THE LAST TIME OUT
The first time Penn State played Nebraska they choked at the end, missing key free throws down the stretch. Last time out, again against Nebraska, Penn State choked throughout the game shooting from the field instead. The turnover bug, which has haunted the team since its near flawless game against Ohio State (four turnovers total), crippled the Lions already struggling offense (13 vs Nebraska).

Early leads followed by double digit scoring droughts have plagued Penn State in B1G play. Worst yet injuries (beyond Tim Frazier), and more, are starting to catch up to the team and its lack of depth. Jermaine Marshall is clearly not himself and Brandon Taylor is either hurt, tired, struggling with his confidence, or all three. That being said, the team has had a few days off and hopefully will show up for what they realize is a winnable game.

ABOUT THE IOWA HAWKEYES
Iowa has played well this season even while losing four of their last six games; two of which were in overtime, the last being a double overtime loss at Wisconson. They are top 15 in the country in rebounds and top 20 in assists and team-leading scorer and rebounder Aaron White torched the Lions last time they played for 27 points. White’s season average is only 13.5, junior Roy Devyn Marble is second with 13.2 points per game.

THE MATCH UP
Iowa struggles at time shooting from the field, but their physical play makes up for their lack of touch; against Penn State, Iowa drew 26 personal fouls, forced 18 turnovers, and shot 39 free throws. That type of aforementioned physical play made up for the fact they were outshot by the Lions from three point range, the free throw line, and were held below their season average from field goal range.

If the Lions are going to win at all in 2013, this is their best chance to do so. Penn State needs Jermaine Marshall and D.J. Newbill to show up and shoot consistently throughout the game. A third scorer (Brandon Taylor, Ross Travis, Sasa?) needs to get at least 15 points to support them. They need to limit the turnovers and personal fouls, and crash the boards.. Finally, if they are to be victorious, they need a loud and supportive Nittany Nation to pack the BJC, FTK, FTW.

Pennsylvania is a hot-bed for hockey and the Penn State hockey program is on the verge of…well…existence, at least as a big time program. If you’re a hockey fan and you’re following Guy Gadowsky’s first season in Happy Valley, maybe you’d be interested in covering them here at VBR.

A current staff member has volunteered his services for basketball season, but could certainly use some assistance as I expect Pat Chambers and Co. to make some noise in the 2012-2013 season.

Also, the women’s basketball team deserves some pub following their 2011-2012 campaign. Coach Washington is doing a great job of recruiting for an already competitive team.

Cael Sanderson and the wrestling team will begin their season soon, defending back to back national championships. They are one of the most successful collegiate athletic programs in the country and deserve some attention.

If you’re interested in covering one or more of the teams listed above, please contact me at PSUTimm@gmail.com.

Previous writing experience is preferred, though not necessary. This could serve as a great opportunity for journalism students to cover athletics while having their work published on the internet.

VBR can serve as a resume` builder or simply as a fun way to vent about your favorite team. If you’re interested, don’t hesitate to reach out with whatever questions you may have.

Thanks for your time.
Tim Tolley
VictoryBellRings.com
PSUTimm@gmail.com
@TimTolleyVBR

Then junior point guard Tim Frazier emerged as one of the top point guards in not only the Big 10, but in the country, leading PSU in points, assists and rebounds per game.  Now a senior and the unquestioned leader of the team, Frazier will be joined in the backcourt by sophomore transfer D.J. Newbill.  The Philadelphia product transferred to Penn State from Southern Miss, where he earned Conference USA All-Freshman Team honors, with 9.2 points and 6.2 rebounds per game.  Athletic junior guard Jermaine Marshall also returns, coming off an up and down season where he averaged over 10 points per game, but struggled to put it all together on a nightly basis.

The front court will be lead by sophomores Ross Travis and Jon Graham.  Travis plays bigger than his 6’6″ frame and is tough on defense and the boards.  Down the stretch last year, he also began to emerge on the offensive end.  Graham showed flashes on the offensive end as well, but must become more consistent with his post moves, as well as at the free throw line.  Expect freshman Brandon Taylor to make an impact too.

