With the official release from Ed DeChellis and the Sports Information department, I think it’s safe to assume that the transfer train has left the station. As usual with such happenings, numerous unsubstantiated rumors were running wild around the internet. Taran Buie, who has had one hell of a strange year at State College High, was rumored to be expressing interest in getting out of LOI. That turned out to be false. Buie has endured so many strange rumors this year that it’s gotten to the point where anything out of State High now I’ll just believe to be more small town gossip. If there’s anything we have learned from the Battle/Buie family, it’s that their family comes first above all else. Buie’s family is here, he’s not leaving (at least not in the near future). It also appears that Cammeron Woodyard and Tim Frazier, subjected to their own rumors, are also staying with the program.

At first thought, this is nothing like the end of the Jerry Dunn era, which many frustrated fans will have you believe. The ‘family’ motto of the program has constantly been mocked the last 24 hours. I think that couldn’t be further from the truth.

• Adam Highberger – It’s unfortunate that his injury-riddled career is going to end, as he was pegged as one walk-on who DeChellis thought he could become a contributor. But if you know anything about the schooling and standards required to become a dentist, Highberger’s career aspiration, you would know that moving onto dental school far outweighs playing spot duty for this basketball program. I wish Adam well.
• Andrew Ott – The Villanova transfer is graduating with a business degree, but he still had a year of eligibility remaining. However, I think DeChellis and the coaching staff made the right decision in this case. If we want to reach NCAA goals next year, we needed to bring in another big man who can compete at this level. Ott was a serviceable backup in most cases, but he’s not the guy who’s going to win us ball games. We needed his scholarship (since we had none opening, or so we thought). His playing time significantly decreased towards the end of the year, and I think that was ED’s message to Ott. Yeah, Ott had a shoulder injury at the beginnning of February, but he was definitely healthy to play down the stretch and didn’t. Edwards and Borovnjak took his minutes. Ott might not be leaving on good terms, but this happens all the time across the country in college basketball. Scholarships are sacred and if you’re only averaging 10 MPG with 3 PPG with a degree in hand, you’re going to be shown the door. I wish the Ottzilla well.
• Bill Edwards – I’ve always had the suspicion that Bill never was really 100% certain with his decision to come here. It’s always hard to closely follow the recruitments of PSU recruits, since we usually don’t land too many big name players. But with how long Bill drew out the process (he decided roughly a week until the spring signing period was over), I just felt he didn’t know where he wanted to go. He kept saying how he was hoping for a bigger offer, and it never came, so he probably settled for Penn State. There were rumors that he didn’t like State College and those were probably true. It’s disappointing to see him go, because I think he could’ve become a heckuva player here. I wish Bill well and look forward to following the rest of his career.
• Chris Babb – Now this is the biggest surprise. I know Chris has been homesick. It’s gotta be tough when your home and family are 1500 miles away. People don’t realize how little basketball players get to go home. All the major holidays during the school year are during the season (Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Spring Break). Then, they are on campus working out on their own for at least the second summer session, if not both. Throw in the fact that it snows in October here compared to his Arlington, Texas home, and I don’t think Chris’ decision to transfer had anything to do with the players or coaches. However, one must question, would Chris have transferred if we went 9-9 in the Big Ten this year instead of 3-15? Losing certainly breeds frustration and unhappiness and the tough year could’ve made Chris realize how much he misses home. I wish Chris well.

I don’t think these departures signal anything like the end of Jerry Dunn’s era. Players were leaving back then because they were upset with the coach. There was no team chemistry and it was just one huge mess. As of right now, I think it’s clear that the fan base is understandably a far bigger mess than the cohesiveness of the program right now. Talor Battle’s quote in the release further credits that belief.

“I know my teammates and myself are really looking forward to next season and have some things we want to achieve,” said Battle. “I’m looking forward to a really good off-season with the guys who want to be here and I love the guys we have coming back and think we can reach the goals we have set.”

Nonetheless, the departures of Babb and Edwards certainly are alarming for the health of the program. I don’t think their reasons for leaving are anything to get worked up about, but there are some serious holes now in the scholarship table. While the losses certainly aren’t good, I don’t think they cripple PSU’s chances next year (and they cannot be used as an excuse!). We do lose some experience and are going to have to rely on Marshall and Buie to step in right away. I think they’ll do just fine meshing with Frazier, Battle, and Woodyard’s games, though. We all know the backcourt wasn’t the issue this year, and I don’t believe it’ll be an issue next year. This year’s squad lacked the penetration/slasher ability at the 2-guard. Buie and Marshall will provide that, but now we’re lacking perimeter threats. Woodyard and Battle can’t carry it on their own. Another shooter would be beneficial, IMO.

