“STATE COLLEGE, Pa. – In his return to his home state of New York, Talor Battle is hoping to turn two negatives into positives.
“The Penn State sophomore and his teammates, distraught after they were snubbed by the NCAA tournament just weeks ago, have reached that less-heralded Final Four in the NIT.
“Nevertheless, when the Nittany Lions face Notre Dame in the semifinals tonight at Madison Square Garden, Battle said, his team’s motivation will not be born out of spite.
” ‘Obviously we were disappointed,’ he said Friday about not earning an NCAA invite. ‘Regardless of whether we win this tournament, we’re still not going to be in the NCAA tournament. . . . We’re over it now.’
” The Lions are so excited about reaching the NIT semis for the first time since 2000 that coach Ed DeChellis took his team to Manhattan two days early. Battle, an Albany native, has been to New York before, but the NIT conveniently coincided with schoolwork.
” ‘I got a project to do on ground zero,’ Battle said of the former site of the World Trade Center. ‘So I’m going to take some pictures. It ended up working out great.’ …”