Penn State's season may be slipping away

By: Conor O'Brien

Penn State's basketball season and their hopes of reaching the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2001 may have went by the wayside when Jeff Brooks' right shoulder popped out of its socket.

What has been a tumultuous, roller-coaster season of ups and downs may be spiraling downward to an anti-climactic finish. The season has included a home loss to Maine, an embarrassing 39-point performance against Maryland and two defeats at the hands of Big Ten bottom-feeder Michigan.

This is a senior-laden team hungry for an NCAA berth, but their glaring weaknesses and lack of depth is destined to hold them back. The team has operated with virtually zero bench production throughout most of the season. Junior guard Cameron Woodyard was a pleasant surprise Sunday, scoring 10 points during the Nittany Lions matinee clash with Michigan, but that was not enough to hold off the Wolverines.

Before Woodyward's performance, the Nits had been operating with a 7-man rotation of starting guards Talor Battle and Tim Frazier, and senior forwards Brooks, David Jackson and Andrew Jones. Freshman guard Jermaine Marshall is a raw talent who has shown flashes of brilliance, but has also looked like a young player struggling to get his feet wet in a conference that has not been kind to freshmen players. The graduation of Andrew Ott and season-ending injury to Sasha Borovnjac has forced Coach Ed Dechellis to give third-year freshman Billy Oliver significant minutes. Oliver, a player that has looked lost throughout much of the season, struggles defensively against quicker players and inexplicably misses wide open shots.

Undeterred by these shortfalls, The Nittany lions have survived with their scarce group of capable players throughout most of the season due to the astounding talents of Battle and spectacular emergence of Brooks. The Nittany Lions have showed resiliency and fight, scoring major home victories over Michigan State, Illinois and Wisconsin. But the injury to Brooks may have bursted their NCAA bubble.

Despite their impressive home victories, this is a team that is in dire need of a signature road win. The team suffered gut-wrenching road losses when Ohio State's freshman sensation Jared Sullinger scored the game winning basket with 15 seconds remaining and Purdue's All-America candidate Ja'Juan Johnson delivered a buzzer-beating 18-foot jump.

Penn State hoped to secure that elusive road victory last Tuesday against Illinois, but a disastrous road trip that included a five hour bus ride from Evanston, Indiana to Champagne led to an embarrassing 17-point defeat.

Although the Nittany Lions trailed 29-15 early in the game, Penn State showed some fortitude, coming within five points of the Illini before Brooks left with the injury.

However, the second half of the game might prove to be a microcosm of the rest of their season as they were continuously abused inside by the finesse, jump shooting Illinois squad. Dechellis was forced to use Oliver and senior walk-on Steve Kirkpatrick as Illinois Senior forwards Mike Davis and Mike Tisdale dictated play inside the paint.

Interior defense was also a problem against a smaller Michigan team that plays a similar style.

Looking ahead, the Nittany Lions must go 5-2 to reach 10 big ten wins and have a realistic chance of securing an NCAA berth. The Nittany Lions have a murderous schedule down the stretch, playing road games at Michigan State, Wisconsin, Northwestern and Minnesota and home matchups against Northwestern, #1 Ohio State and Minnesota. But with this schedule comes opportunities, chances to secure major road wins and a potentially tournament clinching victory against Ohio State.

Although I and many others believe the Nits are down and out, we've thought that before and they have shown the heart and determination to fight. Either way, it will be fun to see how the brilliant career of Battle comes to a close.