The biggest loss of Babb and Edwards is the fact they were going to be the upperclassmen on the 2011-2012 squad. They were suppose to carry the torch during a ‘rebuilding’ year after Battle’s class graduates. There was already tremendous pressure on DeChellis and staff to deliver on the supposed 5 scholarships for 2011. But now, he has to fill 5 more scholarships for 2011-2012 (and hopefully keep current verbals, Trey Burke and Peter Alexis), 3 of which are available for next year. With so little talent so late in the recruiting game, DeChellis’ future depends on who he lands with these scholarships. A huge mistake in DeChellis’ regime was handing out three scholarships in the 2005 class to European players who never produced anything (Milos Bogetic, Joonas Suotamo, and Nikola Obradovic). This program cannot afford such a blunder again.

However, I’m not sure what we can really expect on the recruiting trail anymore. All the momentum gained from the 2009 NIT championship has been lost with our crappy year this season. We were getting so close to rounding out some stability and class balance, but it’s crumbled a bit with these transfers. Looking at the recruiting calendar, after tomorrow DeChellis will only have another 10 days or so of a contact period in April. Spring signing period runs from April 14th-May 19th. The odds of the staff bringing in the quality of talent in so little time is slim-to-none. But that’s what faces the program right now. I think they should only focus on filling two scholarships right now for next year, a big who can play and a perimeter shooter (preferably JuCos for the sake of class balance). Take another big if you’re positive he can play. They cannot afford to gamble on kids at this point. If you have to save another ship for the 2011 class, so be it.

So now it’s time to scour the internet to find any tidbits we can of who PSU is after. Some names for 2010 are Majok Majok, JuCo Dwight McCombs, Eric McKnight, and Brice Kofane (Buie’s AAU teammate). Although, I don’t think any of those kids have ‘high’ interest in PSU. Hopefully we get some positive news on the recruiting front in the next month…

There’s no doubt in anyone’s mind that PSU is not the worst basketball team in the conference right now at the end of the season (when it’s most important). However, the standings say so and PSU gets the 11-seed in the Big Ten tournament. But what’s exciting is, everybody gets new life. PSU has the opportunity to build on their inspired play of late and make up for this disaster of a season.

The first step is today against 6-seed Minnesota, who’s NCAA at-large hopes hinges on a good performance the next few days. It’s been a disappointing season for the Gophers, too, relative to expectations. I don’t hesitate in saying this could very well be Tubby’s worst coaching job I’ve seen. Al Nolen’s academic suspension certainly didn’t help. But this team is way too talented to lay eggs in March against weaker teams, especially considering their bubble hopes.

PSU played Minnesota tough the first two meetings, but lost both of them. There really was no consistent correlation between the two games. We have not had much success against Minnesota in recent years, but there’s no doubt in my mind that PSU can win this game. However, I think much of the outcome of this game depends on Minnesota’s effort level. They present matchup problems that PSU can’t handle.

Keys for PSU:

• Handle the Gophers press, when they do, and limit TOs. 25% TO rate killed the Lions in the first meeting.
• Keep rebounding the basketball. It didn’t hurt PSU in the first two meetings, but if Minnesota outrebounds PSU, I believe that will signify Golden Gopher dominance down low with their size.
• Out shoot the Gophers from 3. Hoffarber is still hitting 48% of his threes. Babb and Battle have to produce more than Hoff and Westbrook, IMO.
• Continued Jeff Brooks’ aggressiveness. Jeff’s unstoppable when he plays within himself and with confidence. But the ticking time bomb that is his mind can always backfire on him.
• Get some valuable bench production. If PSU is going to do anything in this tournament, the bench has to show up with 10 minutes of production, not 5 minutes of liability. Frazier, Edwards, Ott, and even Woodyard and Borovnjak need to be ready to play this weekend.

