Men's Basketball Schedule Finalized

Penn State announced today the tip times and TV schedule for its 2012-2013 men's basketball season. As with every other schedule over the past 5 years, the tip times vary wildly, mostly because of the Big Ten Network. In order to fit as much action on TV as possible, many teams have to play early or late tips. This year is no different for Penn State (and any other Big Ten team for that matter).

However, for those of us who have followed this program loyally, pre-BTN times dawned an era of maybe 5-10 games a year if we were lucky. Once again, Penn State will have plenty of games on television (at least 23 of 31 to be exact). Only one game this season will not have any TV access, which is the La Salle game at the Palestra. All other non-conference games that weren't picked up by any networks are at least streamed online at ESPN3 or BTN.com (which requires a monthly subscription). All 18 conference games plus the Big Ten tournament will be on the BTN or an ESPN network.

At least 12 games will be on the BTN, while 9 will be on ESPN networks. This doesn't include potential ESPN2/ESPNU matchups in games 2 and 3 of the Puerto Rico Tip-Off and the flex game against Minnesota on March 2nd. Usually for a team coming off a 12-20 season, they are shunned from television the following year. While the Nittany Lions might not be on the big broadcasts, the country does at least have the chance to see them in action. It's hard to find reasons to complain about their draw (no 9:00 weekend Big Ten home games!).

The biggest red flag for me is that hideous 11:00 AM start against New Hampshire two days before Christmas. The post-finals game has always been a headache for the Nittany Lions. Chambers will have to keep his guys focused when everyone will be weary from the semester grind, longing to see their families for their only break in-season.

Year two of the Chambers Era kicks off against St. Francis on Friday, November 9th at 7:00pm in the BJC. Also be sure to book Jan. 19th and Jan. 26th on your calendars for the THON hoops promotion against Nebraska and the Coaches vs Cancer game against Ohio State. Also a tip of the hat to the hoops marketing team for having Tim Frazier's senior night on February 27th against Michigan instead of the last game of the year against Wisconsin. The students will still be on campus for Michigan, while the Wisky game is the weekend students will be slowly returning from Spring Break.

Check out the full schedule below. Once we get things settled here on SB Nation, hopefully this will be converted to a page easily accessible for you to reference.

# - exhibition, * - Puerto Rico Tip-Off, ^ - Big Ten/ACC Challenge

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