Penn State opens the season on November 9th against St. Francis in the Jordan Center.  Leading up to the opener, we will take a closer look at the key players, the schedule, and the rest of the Big 10.

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It’s got to be tough for a guy as intense as Penn State coach Pat Chambers to handle losing as often as Penn State basketball has this season. Chambers preaches effort and attitude above all else. We see his style on the floor when Penn State players dive — sometimes recklessly — after loose balls that may or may not be within their reach. For all that effort to come up short so often is probably very frustrating.

That’s why it was good to hear Chambers look for the silver lining after Penn State’s most recent defeat, a 71-65 home loss to Michigan in which the Lions trailed by as many as 19 before a second half rally closed the gap to 4. Chambers was particularly pleased with the development of freshman forward Ross Travis.

“I am excited for him. I’m excited for our future with him. He was terrific,” said Chambers regarding Travis, “He was the reason why we went on that run. Just kept balls alive, kept playing hard. He was making his free throws. He’s a special kid. And the thing about him — he’s earned the right to play like that. He lives in the gym. He wants to be good. He wants to be coached. I scream and yell at him all the time. He’s just like, ‘what else can I do, what else can I do?’ I love coaching him. And that’s why I think you’re going to see a lot more production out of him — In this game coming up, and in the future.”

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THON more than anything else encompasses what being a Penn Stater is all about, and so every group on campus gets involved. Before leaving for Wisconsin on Saturday, the entire men’s basketball team stopped by the Jordan Center on Friday night. Coach Pat Chambers talked about what an honor it was to be there.

Later, around midnight, Bill O’Brien made his first ever appearance at THON and led an invigorating “We Are” chant. He also noted that Tom Brady (who played quarterback at Michigan) once told him that Beaver Stadium was the “loudest place that he’s ever played.”

Mike Wallace and some of the other football players will be participating in the Saturday night pep rally, so hit up the live streaming webcast to check that out.

Most recently, Oliver’s issues have resurfaced starting with him getting sick at halftime when Penn State hosted Minnesota on January 15. After that, he sat out four straight games before returning for Penn State’s road games at Iowa and Michigan State. Now, though, he has decided that he should no longer continue to play.

StateCollege.com has the reactions:

“I have put a lot of thought into this, not to continue my basketball career at Penn State,” an emotional Oliver said.

“It’s very hard, we talked about it the other night,” junior guard Tim Frazier said of his roommate. “I tried to talk him into playing this game, but he made the right choice for himself. He’s a brother of mine and he’s going to be here next year and he’s still going to be the same Billy Oliver that we love and cherish.”

“Billy and I talked for two days, it was a very emotional talk,” Penn State coach Pat Chambers said. “Talked to the team last night and it was very emotional. I hope my son Ryan ends up like Billy Oliver someday. He works hard every day and gives you everything he has. He’s just an unbelievable person.”

(more…)

Penn State Welcomes YOU, Brandon Austin! photo by Rob Christy-US PRESSWIRE

Although Penn State Basketball isn’t exactly my general field of expertise, this is certainly noteworthy.

On Thursday night, head coach Pat Chambers received a verbal commitment from 2013 G/F Brandon Austin to join his basketball team.
Austin is a 6’6″ 4 star player from Philadelphia who scout rates as the 93rd best player in the country.

“I chose Penn State because of its academics, the school, the program, the coaches. There’s also the conference and the exposure it gets. And I like the team a lot.”

Austin could play either guard position or small forward and is likely to start contributing immediately. This appears to be a big get for coach Chambers.

Here are a couple quick clips of Austin:

Tip-off is at 6:30 PM ET

The last time the Penn State basketball team took the floor, they lost to Iowa on the road 77-64. It wasn’t even that close, though. Penn State was more horrendous than horrendous in the first half and shot 27% from the floor. For the game, the Lions attempted only 7 free throws. Such has been life on the road for Penn State in this season of hardship. While losses have not been hard to come by at home, at least most of the games in the BJC are competitive. On the road, Penn State hasn’t lost by single-digits since Duquesne beat the Lions 66-59 on December 10.

