Our last memory of Penn State basketball heading into this season was of thousands of crazed white-clad students at Madison Square Garden celebrating as a tearful and battle-worn Jamelle Cornley held the NIT Championship trophy above his head.

Our most recent memory? An embarrassing and uninspired 21 point loss as the 11 seed in the Big Ten Tournament.

It wasn’t supposed to be this bad.

When I arrived at the HUB at 9 a.m. Oct. 4 to help work at the student season ticket sale event, I was thrilled to see that the line was already around the corner outside Heritage Hall and even more thrilled to hear that kids had been there since the night before in anticipation. This was supposed to be the year to keep the excitement rolling and we students were ready to be a big part of it.

Except, the problem was someone forgot to tell the team.

After a fair performance in non-conference play, we headed into the Big Ten season 8-4 and having won five of our last seven. There was reason to think that maybe this team could make some noise in a talented Big Ten conference. Two of those losses were by a basket at Temple (now a Top 20 team) and to Virginia Tech, and the other two, although to teams that each finished this season with 22 losses, could have just been the flukes of playing in a preseason tournament. We thought, hey, this team could surprise some people this year. And they sure did.

Penn State basketball fans saw a total of six wins at home this season with just one coming in 2010. The students were only on campus for four of them, with the only home conference victory coming in a late-season noon tipoff against Northwestern the Sunday after State Patty’s Day.

There were losses in every style and fashion. Blown double-digit leads against Michigan and at Wisconsin. A buzzer-beating miracle against Minnesota. A good old-fashioned spanking at Purdue. Heartbreakers that slipped away at Illinois and at Michigan State. Ten losses by five points or less, seven of them by three points or less. Twelve losses in a row to start conference play and four of five to end the season.

Seasons like this test the patience and loyalty of even the biggest fans, and some students simply decided it wasn’t worth it to continue supporting a team that could not win. Call them fair-weather fans, call them front-runners, but can you blame them? These same students (thousands of them) proved last year that they were willing to take a bus to New York City in the middle of the week to show the nation that our highly-touted student section shouldn’t just disappear in November.

The diehards, like me, will always be there. We show up hours before each game, and we stay until the end. We find every reason to think that maybe today will be when it all turns around, and we nod silently at each other as we file towards the exits after another loss hoping that maybe the next game will bring a better outcome. When the team is good, it can be tough to tell the difference between us and the regular student fan, but in seasons like this we stick out. However, as we even found out this season, there are other factors besides the win-loss record that determine the attitude of the students towards this team.

Fans, especially students, are much more likely to be into the game, regardless of the score, if they feel like they are a part of the whole experience. The only experience they saw this season was a team without purpose in a faceless arena losing games in every fashion imaginable. Quite frankly, we deserve better.

We know this team cares. I saw it personally following the loss at the buzzer to Minnesota when Talor Battle and Jeff Brooks walked off the court arm-in-arm exhausted and dismayed. But when they don’t show it, which is a lot of the time, it makes us ask ourselves, “Why should we care if they seem like they don’t?”

Showing they care doesn’t just come from hooting and hollering and clapping your hands; it comes from diving after loose balls and hustling on defense and being aware of the shot clock. It should be taught by the coaching staff and enforced by the players. This is what we don’t see enough of as fans, and you don’t have to be a basketball guru to notice it.

So what is there to look forward to next season? Surprisingly, a lot. 

It is no secret to anyone who follows Penn State basketball that this team is built to make a serious run at the Big Dance in 2010-2011, with no losses to graduation and three or four seniors in the starting lineup. This opinion was further strengthened following the news last April that highly-touted guard Taran Buie would be joining his half-brother Talor Battle in the backcourt. Add the most heralded recruit in Penn State history to a nucleus that includes multi-year starters and one of the Big Ten’s best players, and this team, on paper, should be able to do big things. This could possibly be the most talent ever assembled by a Penn State team.

After our weak RPI contributed to a tournament snub in 2009, the athletic department beefed up the non-conference schedule this past season by adding Virginia Tech and Robert Morris (NCAA tournament-bound), and by playing in a preseason tournament (Charleston Classic) with better competition. This scheduling trend should continue, plus we should also be getting the Big Ten/ACC challenge game at home after two years on the road.

Even if many fans are apathetic early in the season about the current state of the program, they will come out to see the bigger names, and wins in a few of these games would be extremely encouraging. Despite the losses this past season, student attendance was still only about 15% less than 2008-2009, and this gives hope that we can easily get that 15% back and more with a few big wins.

All of these factors lead into a what could be an exciting and memorable season for Penn State basketball fans. Us diehards will show up every game, the rest of campus is just waiting for a reason to jump on board. Will they be given one? Time will tell.