The Nittany Lion — dressed in black slacks, a white shirt and black bow-tie — saved the cheerleader by luring the Notre Dame fan away with a box of doughnuts strapped to a fishing rod. He also had to outwit and outdance a green-clad and cardboard-gold holding leprechaun. He used a flip and some other gymnastic moves to do so.

Congratulations to Clint.  Enjoy making those 300 annual appearances, kid.

The Best Worst Things In Life Are Free.  The first step is admitting there's a problem, I suppose:

Talor Battle hit six of his 12 3-point attempts but could only connect on one of his five shots from the foul line. The point guard blamed his troubles on pausing and holding the ball for too long while at the stripe.

"Sometimes I joke around about saying if I just step back and shoot a pull-up jump shot I'll probably make more," the sophomore captain said. "Thinking and things like that, that's what hurts you. And maybe I did a little too much of that yesterday instead of just letting it go."

DeChellis said Battle and Danny Morrissey went back to the Bryce Jordan Center to work on their foul shooting when the team got back to State College Sunday night.  Jamelle Cornley said the team can't expect to shoot free throws that bad and expect to win again.

"I think that you can knock down as many shots as you want or as many field goals as you want, but when you get to the free throw line, if somebody else or a couple players before you haven't been knocking down shots, I think it ends up being contagious," the senior captain said. "I don't know how that is or even why that is."

In Scores From Other Games:

Jeff McLane on the perception of Paterno in recruiting.  The crappy 2009 football schedule is official.  PSU football strength and conditioning coach John Thomas talks winter workouts.  The Lady Lions basketball team is still driving the Struggle Bus in the HOV lane.  So are the wrestlers, with a record of 7-8-2.  Penn State is receiving a record number of applications from high school students. 

Also Receiving Votes:

Hey, it's every first-year law student's nightmare -- the rule against perpetuities.  It's being invoked in a property battle between Penn State and Phi Delta Theta.   PSU has plans for a higher-security disease research lab.  A look at PSU alums in the sports biz.