Eastern Site No Bonus for UCLA’s Opponent : NCAA tournament: Penn State coach fears Nittany Lions will be victims of school’s football feud with Syracuse.

Bruce Parkhill, in his eighth season as basketball coach at Penn State, couldn’t be happier that the Nittany Lions have gained a bid to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1965.

But Parkhill, whose team will play UCLA in the first round Friday at Syracuse, N.Y., would have preferred to play anywhere but the Carrier Dome.

Although Penn State is only about a five-hour drive from Syracuse, UCLA is expected to have the crowd on its side as it begins its quest to reach the Final Four for the first time since 1980.

Bad blood has existed between Syracuse and Penn State for several years, dating to the late 1970s, when Penn State football Coach Joe Paterno tried to form an all-Eastern conference.

A football independent at the time, Syracuse chose instead to join the Big East for basketball, but Penn State was not among the schools invited to join.

Miffed, Penn State later said that it would sign a new 10-year football contract with Syracuse only if six of the 10 games were played in the Nittany Lions’ stadium at State College, Pa. Syracuse refused and a bitter rivalry ended last October after 68 games.

Even Jim Boeheim, Syracuse basketball coach, took a swipe at Penn State, questioning the Nittany Lions’ move from the Atlantic 10 Conference to the Big Ten.

Penn State will join the Big Ten after next season.

“I guarantee, and you can write a story, Penn State basketball will never be successful in the Big Ten,” Boeheim told the Syracuse Post-Standard last fall. “I will take a blood oath. I will give you my heart if they are. I’m talking ever. Just not going to happen.”

Paterno responded that Boeheim shouldn’t talk because Boeheim has yet to win a national championship despite having talented teams at Syracuse.

Parkhill has so far declined to join the fray.

“It’s kind of unfortunate that our kids will bear the brunt of (this),” he told the Post-Standard.

The Nittany Lions, however, have grown used to playing before hostile crowds this season. As a lame-duck member of the Atlantic 10, they were treated rudely by fans who took their impending move to the Big Ten as a slap at the Atlantic 10.

“We’ve had fans against us all year, so it won’t be anything different,” Penn State guard Freddie Barnes told the Post-Standard. “We took a lot of abuse on the road this year.

“It gets old.”