Maybe it's because there's not a whole heckuva lot of Penn State basketball tradition. Maybe it's because the Nittany Lions are so far removed from the rest of the Big Ten schools and rarely appear on ESPN.

Whatever the reason, there's a real sense that the greater Big Ten community doesn't understand which way Penn State is heading.

While the league wasn't too strong last year, the Nittany Lions claimed seventh place for their best finish since a sixth-place tie for the 2001 NCAA Tournament team. Considering Penn State settled for the 11th seed in the Big Ten tournament five of the previous six years, that represented a marked improvement.

More impressively, Penn State returns all of its key players except for Geary Claxton. When one considers Claxton missed the final half of the season with his wrecked knee, then the Nittany Lions are already well on the way toward knowing their roles for the 2008-09 season.

Penn State adds three solid freshmen and Villanova transfer Andrew Ott into the mix this season. Ott, a 6-foot-10 forward, will boost the program's traditionally weak post game when he becomes eligible at the end of the first semester.

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