Nitt Picks Never Quits

This is old news by now, but the Maxwell club is creating an award this year called the Joe Paterno Award. Here are the criteria.

The criteria for the Paterno Award, which are still being developed, will focus more on the overall impact the coach has had on the sport, his players and the community, going beyond the wins and losses of that particular season.

It will be interesting to see how this all plays out. In a way I think it's great that Paterno's name would be associated with such an award, but I hope they do this right. There are a lot of sleazy coaches out there that win a lot of games. My pick for the inaugural award would be Pat Fitzgerald, unless they want to give it to Joe Paterno. When you think about it, who would be better suited for the Joe Paterno award than Joe Paterno?

The Daily Gopher put together a list of the most disappointing teams in Big Ten basketball this season. Not surprisingly, Penn State made the list. But I was surprised that he put us third on the list ahead of Michigan and Northwestern. TDG has this to say.

Penn State is playing great right now.  This may be the best 11-seed in Big Ten Tournament history.  They finished the season 3-3 over their last six games and all three losses were very close to the three teams tied for 1st atop the Big Ten.  Lost to Ohio State by eight, lost at Michigan State by two and lost to Purdue by 4.  This team is hitting their stride, don't tell them it is far too little, too late.

Woo Big Ten Tournament and all that.

Battle considered quitting the team in early January, saying he was frustrated. But he regrouped and was the second-leading scorer in the Big Ten through Saturday, averaging 18.8 points.

Then I realized it wasn't a direct quote, and it was most likely Ron Musselman trying to stir things up. I'm guessing Battle made some comment to the effect of quitting as in of not giving much effort when the team was riding a 12 game losing streak, and Musselman turned that into Battle quitting the team. My personal thought is there is nothing to see here. We all know Battle is a fighter that doesn't give up until there is no time left on the clock. And once again he was named to the All-Big Ten team.

In another interesting turn of events, we all assumed there was just one scholarship to give next year, and that was saved for Battle's brother Taran Buie. However, the CDT says today the coaches have been living out of suitcases and eating fast food along the interstate hitting the recruiting trail this month suggesting there may be another scholarship or two to give away. The speculation is around Billy Oliver and Andrew Ott not returning.

Billy Oliver, a 6-foot-8 redshirt freshman forward, is one Nittany Lion who might not be back. Oliver, who did not play last season after sustaining two preseason concussions, has suffered from exercise- induced migraine headaches that permanently ended his season in January. He had played in just five games previously.

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Five Nittany Lions will be seniors next year, with three of them — starters David Jackson and Andrew Jones and reserve Andrew Ott — in position to have their degrees by the time the season starts.

Ott, who has averaged just over 10 minutes per game and been bothered by a nagging shoulder injury this season, seems the most likely of the three to weigh the option, but DeChellis didn’t offer any hints Monday.

Turning to football recruiting, State College High wide receiver Alex Kenney is fast.

State College’s Alex Kenney broke a nine-year-old state record and Chloe Schmidt was named the outstanding female performer to pace the Little Lions to high finishes in the Pennsylvania Track & Field Coaches Association Indoor Championships at Penn State’s Ashenfelter Multi-Purpose Center.

Kenney, a senior, blazed to a 6.80 title in the 60 meters, breaking the mark set of 6.82 by Cardinal O’Hara’s Kevin Jones in 2001. Kenney, who signed a letter- of-intent to play football at Penn State, also placed second in the 200 with a personal best 21.54.

Don't quote me, but I read somewhere that Kenney's time was the sixth fastest in the country this year. Fellow PSU speed demon Devon Smith ran a 6.63 in the 60 meters. So we got some Pennsylvania speed on this team.

In Scores of Other Games

Check out The Rivalry, Esq., who does a fantastic review of the Penn State in the aughts.