Now, yes, we know about the universal rule in tournament play, but if PSU pulls out a W today, I really like how their end of the bracket is set up for the Lions to get on a little bit of a roll and make some noise. Wisconsin and Ohio State, who we haven’t beaten since 2003, are on the opposite side. PSU wouldn’t face either until the finals. Up next for PSU would be a Michigan State team, without Chris Allen.  Then would be the Hummel-less Boilers again (unless our favorite whipping boy, Northwestern, could pull out some magic themselves).  Obviously both teams are still gonna be tough, but they aren’t hopeless.

We’ll see. Hopefully we’re in for some exciting basketball (that lasts longer than a day). If this season has taught Nittany Lions fans anything, it’s we have the players to compete in this league. The first step is the Golden Gophers (tentative 7:30 tip, Big Ten Network). It’s time for the Lions to deliver on this season. It’s their last chance.

Conference play starts tonight, and the Lions open up with no cakewalk. The Golden Gophers play defense, something many opponents in the OOC schedule could not. Will the Nittany Lions be able to handle it?

Minnesota’s only real competition came in the 76 Classic and the Big Ten/ACC challenge. They did beat Butler, but they went 1-3 in those games. However, all of those games were on the road. They lost close games to Miami FL, Texas A&M, and Portland (when they were the story of college basketball).

The Golden Gophers practically returned their whole team from last year (89% returning minutes). Defensive stud Damian Johnson and offensive scorer Lawrence Westbrook return as the senior leaders. Hoffarber, Nolen, Iverson, and Sampson are back as well. The Gophers are deep (11 guys average between 9-25 MPG), tall (21st tallest team in the country), and experienced. Penn State is none of those things. Oh, boy.

Minnesota, much like last year, is still finding their way offensively. Usually Tubby just goes with the hot hand, which this year has been Blake Hoffarber (49% from behind the arc). Blake has torn PSU up in the past so the Lions must be weary of the sharpshooter. Lawrence Westbrook is the go to scorer at 12.9 PPG, but after that, it will be whoever has the hot hand. They can go inside with Sampson (8.4 PPG) or Damian Johnson (10.7 PPG).  Or they could outside with Hoffarber, Westbrook, and 6’3″ reserve Devoe Joseph, who also has had crazy success against the Lions.

But the strength of the Gophers is their defense. Pomeroy has them rated as the 2nd best defense in the entire land (behind only Texas). They like to press you and force steals, but if you successfully get into the halfcourt, they’ll swat your shots. Their defensive numbers so far have been outstanding. The Nittany Lions haven’t seen a defense nearly as good as the Gophers will bring tonight.

So can PSU win this game tonight? I guess they can, but I have no idea how they will. Here are some keys for PSU:

• Slow the game down. Minnesota’s weakness is the halfcourt game, so it’s crucial for the ball handlers to be able to beat the Minnesota press with regularity.
• Be aggressive on offense. The Nittany Lions have to get to the foul line. Minnesota’s defense is allowing their opponents to shoot 29% from 3 and 39% from 2. PSU is going to have to put up some points at the foul line. It’ll be much easier.
• Lock down their shooters. The Gophers have had ridiculous success from behind the arc against the Lions. They shot 19-29 last year in 2 games (including a record 9-9 in the game at The Barn). That obviously cannot happen if PSU expects to win.

PREDICTION: Minnesota covers the 12 point spread. Their defense is just too much for a Nittany Lions offense still struggling to find their identity. Battle could go off and I still think it wouldn’t matter (much like the VT game). Good chance this could get ugly.

A few notes…

• David Jackson, who hyperextended his knee against American, will play tonight but who knows how much. DeChellis was quoted as saying he’s 80%.
• Tim Frazier is also hobbled and will not start tonight. He turned his ankle in practice on Sunday. Chris Babb, who played well the last 2 games, will get the start. Babb’s ball-handling skills will be put to the test.
• Nittany Lions haven’t won at Williams Arena since 2001, the only time they’ve won there.

A few links…

• Check out a Q&A interview I did with From The Barn, as part of his Big Ten previews.
• The Only Colors already breaking out the tempo-free scatterplots.
• Brian Siegrist with some valuable tweets, already. I’m sure more will be coming throughout the day/game.
• Lions shuffling into Big Ten play – Jeff Rice

There’s still opportunities that the schedule ratings could improve. Robert Morris, Sacred Heart, Davidson and UNC-Wilmington all look like they will make some noise in their respective conferences. But you can also basically stick a fork in Penn (who already fired their coach), American, UMBC, and Gardner-Webb.  In the end, though, does it really even matter? The bottom line is this young Penn State team is about to embark on an 18 game conference season. Their preparation was the 317th toughest schedule, and they did not fare well against it.