That’s why this upcoming contest versus Michigan State in East Lansing doesn’t exactly look promising. However, even in “winnable” games, Penn State fans would be better served to pay attention to the development of players instead of the performance as a whole. Here’s what to look for from Penn State tonight.

• Any sort of post offense. After scoring 6 points against one of the Big Ten’s top defenders in Meyers Leonard, Sasa Borovjnak has scored just a single point total in his last four games. It really wouldn’t hurt to get him the ball more. Penn State is one of the worst teams in the country at effective FG%, so why not try letting the guy who sets up closest to the basket shoot some more? Jonathan Graham should be encouraged to be more aggressive as well, but please allow me to cover my eyes before he gets the ball.
• More Ross Travis, less Cammeron Woodyard. OK, this is more me just hoping than anything, but it would behoove Pat Chambers to get Travis on the floor more. For one, he is tall and athletic and Penn State needs that to guard Draymond Green. For another, although Travis doesn’t have a real offensive identity yet, he at least has upside, which is more than Woodyard can say. Yeah, I know Woodyard is a senior and everything, but he rarely impacts the team positively on offense and Travis just needs to play more.
• Set fire to the rain of threes. Yeah, an Adele pun. The point is that Michigan State is an elite defensive force and despite my desire for any sort of post presence, Penn State will probably have the ball in the hands of a guard 99% of the time. Scoring inside will be tough, especially if the Lions act like they are allergic to foul shots again. They will probably jack up a lot of three pointers. For any chance of success, Penn State will have to hope that Billy Oliver can shoot like he did against Purdue and not like he did in every other game. Nick Collela should also be spotting up on the perimeter, because I’d rather Jermaine Marshall and Tim Frazier drive inside and try to draw some fouls. (more…)

Maduegbunam (left) picks John Wall’s brain between games.

Fresh off the plane from Philadephia, Akosa Maduegbunam (His friends call him Kosa for short) looked into the crisp Boston sky to see some extra 4th of July fireworks shoot off into the night. “I come home and they’re still celebrating a week later, it’s crazy” Kosa said. He doesn’t mind though, having spent the past few days with some under-the-radar talent means he has already seen plenty of post-4th of July fireworks.

The Reebok Breakout Challenge, is an annual event held for high school basketball players who may have missed the eye of scouts earlier in the year. NBA star John Wall made a name for himself at the Reebok Challenge in 2007 after previously being unranked by scouting services across the country raising the invitation only tournament’s credibility among college basketball circles. With potential recruiting sleepers and talented players in attendance the Reebok Challenge provided Kosa with plenty of opportunities to see how he measured up. Even though he has already declared his intentions to attend Penn State in 2012, talking to him this evening Kosa knows the Challenge provided him a chance to showcase his skills against talented players. (more…)

After that, it became more and more evident as the season wore on that Buie would be leaving to play ball elsewhere. The good news is, as Buie moves on to his next destination, Penn State basketball has already gotten over him with a new coach and new recruiting prospects. It’s too bad that Buie could not become the next Talor Battle at PSU, but thanks to Pat Chambers and company, there’s still plenty to look forward to.

Bowman in trouble

When we last heard from rising sophomore shooting guard Tre Bowman, he was being charged with disorderly contact because of State Patty’s Day incident. Back then it still looked like Bowman would be able to compete for a starting job on the basketball team this November, but now we find out that Pat Chambers has removed him from the roster for the fall semester.

David Jones reports that Pat Chambers is suspending the guard until “Bowman’s performance both on and off the court meets his specifications.”

Even if Bowman is activated once Big Ten play begins, at that point he may have been surpassed on the depth chart by fellow sophomore Jermaine Marshall and freshman Trey Lewis. That’s not good news for Penn State on the court because they’ll likely need all the help they can get this season. In the long run, however, it’s good that Coach Chambers is as no-nonsense about misconduct as he appeared in his introductory press conference.

