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We'll have more on both the wrestling and women's basketball Big Ten tournaments, both of which kick off this weekend, later on in the week, but in the meantime, the media named Maggie Lucas the B1G Player of the Year for the 2nd year in a row, and coach Coquese Washington nabbed her third COTY title in a row from the same group (Nebrasketball be damned). Joining them on the conference's list is senior Dara Taylor, who was named the B1G Defensive POY; she was on the conference's second team. Lucas and senior Ariel Edwards were named to the Big Ten First Team. Oh, and there's this:
The Lady Lions have 30 All-Big Ten first team choices, which are the most of any team since joining the conference in 1992-93.
— Kris Petersen (@ladylionsid) March 3, 2014
I mean, we may be a big deal or something. Now to just get past that top-seed tournament jinx...
Much as his predecessor did two years ago, Coach James Franklin spoke at the Nike Coach of the Year Clinic on Friday. Amongst some of the nuggets of wisdom garnered from the talk (you all know I latched very quickly onto that "I'm trying the Jedi mind trick to brainwash all of you to leave here and say, 'If I have a kid, he's got to go to Penn State'" quote) was the release of the recruiting map, outlining which member of the coaching staff was assigned which specific area of the commonwealth to recruit. The biggest non-surprise, of course, is Terry Smith's tackling of populous Allegheny county--an area he knows well from his previous job as head coach at Gateway High School.
Though he's still a few months out from taking office, Eric Barron is already putting some plans into place--including increasing affordability:
Barron said his goals include increasing student engagement, as there is evidence that students perform better, are happier and get better jobs if they participate in worthwhile activities outside the classroom..."You're serving the state of Pennsylvania, and the university is expensive," Barron said. "Are we doing all the things that we can and want to do to make sure that no one decides against Penn State because they can't afford it?"
You're awesome, @CelebrityHotTub. Don't ever change.
Quick hits...State Patty's Day crime numbers were down very significantly this past weekend...PSU Lacrosse won the Creator's Trophy, beating OSU in the Shoe last weekend...The Crispin Brothers were inducted into the Gloucester County sports Hall of Fame...Penn State women's track and field won the Big Ten Indoor Championship this past weekend...the mothership has an attempt at bracketology, and it's as good or better than the more self-described "experts".
