Soft Pretzel Logic

UPDATE: It just crossed the AP wire that Nittany Lions running back Austin Scott has been accused of raping a woman at her on-campus apartment.

It's not quite the kind of holiday we'll have on the blog next month when the season starts, but the start of basketball practice is nonetheless a pretty big deal.

The biggest party tonight looks to be out on the Main Line, where Villanova has reloaded its backcourt and is looking to charge to a fourth straight NCAA Tournament bid. And given that 50 Cent showed up on this day at the Pavilion last year, who knows what'll happen this time.

We begin today's roundup with Dick Jerardi in the Daily News, who tries to figure out what we know so far and figures there isn't much. He's got an eye on Temple as well as the Wildcats, writing that the Owls "might be the most fascinating" team in the City 6 at the moment.

The Inquirer gives October Madness the info box treatment, and we end up with a nice little clip-n'-save version of all the big games this year. I'm already trying to figure out what our citywide doubleheader days will be, and I'll let you know as soon as I can.

We have a bit of news on the Temple front: 6-foot-10 Owls freshman Michael Eric has been declared ineligible by the NCAA Clearinghouse. Fran Dunphy is not happy, to say the least.

On the women's side, Mel Greenberg turns the spotlight on Rutgers as the Scarlet Knights begin their first season after the Final Four berth... and Imus. He also takes a quick look around the local scene.

Now to football, and the big local news is that Villanova quarterback Antwon Young's season is over thanks to a torn ACL.

Temple plays at Akron tomorrow, and both teams are coming off dramatic wins. But Akron's shouldn't have happened, according to MAC officials -- hey, does this sound familiar? -- and you can see video of why here.

Penn State hosts Wisconsin tomorrow at 3:30 p.m. on Channel 6 in what might pass for the biggest game of the weekend on any of the Disney networks.

Bernard Fernandez writes that Anthony Morelli's teammates are standing up for him. Jeff McLane writes about defensive end Maurice Evans, a big talker who's backing it up with his play.

And we have the latest on the Joe Paterno road rage controversy. He addressed the subject on his radio show last night, and you have to love this line from JoePa:

"I pointed my finger at [the woman driver]," Paterno said. "I did not give her the middle finger, even if I knew what that meant."