| Penn State Nittany Lions The Penn State Nittany Lions are members of the Big Ten Conference. The Big 10 is actually the Big 11. The Penn State Nittany Lions were admitted in 1990, joining; The decision to favor the Big 10 brand over accuracy is understandable. Founded in 1896, the Big 10 is the oldest Division I college athletic conference in the United States. In addition to the conference’s athletic prowess, it also has a well deserved reputation for high academic standards. In the 1985 book Public Ivies, nine of the Big 10’s 10 public institutions (Northwestern is the only private university in the conference) were deemed to “provide an Ivy League collegiate experience at a public school price.” The conference as a whole provides nearly a hundred million dollars annually in direct financial aid to over eight thousand male and female student-athletes. For the fourth season in a row, 2007-08 saw five or more Big Ten teams earn twenty or more regular season wins in men’s basketball. Wisconsin set a school-record with 31 wins, the Michigan State Spartans recorded 27, the Purdue Boilermakers and the Indiana Hoosiers each won 25 contests, Ohio State won 24 and Minnesota notched 20 wins. Awesomeseating.com is your go-to broker for NCAA Basketball tickets. Whether you’re looking for cheap seats behind the backboards, a luxury sky-box or something closer to courtside, we’re your Awesome ticket broker for Penn State Nittany Lions tickets for the basketball regular season and Penn State Nittany Lions postseason tickets. Penn State athletic teams are named for the mountain lions that used to roam Mount Nittany, near the Pennsylvania State University campus. In its most recent appearance in the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament in 2001 the Nittany Lions defeated the No. 2 seed North Carolina to reach the Sweet Sixteen. The program has made 8 NCAA Tournament appearances. Its best finish was in 1954 when the Lions reached the Final Four. The 2008-09 Nittany Lions men’s basketball regular season consists of 30 games played between November 14, 2008 and March 7, 2009. Seven schools will play Penn State twice in 2008-09; Minnesota Golden Gophers, Indiana Hoosiers, Michigan State Spartans, Iowa, Michigan State Spartans, Wisconsin Badgers, Illinois Fighting Illini. Home games are played at the Bryce Jordan Center, a 15,261-seat arena opened in 1995. The team has a number of returning starters and looks to be a Big 10 power in the 2008-09 season. Head coach of the Nittany Lions basketball team is Ed DeChellis. He has been with the team since the 2003-04. Prior to accepting the Penn State position DeChellis was head coach for East Tennessee State of the Atlantic Sun conference from 1996 to 2003. Penn State offered DeChellis the position of head coach in its men’s basketball program on the basis of East Tennessee’s 8-2 2002-03 season that saw the school earn its first ever NCAA Tournament appearance. |