Posts filed under ‘Nittany Lion basketball’
Hoops Wins, and Kerry Collins Moving On
Both Penn State basketball teams earned nice wins Wednesday night as part of the annual Big Ten/ACC Challenge. The Lady Lions, ranked 15th or 16th depending on which poll you go by, dominated No. 13/14 North Carolina in a 103-84 win at the Bryce Jordan Center. A school-record 14 three-pointers contributed greatly to the outcome. The men were a bit more subtle in pulling off a 62-54 road win over Boston College. Great results for both teams.
Unrelated, but a story worth sharing: Kerry Collins ’94 Lib is the focus of a lengthy profile in Thursday’s New York Times. It’s a great story on the former Nittany Lion quarterback, who retired for good last month after a final, frustrating season with the Indianapolis Colts. He’s focused now on his family and a burgeoning career as a country music songwriter.
Ryan Jones, senior editor
Coaching Speculation, and Other Sports
The university’s announcement of a search committee to help choose the next head football coach has added fuel to the speculative fire for those trying to predict who that coach might be. Of course it’s all just that—speculation—but there are some educated opinions on the matter, including those at Blue White Illustrated and the Patriot News. Just who that coach will be, and whether he’ll be hired before the Nittany Lions play (as expected) in a bowl game, remains to be seen.
There’s less intrigue in most other areas of the Penn State sports world. Among the things we know:
—Devon Still is the Big Ten’s best lineman. It was obvious to anyone who watched the Nittany Lions play this season, and on Monday the league made it official. Here’s the senior defensive tackle (and probable first-round NFL draft pick next year) talking about his success:
—The women’s volleyball team is back in the NCAA tournament. The four-time defending national champs had a “down” year by their recent standards, finishing the regular season 23-7 and earning the No. 8 seed for the NCAAs. In spite of all that, something tells us they won’t be overlooked. The Lions open the tournament against Liberty University; that match is set for 7:30 p.m. Friday at Rec Hall.
—Hoops season is in full swing.The No. 15 Lady Lions look to improve on a 5-1 start Wednesday night when they host North Carolina at the Jordan Center; also on Wednesday, the Nittany Lions (5-2) travel to Boston College. Both games are part of the annual Big Ten-ACC Challenge.
Ryan Jones, senior editor
For One Night, Basketball Was Back in Rec Hall
It wasn’t like I remembered, back when I was an undergrad and they played actual basketball games in Rec Hall. But walking into the old gym Wednesday night for Penn State’s Hoops Madness event, I still felt something like nostalgia.
It felt pretty good.
Hoops Madness worked on a couple of levels, reminding old guys like me what a great building Rec Hall was (and might still be, someday…) for basketball, while hyping up students for the upcoming Nittany and Lady Lions seasons. Not much is expected of the men this season, but there’s plenty of excitement about new head coach Patrick Chambers and his high-energy style. The women, meanwhile, enter the 2011-12 season as favorites for the Big Ten title.
On Wednesday, the teams came together in front of a few thousand fans in Rec Hall, (more…)
A New Era Dawns for Nittany Lion Hoops
Tim Frazier was looking for an example that would fully convey his new coach’s intensity. He wasn’t lacking for options.
“Coach is pure energy, all the time,” Frazier said Tuesday. “Even in free throw drills.”
Patrick Chambers is in the middle of the action
That assessment certainly jibes with everything we’ve seen and heard from Patrick Chambers in the five months since he was named head coach of the Penn State men’s basketball program. Whether with fans, the media, or his players, Chambers seemingly is always intense—intensely positive about the program’s potential, and intensely focused on how he plans to maximize it.
Chambers and his players met the press Tuesday at the team’s preseason media day, where they explained how intensity and optimism might translate into wins.
Penn State comes into the 2011-12 season without four starters—and the overwhelming majority of its points, rebounds, and assists—from a team that last year reached the NCAA tournament. Outside consensus is that the Nittany Lions won’t be able to overcome those graduation losses—they’re a popular pick to finish dead last in the now-12-team Big 10. Frazier, a junior guard, is the only returning starter, and he knows his days as a supporting player are over.
“I don’t want to put it all on Tim Frazier,” Chambers said. “But (more…)
A Buzz-Worthy Start for Nittany Lion Hoops
Patrick Chambers made it clear when he was hired as men’s basketball that he would do all he could to generate interest in the program. The details of his first game in charge make it clear he wasn’t kidding. On Saturday, Nov. 12—the same day the Nittany Lion football team hosts Big Ten newcomer Nebraska at Beaver Stadium—Chambers’ squad will open its 2011-12 season against Hartford in the Bryce Jordan Center. And the kicker? Admission to the basketball game will be free.