The NCAA tournament is a long ways away for this team. A road win against ACC bottom-feeder Virginia isn’t going to impress anyone. The Nits have set themselves up for another 11 win conference season if they want to get in. They were unable to do it last year, and it’s highly unlikely they don’t get it this year.

Have any questions heading into this season been answered? There are no consistent scoring options after Battle. As much as we all love Talor, it’s foolish to think he’s going to score 20 points in every Big Ten game. When he has a bad outing, which I’m sure will happen at least a few times, will PSU get run out of the gym or will they still be able to stay competitive? Time will tell.

David Jackson has been the best shooter on the team in terms of shooting percentages, but he continues to not be involved (only 15.2% possessions used). He rarely takes more than 5 shots a game, and it’s unlikely that since conference season is here, things will change. DJ is a great defender and a solid role player. But on a team so desperate for somebody to step up, role players aren’t going to win games.

I’ve been pretty disappointed in Chris Babb. I didn’t think he’d be as streaky of a shooter as he is. He shot his way out of the starting lineup in the Charleston Classic. But in fairness to Chris, he’s still an underclassmen and never proved to be a consistent scorer. My expectations for him were probably a little high. But Penn State’s offense needs him to hit the open jumper when he gets a clean look. He started sinking some shots the last two games, so maybe he can carry that over to conference play. Another thing I’ll say for Chris is he still contributes even if his shot is off. He’s averaging 4 boards in 23 minutes, and I’m impressed with how much he has improved defensively.

Andrew Jones, on the other hand, probably is the biggest disappointment. I’m starting to wonder if he’s maxed out. I thought last year he was ignored on offense, but he’s not using many more possessions this year (15.2% compared to 13.9% ). He struggled early in the year just establishing post position. He’s still scoring his garbage points that are set up by Battle or him grabbing an offensive rebound. But PSU needs Drew to be able to score his own points , and he hasn’t been able to do that. Will he ever?

Jeff Brooks was a pleasant surprise in November, but he has since struggled. Jeff can score with his back to the basket, but he still insists on floating around the perimeter. PSU needs him to touch the ball on the low block with regularity. His length and athleticism is tough to guard, but he needs to stay inside. It’s mind-boggling that with Jeff’s size (6’8″), he has registered 6 games with just 1 rebound or less.

Tim Frazier is going to be really good, but he’s going through the learning curve every freshman guard faces. He’s going to be inconsistent. It has to be expected from the true freshman. I like his defense and athleticism, but we’ll see how he handles Minnesota’s press. Broadcasters have exposed his inability to drive with his left, so you can be sure all the coaches in the league have noticed. His jumper has been a pleasant surprise, even so much that I would like to see him shoot more.

And then there’s Bill Edwards. The late signing has been an awesome surprise. He’s a smooth, versatile playmaker with above average passing and balling handling skills. The coaching staff has given him a lot of freedom on the court. He can shoot the 3, drive the lane, and post up. If there’s anyone who will step up into that 2nd scorers’ role, I’d bet it will be Bill. But he’s still a true freshmen and makes his fair share of bad plays (29.7% TO%). I never feel comfortable relying on a true freshman to be consistent. Especially one who hasn’t even played a game yet at 100%. He’s still hobbled by that knee injury, and I’m curious if Bill will be able to keep up with the athletes in this conference.

I’m more optimistic about the defense this year, however. Before the season, I thought PSU had the potential to put out their best defensive team in years. That wasn’t the case early on, as Sacred Heart and UNC-Wilmington tore the Lions up. But they’ve guarded much better since then, even against decent clubs like Virginia, Va Tech, and Temple. There are much better offensive teams in the conference than those 3 clubs, though, so we’ll see how improved the defense really is. Just because they could be PSU’s best doesn’t mean they’ll be elite. I’m hoping PSU could register a sub 1.0 PPP defense in conference play this year for the first time in DeChellis’ era, but I don’t think they will be at the point to win games on defense.

So, as you can probably tell, I’m not really optimistic as we enter the Big Ten campaign. Too many questions have been left unanswered and too much has been the same. The offense is in disarray. However, I certainly wasn’t optimistic last year and the team went on to post a winning conference record for the first time since 1996…Can Talor Battle really do everything?

