Total Embarrassment: Penn State Basketball

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abpk2903
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Total Embarrassment: Penn State Basketball

Post by abpk2903 »

[font=Calibri]As fans, we want a good basketball program.  There is no reason that the athletics department wouldn’t want a good basketball program yet 25 years into joining one of the premiere basketball conferences in the country followed by building one of the nicest arena’s (at the time) in the country, they are as stuck further in neutral as they have ever been.[/font]

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[font=Calibri]Where do they go from here?  I mean the easy fix is to let Pat Chambers go and that is something that I think they should do.   Pat Chambers brought energy, the highest level of recruiting the program has ever seen, and seems to be very well respected amongst his peers.  Yet, here they are in year 8 without a tournament selection and are sitting at 7-11 (0-7).   If you look at the numbers, Ed DeChellis probably had a better tenure than Pat Chambers.   So if you move on from Chambers, what is the direction you go from there?  Penn State has tried about every route.   Do they just insert another guy that had a few seasons of success in a smaller conference?  Do they try to swing a guy that has roots of success in a major conference program (Thad Maata or Steve Alford type)?  Or do they make a run at an assistant from an elite level program?  Would high level assistants or coaches with resume’s like Maata or Alford even have interest in this program?  My guess is probably not without a huge contract with a long term commitment.  I don’t think the program is in a place where they should invest the probably $15 or $20 million contract required to go with a high level coaching prospect or coach with established prior success.  There is no track record that points to that working out.[/font]

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[font=Calibri]So does that mean just riding out this wave with Chambers? Maybe.  Personally, I think the number 1 rule in firing a coach is knowing that you have a better option for replacement.  What does firing Chambers followed by bringing in another coach from a slightly successful mid-major conference really do to make things better? [/font]

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[font=Calibri]I get so tired of hearing the same handful of excuses for the lack of success of this program being thrown around.  They emphasize football…well so does Ohio State, Alabama, and Florida and they are all way more successful than Penn State.  It’s hard to recruit city kids to play rural basketball…Iowa, Virginia Tech, and Nebraska seem to be doing a much better job of it. The arena is too big and doesn’t produce an atmosphere that is a draw…well be better and fill the arena or find an arena smaller to play in.  Penn State will never be a winter sports draw it is too hard to drive up there in the winter…have you seen the hockey and wrestling programs?[/font]

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[font=Calibri]The fix isn’t going to be simple.  I don’t think Penn State fans are looking to become the next Duke or Kansas.  Heck, I don’t think we even are looking to be the next Michigan or Florida.  Just give us a watchable version of basketball.  Make the tournament every few years.  Not once in 18 years (as a 10 seed that got bounced in the opening round).   This is just pathetic.  That athletic department should be embarrassed that an athletics department with the size and funding of Penn State is probably the worst basketball program in all of the major conferences. [/font]
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Re: Total Embarrassment: Penn State Basketball

Post by Manfred »

If we want local low to mediocre D1 basketball we can always go to see the Red Flash.
It ain't over until it's over.
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Re: Total Embarrassment: Penn State Basketball

Post by 12HankQB »

The way I see it and most college sports is, they are what they are. You can go up or down slightly, but rarely do you build a dynasty like in NCAA on the Xbox original  ;). Pitt has had good basketball, but they'll never be a Duke or Kentucky. Just like Northwestern will never be Alabama or Georgia. Teams that had established success back in the day remain successful and it's hard to pull from those programs.
If only closed minds came with closed mouths
abpk2903
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Re: Total Embarrassment: Penn State Basketball

Post by abpk2903 »

I think that misses the point, though. I don’t think any Penn State fan is looking to become a perennial power or even a program that is a tournament every year.
1 tournament game in 18 seasons is beyond acceptable for a program in the B1G with the athletics budget the size of Penn State. Most years of those 18 they weren’t even in the conversation of making the tournament. 68 teams make the tournament. 68! 

