BleacherCoaches.com

Penn State has won its last 5 Big Ten home games and including wins over #17 Indiana and #7 Michigan State to give them seven big tens wins on the year (5 more than last year) and have done it without their two best players for most of the way (Cornley and Claxton). This may have been a blessing in the long run for the Nittany Lions. Yesterday they started all five first year players including 4 freshman (other was a juco transfer). Even being down 8 in the second half they battled back and forced the game to OT and eventually got the win. Teams of the best being down 8 in the second half to a good opponent would have folded and probably lost by 20. I actually heard someone on the Big Ten Network say Ed DeChellis is his canidate for coach of the year. They are both young and winning a combination they havent had in Happy Valley for years.

Now if Penn State can beat Illinois in the first round of the Big Ten Tourney (a team they beat twice by a combined 5 points in the regular season) they will be post-season eligable. Although it just may be the NIT or the new CBT, it allows this young team a few more games on the court and extends the season another week or so allowing the coaches to get this team ready to possibly make a NCAA tournament run next year.

Nice try. First of all, Jamelle Cornley has only missed the last 2 games of the regular season, maybe another one or two earlier in the season. They played 30 games!!!!! To say PSU played without him "Most of the Way" is a joke. Why try to embellish PSU's accomplishments??? Except for MSU and Indiana, who PSU beat at home, the rest of their wins in the Big Ten came against teams with losing records. Northwestern, Iowa, Illinois and Michigan are not even good enough to make the NIT, which only requires that a team "not have a losing record" to be invited.

PSU improved....and Cornley played most of the season banged up with a noticable limp. He finally had to shut it down and should have a nice senior year barring injury. Losing Clax cost this team 2 wins I'd say.

They improved this year and have a future that has a glimmer...sort of like Pitt ended up with at the end of this football season. Chill Moldy.

Penn State is definately going to be a top team for a long long time. When I think basketball I think PSU. Look out tar heels. look out blue devils, there's a new BLUE in town!!!!!! Now those like 10 years in a row of PITT winning 20 or more games per year is nothing compared to the powerhouse that is PSU Basketball. :lol:

You make a joke about the NIT but in reality it is the same as a Mid-December bowl game. Do you really win anything? No. However, as you said teams like Michigan, Illinois, Iowa, Northwestern do not have the opportunity that the Nittany Lions do to have more practices and play games against teams that are in the same league as you. The 3 or 4 years before the Nittany Lions made the run to the sweet 16 they were in the NIT and made the finals in it I believe twice. I'm not saying Penn State will be on the same level as Duke, Pitt's, UNC, so on but at least they are doing better than they have for quite a few years.