Great for hoops fans

You have to applaud the additional Big Ten basketball games on the schedule this year, for Penn State or any of the conference teams.

Good teams, good games, right here in the Bryce Jordan Center and of course on the new Big Ten Network.

The first impression you'll get when you look at the schedule is it's bad for Penn State since Northwestern is only scheduled once, and it's on the road. And there are 18 Big Ten hurdles, rather than 16.

But optimism reigns, or it should reign, with new players coming in and improvements expected.

It's all great for the fans, as we think basketball for a few minutes on another hot summer day.