“I would say penn state is one of the schools on top of my list because its close to home, its a good academic program”  Thomas said, his growing 6’7 225 frame has only helped his stock soar to his current ESPN rating of 90 and a 3 star rating on Rivals.  ”I like the style of play that coach chambers coaches, the coaching staff is cool, my friends from school go there, and I can see myself going there if I didn’t play basketball and my impressions are that he’s a great person outside of the basketball court and treats everyone well.” (more…)

While Massachusetts is a far cry from the fertile Philadelphia recruiting grounds Penn State fans are eager to pillage, Chambers had already offered Maduegbunam a scholarship while at Boston University meaning that this was a simple call and connection to make. With a year left in high school, Maduegbunam is just starting to find his game but has already picked up some high praise from ESPN’s recruiting services:

A physically imposing prospect on the wing, Maduegbunam has a strong build with easily noticeable muscle mass and good athleticism. He has good speed running the floor, gets off his feet quickly, and plays above the rim with ease. While he is a drive first player with great economy of motion off the bounce, Maduegbunam is a much improved shooter. He gets a ton of lift on his mid-range pull-up and so can get it off at virtually anytime and is now a reliable catch and shoot player behind the arc with good loft and backspin on his ball. Defensively, he has all the physical tools to blossom into a lock down on the ball defender. (more…)

Ironically however, with a loaded roster of young talent Chambers comes to Penn State with only 3 scholarships to recruit with until 2014.  Despite this deficiency, Chambers and his new assistant coaches have already been hard at work in Philadelphia and New Jersey trying to find the sorts of players that they feel can take the program to the next level. While Penn State fans shouldn’t expect the program to start seeing its share of 4 and 5 star players in the next year, Pat Chambers’ active presence in the area has produced contact with 5 different recruits as well as his first offer as coach at Penn State. In the past 14 days, Penn State has reached out to these 9 total players, 5 of whom are eligible for the 2012 recruiting class. (more…)

To be honest, I’m not sure if yesterday’s meeting between Joe Paterno and Mike Krzyzewski was in the works before the Tressel/Pryor scandal broke, but either way, it’s good timing for an event like this. ESPN has a lot of money tied up in college athletics, yet they are constantly forced to report on various rule-breaking that goes on in the university sporting scene. You can’t really blame them for creating something to balance out the scales a little bit. After all, when Joe Paterno’s teams don’t commit violations, it’s not a major news story (especially when they finish fourth or fifth or worse in the Big Ten).

Anyway, if you want to watch JoePa and Coach K talk about sports and life among other things, ESPN is airing this baby, titled Difference Makers: Life Lessons with Paterno and Krzyzewski, on June 30 at 8 PM EST. You can also hit the jump for some details from people who were actually there.
(more…)

The four single-plays on the Nittany Lion’s schedule are as follows:

• Home: Illinois and Minnesota
• Away: Ohio State and Michigan State

(more…)

Burroughs is a Philly guy and was an assistant under Jay Wright at Hofstra.

This move makes sense for several reasons. First, Burroughs has been an assistant on coaching staffs all over the Northeast. Prior to his stint at Navy (MD)  from 2004-11, Burroughs was an assistant at Marist (NY) from 2000-04, Hofstra (NY) from 1997-2000, and American University (DC) from 1996-97.

While at Hofstra, Burroughs was an assistant for Villanova coach Jay Wright. Like Chambers, Burroughs has the pedigree of Jay Wright, which isn’t a bad thing.

Burroughs graduated from Richmond in 1994 where he played point guard for the Spiders. He left as the 6th all time steals (127) and assists (316) man in Richmond history. Due to his playing experience at Richmond, Burroughs has developed successful guard play as an assistant –  he produced three All-Patriot League guards at Navy.

Chambers’ first hire seems to be a solid one that makes a lot of sense. Burroughs is a Philly/Northeast guy, he has a Jay Wright pedigree and has a specialty: guards.

Its also interesting to note that Ed DeChellis’ move to Navy might have had something to do with the hire.

