[NU Sports] NU-PSU

[John Labbe]

Well the prediction may have been a jinx tonight.

I attended the game.  What a bummer to lose to Penn State after 
Saturday's win at Minnesota.

We played well most of the first half, building an 11 point lead and 
shooting lights out from 3-point land, including 2 Vedran 3s in about a 
15 second span (the second one following a steal).

Then we gave up an 11-0 run before regaining a small lead before the 
half.  But we were flat the whole second half.  If you wanted to blame 
one person for the loss, you could look to Cote who missed 4 free 
throws in a row late in the game, and then missed an open 3 right after 
that.  But it was a team loss.  We seemed bigger and faster, and the 
stats show that we shot better, but throughout the second half, PSU 
just seemed to want it a little more than we did.

On a side note, boy they could sure use some work on some of the 
timeout and halftime entertainment.  During one timeout they played a 
little jingle to which everyone was supposed to get up and "slide" and 
"spin around," and repeat various variations for about 2 minutes.  
Suffice it to say, even the cheerleaders, who were leading the "slide," 
weren't getting into it, while the fans were either oblivious or 
dumbfounded.

As for the halftime contests:  The kid shooting shots of consecutively 
greater distance with a 1 minute clock is a good contest and a 
consistent crowd pleaser.  That's probably why it's the only event 
that's lasted game after game (although I don't know what a kid will do 
with a night at the Orrington Hotel).  The one where the student fell 
last year and had to taken off on a stretcher has been axed, although 
it didn't seem inherently dangerous (he had 10 second to make a shot at 
the other end of the court, the idea being to drive and make a layup).  
The contest where four kids run up and down the court trying to shoot 
while wearing oversized shoes and shorts appears to have been, 
fortunately, short lived.  The try to land your self-made paper 
airplane into a circle has now been replaced with try to shoot your 
sling-shot airplane into a suitcase (although both appear to be nearly 
as impossible).

Thankfully, the pep band is great and really adds to the atmosphere.  
Unlike football games, you can hear them, despite their smaller size, 
and they are able to feature a few non-marching instruments like a drum 
set and electric bass (though I don't know how much the latter adds).




On Jan 11, 2006, at 6:08 PM, Hakirsch at aol.com wrote:

> In a message dated 1/11/2006 2:53:36 PM Pacific Standard Time,
> HUDHAIFA3 at aol.com writes:
>
>> Wildcats 61 PSU 48
>>
>> Double V 26 big ones.............................
>>
>> 3-0 in conference
>>
>
> For those of you like me  who  were  faked out by this e-mail--it is 
> only a
> prediction not a past result !
>
> Harry
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