Penn State 104 Gardner-Webb 57

This game wasn’t a contest, obviously. While PSU was resting all week and taking care of finals, G-W was out and about getting killed by Duke and James Madison. On the ESPNU broadcast, they claimed G-W was also fighting the flu bug (despite playing 15 total guys in the game?). They didn’t have the legs to play with the Nits as 4 of G-W’s starters played less than 20 minutes. The Bulldogs never stood a chance, and PSU jumped out to a 30-4 lead.

This was another annual pre-Christmas snoozer that meant nothing. Credit to the Lions, though, for coming out in front of 500 fans and taking care of business. If the Lions can take anything away from this game, its that they remembered how to shoot jumpers. They hit 12 of 26 3PA for 46%, while 4 players hit 2 or more. The bench got some run, as well, as no one logged over 30 minutes but 10 guys logged at least 10 minutes.

Battle scored 21 points on 13 shots in 24 minutes. Tim Frazier had one of his best games with 18 points, 7 assists, and 5 rebounds. Chris Babb went 5-6 from the field for 12 points (much better than his 35% FG%). Even Andrew Ott had a career-high 12 in 14 minutes (he went 8-9 from the foul line!). So pretty much everyone got in on the action as the Nittany Lions posted their best offensive efficiency on the season (1.4 PPP) and scored over 100 for the first time since December 2006 when they beat VMI 129-111.

Penn State 76 American 57

I thought PSU might struggle with this game, despite the inferior opponent. It was the last game before the players could go home for the first time in 6 months or so (the players apparently already had their bags packed and some literally went home immediately after the game), and they had just played a game on Saturday night. However, American actually had just lost a game 22 hours earlier to UMBC at home (a game that was postponed a day b/c of the Nor’easter last week). American was just as tired, if not moreso, than G-W two days before.

American came out strong as Vlad Moldoveanu scored 11 of American’s first 13 points. Vlad, a recently eligible George Mason transfer, scored 26 points in American’s upset of Depaul. The game was tight in the first half, until PSU opened up a comfortable 11 point lead with a minute left. But they let American creep back in it and the halftime score was 36-30.

Vlad and the rest of the Eagles were out of gas in the second half, as PSU busted the game open. The score was 66-38 with 7 minutes left (PSU going on a 30-8 run). For the second time in 3 days, the Lions were beating down on an over-matched opponent at home.

The stars of the game for the Lions were Chris Babb and Bill Edwards, who started the 2nd half and broke the game open. Frazier and Brooks, who had been struggling, were benched. Babb continued his hot shooting (5-7 from the field) for 13 points to go along with 6 boards. Edwards scored 12 points on 5 shots with 5 rebounds. Battle had 16 points on 9 shots and 7 assists. Andrew Jones had 9 points, but had just as many shots as turnovers.

All in all, neither of these games offered any stiff competition to get PSU ready for the Big Ten season. More to come on the Real Season before PSU’s game @ the Barn on Tuesday.

It’s been 3 days since this game and I still don’t what to think about it. Was it a bad loss? I have yet to come up with an answer to that question. I don’t even know where to start with this game…

Despite the painfully slow paced game (only 53 possessions), the first half flew by. The main reason for the short first half was because of a strange stretch that led to 9 consecutive minutes of gameplay. From the under-16 media TO (that happened at 15:17) until 6:43, there was just 1 stoppage in play (at 12:52 because of rebound that went out of bounds). This stretch might seem impossible to most, but it really just epitomized how the game was played. Neither team was aggressive on offense and the contest turned into a jumpshooting match.

PSU didn’t shoot too well, but they sure shot better than Temple. Turnovers were a big problem in such a low possession game, none bigger than Bill Edwards’ offensive foul with under 20 seconds left. Rebounding was also a big issue. Penn State played great defense for the second game in a row, but towards the end of the game, they just couldn’t finish off possessions by protecting the defensive glass. It was just a little irritating.

