Penn State hoops rivalry fizzled out

By Chris Duprey

Daily Sports Editor

Maceo Baston, apparently well-versed in his scouting report of Penn State, offered his impression of the Nittany Lions' 13-0 start to the 1995-96 season.

"You can win games against Huckabuck State or whatever" - a backhanded slap at Penn State's early victories over Morgan State, the Virginia Military Institute, Bucknell and others of that level of prestige.

The Wolverines were 13-4 at the time themselves, not too shabby with the young team they had.

But any hopes of quietly dispatching Penn State at Crisler Arena that Sunday had all but vanished the minute the Texan opened his mouth, thanks to the national wire and several media members who like nothing more than to create controversy.

So CBS made tracks to Ann Arbor to televise the game nationally, to see if this Maceo Baston could back up his word, and Baston didn't disappoint. With Michigan holding precious a one-point lead heading into the game's final possession, it seemed Baston remembered that he'd be ingrained into the program's history if he didn't finish what he started.

Keeping that in mind, Baston promptly swatted Penn State's final shot, a driving leaner by guard Dan Earl. The clock expired, and the Wolverines had held serve on their home court - if out of no other motivation but to save Baston from the near-certain criticism he would've faced had they lost.

"Maceo was big, as he has been all season," said then-first-year Penn State coach Jerry Dunn after the game. "He comes to play and doesn't talk a lot."

You sure about that last comment, coach?

In any event, there was a Michigan-Penn State rivalry born that day, one that didn't take place in Beaver or Michigan Stadium. Baston's quotable - and his ability to back it up - was the key ingredient, the kind of don't-forget-about-me material great basketball feuds are made of.

And the Nittany Lions didn't forget, exacting revenge with a 67-57 shutting-up of Michigan in State College later in the season.

Both teams went to the NCAA tournament that year. Both teams returned most of their key players the following season. But the rivalry never took off like it did that one afternoon in January, with a lanky 6-foot-9 forward issuing supposedly harmless quotes to the local media.

Part of the reason for the stunted growth of this rivalry was Penn State's own ineptitude. The Nittany Lions haven't been back to the NCAA Tournament since 1996, and have had just one winning season in the three since Baston's "Swat Heard Round the World."

Part of the reason is that Crisler Arena and the Bryce Jordan Center - which replaced fabled barn Rec Hall just before the rivalry sparked in 1995 - are widely considered two of the least hostile environments in the Big Ten.

It's unfortunate the seed planted by Baston, former Michigan coach Steve Fisher and Dunn never took hold. Instead of tomorrow's Michigan-Penn State matchup in Ann Arbor being another one for the history books, it'll be just two sub-.500 teams in the Big Ten, getting a little exercise.