Over the past 28 years, Penn State has managed to pull off one of the greater coaching feats in major College Basketball. That’s right, while Joe Paterno has sat in his office decade after decade, the basketball program has quietly put together a respectable streak themselves. What is this streak you might ask? The Bruce Parkhill coaching tree.

The tree first buried it’s roots in 1983 when Bruce Parkhill was hired by Penn State to replace Dick Harter as head coach. Parkhill, looking to assemble a young capable staff hired two assistant coaches: Jerry Dunn and Ed DeChellis. While DeChellis had a brief 2 year stint as an assistant at Salem International, he returned to Penn State in 1986 and remained on the staff until Parkhill’s departure in 1995. With no coach, Penn State promoted Jerry Dunn in 1995 where he would remain until 2003. A year after Dunn was promoted to the top spot, Ed DeChellis left Penn State for the head coaching job at East Tennessee State  until being rehired as Penn State’s head coach in 2003.

And that is the streak. Craftfully done in front of those who may not have seen the full picture, Penn State managed to hire a head coach three times in a row without ever leaving the staff. 28 years of never leaving the tree that Bruce Parkhill planted. Three coaches over the span of 28 years is impressive enough, but to never look outside the walls of Rec Hall or the Bryce Jordan Center for a coach is an achievement all on its own. With newer and younger hires from across the nation coming to Penn State, the “In house promotion”  school have thought has lost momentum, but not before it shaped the past three decades of Penn State Basketball.

What does this have to do with recruiting? Parkhill by all accounts wasn’t the best recruiter and wasn’t particularly fond of doing it. He was much more content coaching up what skill he had than going out and fighting tooth and nail for the next big name. Couple that with the fact DeChellis and Dunn were brought up in that mindset, heading down to the City of Brotherly Love wasn’t on the to-do list. Certainly all three coaches tried to pull some players out of the area, Philadelphia wasn’t neglected, but the urgency wasn’t there. (more…)

Attitude. Success with honor. Passion. Energy. Heart.

Penn State president Graham Spanier and Director of Athletics Tim Curley introduce the Pat Chambers family to the Penn State family.

Pat Chambers is giving Penn State basketball the face lift it has so dearly needed. Like a politician, Chambers is proposing solutions for everything that has plagued the program over the past several coaching regimes.

Chambers’ forte is his passion for the game of basketball and his ability to instill that very same passion into his players. At today’s press conference at the Bryce Jordan Center, Chambers reiterated his desire to motivate his players by saying to former Penn State coach Bruce Parkill, “I hope my teams play with the type of passion that yours did.” In basketball terms, Chambers has stated his goal of transitioning Penn State into an up-tempo team, “We are going to play up-tempo,” he told SID Brian Siegrist when he arrived in State College yesterday, “We are going to push the ball. We have a great point guard in Tim Frazier.”   Without hard evidence (KenPom.com is currently down) Chambers’ BU teams were generally known for their ability to score and run over the past two seasons, even in the low scoring America East. (more…)

The past week and a half has been pretty stressful for every Penn State basketball fan. Between the odd timing of Ed DeChellis’ departure as well as a suspect list of coaching candidates coming into Happy Valley, many fans were wondering if the program was going to take a step backwards with it’s next hire. If anything, Tim Curley’s involvement with the search while using words like “Nation-wide” and “Competitive salary” made even the most positive of fans cringe.

But of the few names Penn State fans could agree, Pat Chambers was far and away at the top of most fan’s lists. Thankfuly it seems as though short of a disastor in the next few hours that Penn State will offically announce the hiring of Pat Chambers as their new head coach. And frankly, if Chambers doesn’t take the job Penn State is back to square one having rejected or have been turned down by other options.

Who is Pat Chambers? While coaching at Boston University, Chambers posted back-to-back 21-14 seasons in his first two years and took BU to the NCAA Tournament as a 16-seed this past season. He started his basketball carreer at Villanova as director of operations in May 2004. He was promoted to assistant coach after one season and finally Associate Head Coach in June 2008 and saw the Wildcats make the NCAA tournament four times, including a spot in the Final Four. Over this time Chambers was able to make many Philadelphia recruiting contacts. (more…)