Penn State’s offense once again was in all sorts of disarray. First off, they never, ever attempted to run. If I ever hear anyone claim that DeChellis likes to play fast or up-tempo, I’m going to puke. No up-tempo team plays 53 possession games. What’s funny, though, is the only two times I remember that PSU did run on a break, they scored on layups both times. There’s no doubt in my mind that PSU greatly increases their chances for a bucket when on the break, but they never even try to dictate the tempo. With some of the possessions I saw, PSU would’ve been better off playing VMI-style and just chucking up a shot in less than 10 seconds. Instead, it was dribble away 25-30 seconds of the clock and then chuck up an equally as bad shot. As far as the half-court sets go, I don’t know if the timing was off, if the spacing was bad, or if they couldn’t set good screens, but it was probably a combination of all 3. They looked completely out of whack, so PSU resorted to shooting 3′s and long 2′s.

Player Bullets:

• Talor Battle – complete opposite of the Virginia game. Temple did a good job defending him, but once again, Battle was depended upon by the coaches to save the team. He couldn’t. 8 points on 3-15 shooting. Another physically draining 39 minutes. After playing the 9 minutes without a stop, he slipped and fell near the end of the first half. He got up and was holding his groin. The coaches then decided to keep him in for the whole second half. Battle didn’t even have the strength to get up a tying 3-pt attempt at the buzzer. Feel for the guy.
• Chris Babb – Chris was one of the few bright spots. He found his stroke, hitting 3-6 of 3-pt attempts. He also drove to the bucket and scored a tough layup. Finished as the leading scorer with 11 points off the bench in 29 minutes. He was playing some good D too, even getting a block.
• Bill Edwards – This guy continues to impress, even though he had 4 turnovers including the crucial offensive foul with a chance to take the lead with 20 seconds left. Defensive rebounding was a problem but it wasn’t Bill’s fault. He pulled down 10 defensive rebounds. He also was the only offensive presence in the second half, scoring 3 of PSU’s 6 2nd half field goals. He needs to get healthy.
• Tim Frazier – He didn’t make too many plays in the time he was in, but I am absolutely puzzled to why he only played 3 minutes in the 2nd half. That’s a great way to get your freshmen ready for the Big 10. I don’t know if the coaches thought we didn’t match-up well with Temple’s bigger guards, but this was another game where the coaches tried the same thing over and over despite the same negative results. I thought Frazier deserved a chance to be on the floor to help PSU to 1 – get steals (only 2 for the game) and 2 – push the tempo.
• David Jackson – Remember when this guy scored 26 points? He’s got to be a leader. He can’t be content with just taking 3 shots in a game. He played well defensively, but he has got to attempt to become a presence on offense. I’d rather see him go 2-10 than 2-3.
• Jeff Brooks – Didn’t play well. Just 3 points, 1 rebound, and 1 assist in 25 minutes. This is not going to get it done. He has gotta get underneath and help rebound. He’s 6-8 and this is 4th 1 rebound game this season.
• Andrew Jones – I thought Jones played pretty well, actually. He scored 7 points while making some big free throws in the second half. He also did a great job defending Lavoy Allen (who shot 3-12 for the game). He’s gotta help with the rebounding woes, though.

I’m not sure how much credit Temple deserves to holding the Lions to a 79.2 efficiency. I really thought PSU had a poor plan of attack and really were at fault on their own for their woes, but Temple had held St. John’s, Georgetown, and Virginia Tech to similar poor numbers. I’m interested to see how Temple does. They don’t have much depth and are scoring-challenged. Hopefully they have a great season like their previous years, but I’m not sold on them to do well in the A-10. This was a game PSU should’ve won, especially with their defensive effort.

At halftime, I was concerned despite a one point lead (thanks to Battle’s buzzer-beating layup). The Colonials were clearly more active, outhustling the Lions on more than a few occasions. They collected 7 offensive rebounds in the first half (41.1% OReb%), including a monster tip jam from reserve Lijah Thompson. PSU was in a dogfight and there was no evidence that anything would change in the second half. Battle was frustrated and he had played the whole first half. So much for my hopes of him getting rest…

But the Lions came out much more focused and energetic in the second half – props to the coaching staff. Robert Morris didn’t know what hit them. Chris Babb was the main contributor in the run. After sitting with 2 fouls again for much of the first half, Babb spotted up for 4 threes in 5 minutes, 2 of them coming in transition. These streaks by Babb are what we know he is capable of. He can score a lot in a hurry, especially with his high release point that makes his jumpshot practically indefensible.

The hot start to the 2nd half really deflated the Colonials, and DeChellis was able to empty the bench. Battle was given 12 minutes of needed rest before the 3 game stretch in 4 days in South Carolina.