Northwestern and Virginia Tech we’re both doormat programs. They both have turned the corner and are now consistently competitive.  That’s all I am asking for. Be competitive. 
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Re: Total Embarrassment: Penn State Basketball

Post by goldendevil »

I've been a season ticket holder since the Harter era.  What I'm fed up with now is looking at the Iowa game #2 starts out with
3 three point baskets and the next thing I know he is on the bench at the 16 minute mark.  Why, the young man is on.
Then you have Watkins he sits at the 17 minute mark, 3 minutes after the tip.  Heavens he has to be ready to play by now.
The home court advantage is not there.   The BJC is good for your country and western shows and WWE however look
around at other games within the conference, the fans are courtside.   That leads us into the fans, at PSU they are either empty
blue seats or their deaf, mute and cannot get out of their seats.   The student support is terrible, 40,000 students on campus and
only 2,000 show up and PSU has to give them free food to get them there.  The loudspeakers there work to perfection also.
I would say Miracle Ear put a lot of money into the installation of the sound system there along with many Ear-Nose & Throat
doctors.   You know the ones that repair ruptured ear drums.   A man sits beside me has a hearing aid and he has to cover his
ears when the introductions takes place.  If your a parent taking a small child take some ear protection for them.
Season ticket holders at one time was given food perks or other things.   Now everything goes to the students.    
The athletic department had some nice 1/2 time entertainment for everyone.   Now we have baby crawls, shooting a foul shot
with a blindfold on or someone given 30 seconds to make 4 layups running the length of the court twice.
Food prices are higher than the quality of the food.    The overall experience of attending a game at the BJC isn't what it use
to be.
Possibly the entertainment and perks for season ticket holders went out with the raises to directors of the Athletic Department.
Talk about top heavy.   

Well there you have it, the team is shaky, at game time we're over coached, no great atmosphere, playing in a cave with jet 
engine noise speakers.   The only thing we have now is waiting for Idaho to show up in September and Coach Franklin holding
2-3 players back in the tunnel just tugging to get out there and kick the potato crew up and down the stadium turf.   Then
when we play someone and have a 40 point lead with a minute to go we'll challenge a measurement.    
Oh that is another story.

WE ARE ..... lol.
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Re: Total Embarrassment: Penn State Basketball

Post by El-Moldo »

Wonder if Pat "We're this close" Chambers is thinking of resigning? Not sure if PSU has ever fired a B-Ball coach. Bruce Parkhill resigned in 1995. Jerry Dunn resigned in March 2003. Ed DeChellis resigned in 2011 in order to take the head coaching job at Navy. Doesn't seem like PSU ever fires a basketball coach. Guess it makes PSU look better in the public relations department when a coach resigns. Or is it one of those resign or be fired situations?
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Re: Total Embarrassment: Penn State Basketball

Post by abpk2903 »

If Pat Chambers somehow survives this year, next year has to be a tournament appearance. Stevens and Watkins will both be seniors. I’m guessing that would be the very end of the leash for Chambers.

You have to think the AD department is looking at their options for this off-season.

I really wish they would take a look at Thad Maata. 
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Re: Total Embarrassment: Penn State Basketball

Post by El-Moldo »

I think Lamar Stevens has had enough. I'm sure he will leave after this season. Reaves graduates. Watkins will take bad advice and leave early too. No tournament appearances in 8 years isn't good.
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Re: Total Embarrassment: Penn State Basketball

Post by abpk2903 »

No tournament appearances in 8 years isn't acceptable.  Unfortunately, Penn State has made the tournament 4 times in the last 54 years and just 3 times since joining the B1G in 1993.  If you compare Chambers resume to DeChellis or Dunn or  Parkhill they are all very similar.  They all hover around .450-.500 overall win percentage and .300 to .400 win percentage in the B1G.   At this point, that IS Penn State basketball.  Parkhill was slightly more successful but it also came at a time where many B1G programs weren't where they are at today.  My guess is, they will let Chambers go.  And I personally think they should.  But I would also venture to assume in 8-10 years, we are having a similar conversation about the next guy.  
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Re: Total Embarrassment: Penn State Basketball

Post by konjo78 »

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?
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