Total Embarrassment: Penn State Basketball

[abpk2903]

This may seem like a very weird answer but I think both coaches are about the best their respective programs can hope for at this point.  Let's face it, Penn State is not spending big money on the basketball program.  If they let Chambers go, that goes back to my whole original post and premise for this thread.  What Next?  Another mildly successful mid-major coach that will be one of the lowest paid major conference coaches in the country.  What happens with these 3 freshman that are starting to play at a very competitive level?  What happens with Watkins and Stevens who can probably make money playing basketball professionally next year?  Why would they stick it out for another go around?  They may not even if Chambers stays.  Here is the thing, Chambers isn't a great good, I wouldn't even call him a good coach.  He does, however, recruit B1G caliber players.  Ed DeChelis and Jerry Dunn did not.  They may have had 1 or 2 B1G caliber players on the entire roster at any given time.  Chambers I still think could build Penn State into a something they have never been and that would be a consistent mid-pack B1G program.  Giving up on him now would be a mistake, in my opinion.  As far as Capel, I mean let's give this guy some time.  Pitt may have had the worst power conference roster in decades last year.  It was atrocious.   I think Capel, unlike Chambers, can actually coach with the big-time coaches throughout his conference.  He has the opposite problem of Chambers right now which is he doesn't have a full roster to compete and showcase his coaching talent.  Long term, I think he will do a great job for the Pitt program.  Once again, let's temper expectations a little bit for Pitt.  They aren't going to be a Duke, North Carolina, Syracuse, or Virginia anytime soon but I think they can follow a similar trajectory as a Virginia Tech, Florida State, or NC State in the ACC which is still a very high quality program that expects to be in the tournament every single year.

[Crimson's Ghost]

Yea, I’m not sure what the answer is for Penn State. They’d be starting over and Chambers is actually recruiting fairly well of late. They should have never been as bad as they were this year in my opinion.

As for Pitt, I’m not sure if Capel is the answer but it’s far too early to judge him yet. He walked into such a desolate situation. I think the two big wins sort of made people forget how bad the roster actually is.

[Manfred]

As long as PSU has a top level wrestling and pretty darn good football program, I don't think many folks really care much about PSU hoops.

[El-Moldo]

Chambers has completed 7 seasons as PSU head coach. Has had 5 non-winning seasons and in 2014-15 was 18-16. Big game tomorrow at Wisconsin. Could end up 15-16 before the Conference Tourney. Would have to play 3 games at least to end up 17-17 to avoid a losing season, or actually be the tournament champs.

[Wrasslerfan]

ok let me pose this ques which coach would you rather play for right now capel or chambers

[El-Moldo]

The Big Ten Conference announced their Big Ten Coaches award selections tonight. With Lamar Stevens making first team all-conference, and Josh Reaves selected as Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year, how could PSU have a losing record?

[Manfred]

Good question...unless the other 3 starters were tree stumps.

[Aiks19]

Maybe it was just a matter of the young players betting adjusted to college ball. They finished very well. Hopefully they can carry this over to off season and into next year. We shall see.


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[12HankQB]

Moldo, do you ever worry about the candles in the back of your PSU closet shrine catching fire? It's like an episode of Hey Arnold...

[abpk2903]

Playing the second hardest schedule with 3 true freshmen in the top 8 rotation has a lot to do with where they are at right now.  They let a few games slip but they are easily a tournament caliber team.  They rate comparably to Syracuse, Iowa, UCF, NC State, and Oklahoma in the metrics (KenPom and NET).  They actually score much better than many bubble teams like Georgetown, Alabama, Temple, Oregon, and Xavier.  Beating Penn State is scored as a Tier 1 win in the NET.  Tier 1, power conference teams almost never miss the tournament. Penn State will be the exception.