by NICK ZACCARDI SPECIAL TO THE TIMES UNION , The Times-Union

The rest of the world.

Battle took a break from training this month at his old high school gym at Bishop Maginn and at Siena to try out for USA Basketball's World University Games team at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs.

He made the team last week. Now, he's preparing to put on a show for the world.

Team USA goes for its 14th gold medal in 19 World University Games appearances beginning July 2 in Belgrade, Serbia. "I'm looking forward to going out, representing little Albany," Battle said, "putting Albany on the map."

The World University Games are held every other year. U.S. team players must be currently enrolled in a college or university and have remaining NCAA eligibility.

Battle is sharing point guard duties with Villanova's Corey Fisher during two-a-day practices. Other teammates include Evan Turner of Ohio State, Robbie Hummel of Purdue, Lazar Hayward of Marquette and Trevor Booker of Clemson.

When Battle brings the ball up, all of his options are, like himself, go-to players from marquee programs.

Battle led Penn State with 16.7 points per game during an All-Big Ten sophomore season in 2008-09. He scored a career-high 29 points in a program-defining win at NCAA runner-up Michigan State, banked the conference's shot of the year with 0.3 seconds left to beat Illinois and led the Nittany Lions to the NIT championship at Madison Square Garden.

He'll have to tone down his scoring and focus more on distributing for this team.

"He's trying to fit to what we're doing as a group," said Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan, who is the World University Games head coach. "When you play for a team, and then you're going to play on another team, you have to be adaptable as a player."

Battle will face more changes after he returns from Serbia. Off the court, he will be seeing a lot more of his family. His brother, 2010 Penn State hoops commitment Taran Buie, and his mother are moving from Albany to State College for Buie's senior year of high school. Battle and Buie played one more time in Albany, one on one, after Penn State's season ended.

Battle said he destroyed Buie. He claims to be undefeated in the sibling series. "I'm supposed to beat my little brother," Battle said. "He knows that."

Outside of Albany and State College, Battle has picked up a reputation among experts as one of the best players unknown to the average college basketball fan.

"He was an important cog on a team that played extremely well and got themselves tighter at the end with the NIT," Ryan said. "They played well as a unit, especially down the stretch, and he was a big part of that."

He'll have to play an even bigger role going forward. Battle loses the top two members of his supporting cast in outgoing seniors Jamelle Cornley (14.4 ppg) and Stanley Pringle (12.8 ppg).

"We're going to need a lot of people to step up, myself included, to take our game to the next level," said Battle, who also will be mentoring incoming freshman point guard Tim Frazier.

The next level for Penn State is the NCAA Tournament, which the Nittany Lions haven't reached since 2001. If Battle and his teammates get there, there's another level to consider -- the NBA.

Battle doesn't dismiss the possibility of jumping into the draft if he has a big junior season.

"If the opportunity presents itself, it's obviously something me and my family will talk about," he said. "As of right now, I'm just looking forward to the season and taking it season by season."

Nick Zaccardi is a freelance writer.

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