Total Embarrassment: Penn State Basketball

[Crimson's Ghost]

The real sad thing is Pitt Basketball is very soon to be on penn states level. Basketball just isnt big in western PA anymore. There isnt a lot of local talent and nothing to draw outside recruits there.

Whats their pitch? Come to a cold snowy winter place where you will be overshadowed to play for a mediocre basketball program?

I’m not exactly sure what this means, but it sounds like a hot take. In any event, Penn State finally caught Pitt basketball last year. Pitt made an incompetent hire and Chambers started landing good recruits from Philadelphia. Seemed to be a good sign for Penn State on that front with an NIT title and Pitt looking awful.
Fast forward to now, all Penn State has done to follow that up a year later is to start 0-9 in the Big Ten and Pitt already has a better coach and has passed Penn State up again. Not that the teams really run in the same circles basketball wise, but since the year 2000 Pitt has been leaps and bounds ahead of Penn State. Pitt screwed up with Kevin Stallings, Chambers seemingly had a nice pipeline to Philly going and they have already squandered the opportunity.  

I don’t quite understand why PSU is as bad as it is in basketball, I don’t think they are ever going to a consistent top 25 team but making the tournament every few years should be more than doable.  

[Crimson's Ghost]

The crazy thing with Penn State basketball is that it always has one really good player and can never build off of that. Landing one really good player isn’t the issue, landing enough talent around him seems to be escaping PSU.

[abpk2903]

I’m not a Pitt fan at all but those that are have a lot of reasons to be excited about their outlook. I think they hit a homerun with this hire and will be a middle to upper half of the ACC most years going forward. And that is some pretty darn good basketball. 
Give me a break about coming to a cold snowy school BS. Michigan, Michigan State, Syracuse, Wisconsin, Villanova, West Virginia, Ohio State, Marquette, Iowa, Purdue, Notre Dame, and many more programs have a whole lot of success with a similar climate to Pittsburgh and State College. 

That is a lazy excuse. 

[konjo78]

Pitt is 2-5 in the ACC. Penn state hasnt won a single big 10 game yet.

Even with a good hire I think Pitts chances are gone. Maybe 1 or 2 NCAA tourney appearances every 5 years if lucky. But to act as if they are in a "good" position is having blind faith.

[abpk2903]

I’m not a Pitt fan. I don’t have any “faith”. Just watching with my eyeballs. Young team, competitive in a lot of ACC games, a few upsets, great recruiting. Coach that seems to know how to push the right buttons and combinations. Once again, I’ll stress, I don’t like Pitt. 

[Crimson's Ghost]

Yea, the weather thing doesn’t make a lot of sense. Michigan played Villanova for the championship last year. It’s not very warm in either city right now.

Basketball has always been an urban sport and the biggest urban areas are still in the north. So I don’t think anyone is sweating climate when it comes to basketball recruiting.

Penn State basketball has many other issues that aren’t weather related.

[konjo78]

I mean mich and villanova has coaches whove made final 4s and programs who consistently make the tournament.


Its easier to go to a program like that then a couple that will be lucky to have a winning conference record.

[konjo78]

My point about climate was more about the fact the cities and programs arent going to sell recruits to come, so maybe climate always could.

[Crimson's Ghost]

Well, the Pac-12 is really bad at basketball and it has the best climate among the top 6 basketball leagues. So again, this whole argument doesn't really seem to mean much.

[konjo78]

Its a recruiting thing. If you are a 3 star with an option to FSU, PITT, PSU or Arizona state weather could play a small factor.


Not saying warm weather means you get the best prospects but a subpar program with heavy winters isnt going to win any players either.