Even though spring practice is still about 5 months away, Nittany Nation, the student section for Penn State basketball, is already brainstorming ideas for the upcoming season. I spoke with Katie Huber, president of the group, and she explained the intentions of Nittany Nation for the 2010-2011 season.

Their first order of business is to make the student section a presence in the BJC. To get the ball rolling, they have started the Super-Sized Face campaign. You can go to the event that they’ve set up on Facebook and leave your suggestions for big heads that will made for every game and be placed behind the basket in the student section to distract opponents.

Suggestions so far are: a crying Terrelle Pryor (Ohio State), Gary the Snail (for the Maryland game and coach Gary Williams) and Dikembe Mutombo and his huge wagging finger.

The overall emphasis this year is creating a tradition. Everyone knows that Penn State is a football school first and foremost. Nittany Nation wants the Bryce Jordan Center to have the same atomsphere as Beaver Stadium does during Saturdays in the fall. Katie had this to add:

Win or lose, we want students to be able to come to the games, participate in the student section, and enjoy the game day atmosphere and experience. We want to establish the traditions of the student section and truly get other students involved and participating in the game day atmosphere. Overall, we want to ESTABLISH tradition. We want students to come out and support the team so that we can unify our efforts as a student section. We want the game day atmosphere to be interactive and effective. We want the BJC to be on the same level as other Big Ten schools in terms of the intensity of the student section. We know that we have our work cut out for us, but I feel that the planning and preparation that we’re establishing now will make a huge difference this season.

They will begin to carry out these plans with the Involvement Fair in the fall, as well as targeting freshmen all throughout the fall semester. Make sure to check them out and maybe the Spartans and Buckeyes will fear the BJC as much as Beaver Stadium for years to come.

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