Start times for both games are yet to be determined; fans should probably plan on making a day of it regardless.
Ryan Jones, senior editor
Ed DeChellis Settles in at Navy
Penn State basketball fans have been focused on the future since since Patrick Chambers took over the program last month. That’s understandable, but a couple of stories this week are keeping the Nittany Lions’ recent past in the headlines.
When he resigned unexpectedly in May to become head coach at Navy, Ed DeChellis ’82 said the move was all about what the Naval Academy could offer and had nothing to do with any issues he had at his alma mater. He reiterates and expands on his reasons in these profiles in the Washington Post and Washington Times. There’s interesting stuff about DeChellis adjusting to the military requirements his players deal with (and how they limit his ability to work with the team), and how the 2007 death of his friend and fellow coach Skip Prosser impacted his decision to leave Penn State. Both are worth a read.
Ryan Jones, senior editor
A Signature Penn State Voice, Gone Too Soon
The Penn State community has lost one of its signature voices. Pat Boland ’91, a fixture in State College radio for two decades, died Tuesday morning after a lengthy battle with cancer.
Pat covered pretty much everything there was to cover on campus and in town, and as co-host of the WRSC morning show, his was the voice many Happy Valley residents woke up to. I met Pat in the mid ’90s while I was a Daily Collegian reporter covering the men’s basketball team; when I returned to town a few years ago, I was glad to see he was still here, running the press-row attendance pool at the Bryce Jordan Center. The radio call-in show he hosted after Penn State football games was a must-listen, often for the unintentional comedy provided by emotional fans. Pat navigated it like the pro that he was.
As of a few weeks ago, Pat’s health had deteriorated to the point that he could no longer carry on his radio duties, and he took a leave of absence. He kept himself busy with physical therapy, reading up on World War I, following his beloved Pittsburgh Pirates, and starting a blog. His final entry, titled “exhaustion,” was posted last Friday; he admitted to being wiped out both by his illness and attempts to combat it, but wrote, “I’ll be back soon.” He was 42.
Ryan Jones, senior editor
John Amaechi Honored by Queen of England
We don’t have to call him “Sir John”—at least not yet. But as part of the Queen of England’s birthday celebration over the weekend, former Nittany Lion basketball star John Amaechi ’94 received the Order of the British Empire, which is awarded to citizens of the United Kingdom who have performed a valuable service.
Amaechi’s impressive resume, which includes time with three NBA teams, becoming the first openly gay NBA player, earning a doctorate in psychology, campaigning for human rights and LGBT issues, and working with at-risk youth, surely caught the queen’s eye.
“I see this honour as a chance to reach out and do more to create an equality of opportunity for all people, but especially to inspire young people,” Amaechi said in this story from MVP Basketball. “I was once an overweight bookworm who hid in the corner of my school library and wished I was invisible.
“My mother told me that I could do better than just disappear—she convinced me that the most unlikely of people, in the most improbable of situations can become extraordinary. I hope to use this platform to convince other young people just how true this can be for them too.”
The 6-foot-10 Amaechi kept his sense of humor, too, noting that many people who are so honored say that they are standing on the shoulders of giants. “I feel very much like I am here today due to efforts of numerous people, but in my case, I am a giant who is standing on the shoulders of slightly smaller people.”
Lori Shontz, senior editor
Summer Reading List: Patrick Chambers Version
It’s generally pretty tough to find college basketball stories in early June, but there’s been some awfully good stuff written about Patrick Chambers, Penn State’s new coach. Here’s a selection of some of our favorites:
Dave Jones of the Harrisburg Patriot-News provides some excellent analysis (as always) in this column, and Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Bob Ford weighs in with this piece. And Mike Poorman of StateCollege.com takes a truly original angle here.
And it wasn’t just local media. My former colleague at The Daily Collegian, Dana O’Neil, who now covers college basketball for ESPN.com, weighs in here on why she thinks Penn State’s hire is a good one. Mike DeCourcey of The Sporting News is equally impressed in this piece. And here’s Jeff Eisenberg of Yahoo, detailing how getting stabbed was the first step in Chambers’ journey to Penn State.
One final link: The take from Boston, where Chambers had been coaching at Boston University.
Lori Shontz, senior editor
Patrick Chambers: A Salesman at Heart
So when athletic director Tim Curley said of new men’s basketball coach Patrick Chambers, “There will be no one better at promoting, marketing, and selling the Penn State basketball program 24/7, 365,” he wasn’t just delivering a throwaway line.
Chambers is a guy whose sales experience goes beyond recruiting basketball players. He majored in marketing at Philadelphia University and began his professional life as a copier salesman.
“Bottom of the barrel,” he said Monday afternoon, not long after he (more…)
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