“In some ways, the Penn State women’s basketball team’s upset loss in the first round of the NCAA Tournament was a fitting cap to the school’s 2004-05 visible sports calender.
“The football team went 4-7 and has taken up residence among the Big Ten’s lower echelon.
“The men’s basketball team went 7-23 and is the landlord of the conference’s basement.
“And the women’s basketball team spoiled an otherwise solid regular season by squandering a No. 4 seed in the NCAA Tournament, going belly up against No. 13 seed Liberty.
“Rundown the ‘name’ schools in the country, and it’s impossible to come up with a more feeble combination than the PSU football and men’s basketball teams have served up these last couple of years.
“Go ahead, try.
“Texas, Florida and Oklahoma have excellent programs in both sports. Ditto Wisconsin and even Utah.
“USC, Auburn, Tennessee, Michigan, Georgia, Iowa, Ohio State, LSU and Florida State have maintained excellence in football while North Carolina, Duke, Wake Forest, Michigan State, Alabama, Kentucky, Kansas, Oklahoma State, Illinois, Arizona, UCLA, Washington, Louisville, Cincinnati and now apparently Texas Tech are annual NCAA tourney fixtures.
“Even the old Eastern brethren like West Virginia, Pitt, Syracuse and Boston College have more going for themselves than the Nits.
“Lump the women into the equation and Penn State can’t stand up to UConn, either.”
“For PSU fans, none of whom are currently satisfied, the upside is it probably can’t get any worse. …”