Some tempo-free analysis:

Penn State was lights out again from the floor, hitting 28-54 from the field (12-26 from deep). The Lions were also much more active on the offensive glass, as I expected. The defensive rebounding improved in the second half to overcome the atrocious 41.1% RMU posted in the first half. The defense, though, continues to have the awesome ability of not being able to force turnovers. The Colonials were credited with 9 turnovers in the game and about 3 of them were completely unforced passes out of bounds.

EDIT: They fixed the play-by-play. Well, sort of. Battle is no longer credited with a turnover, and they correctly gave the TO to the Robert Morris player. However, Talor never did get credited for a steal. Weird.

Player Bullets:

• Talor Battle – finished with 8 points, 7 assists, and 6 rebounds. Despite shooting just 2-9 from the floor, he was still able to contribute in other areas. It’s amazing though how much of a struggle it is for him to hit an open jumper. Frazier set him up nicely a few times, and Battle clearly was not used to it as he bricked horribly. He just isn’t a great shooter. He creates his own points. Kudos to DeChellis for getting him 12 minutes of rest.
• Tim Frazier – What a night for the true freshmen. In just his second career game, Frazier went off for 19 points on 11 shots and calmly drained 4 of 5 threes from the perimeter. I’m very interested to see how the jumper comes along. It had looked awful up until last night. But he’s a competitor and if he can shoot like this consistently, look out. He also grabbed 2 boards and dished 3 assists. Stud.
• Jeff Brooks – An even more impressive performance from Jeff compared to last game. He finished with 12 points on 8 shots (6-8), all of which came from inside the arc. He was aggressive and confident, grabbing rebounds and taking kids to school. The variety of moves Jeff displayed included a step-back 15 ft fadeaway from the baseline, an under control drive from the foul line to the rack, and a nice turnaround floater off an offensive rebound. He grabbed 5 boards in 21 minutes, too, compared to just 1 in 28 min against Penn. Brooks is the x-factor and the early returns on his season are very good.
• Chris Babb – Basically ended the game with his barrage of threes, finishing with a career high 15 points (all on treys). Also grabbed a couple of tough boards on the defensive end. He’s gotta stop hacking in the first half, though. I can’t wait to see how much he produces when he’s not in foul trouble. We haven’t seen him put the ball on the floor yet, but he claimed to have developed that part of his game over the summer.
• David Jackson – He contributed more in the first half, which is good because the team was struggling. Finished with 8 points (on 4 shots), 7 rebounds, and 2 assists. These are the kind of nights I want from DJ – quiet production. Nothing’s gotta be fancy, just be involved on the floor. He took a charge on defense, as well.
• Andrew Jones – A better performance from Drew, but I’m still expecting more. He just didn’t look good a few times when he got the ball in the post, turning it over twice. He scored 6 points (of the garbage variety) and was active on the glass with 8 rebounds. He also blocked 2 shots.
• Sasa Borovnjak – Continues to leave good impressions. He only played 8 minutes after the game was well in hand, but he produced. He has good footwork, good hands, and a nice touch around the tin. It’s also exciting that he can shoot foul shots. He hit the deck for another loose ball on defense, as well. Finished with 6 points (3 shots) and 3 rebounds.
• Adam Highberger – He’s going to have a consistent role on this team. This is twice now where he has come in cold off the bench and nailed an open 3. That was always a pet peeve of mine about D Mo. He would come in, PSU would work to get an open look for him, and he wouldn’t convert. Highberger is now 3-4 from 3 in 2 games.
• Cammeron Woodyard – Not a good game from Cam. Once again Babb sits with foul trouble, and Woodyard is unable to provide a spark. I was surprised DeChellis kept him in after Woodyard turned the ball over with a weak entry pass, took an ill-advised three early in the shot clock, and then didn’t get out a shooter in transition D in successive possessions. Just 3 points, 1 rebound, and 1 assist in 17 minutes. He’s now 2-8 from the floor for the season and all 8 attempts have been from 3-land.
• Andrew Ott – Played 7 first half minutes. Grabbed a few boards and played good D, but that’s it. That’s all we need him to do, though.
• Billy Oliver – Played 4 minutes of garbage time. It’s nice to see him healthy enough to play. Seems like a very smart player, especially on defense. We’ll see if he ever cracks into the regular rotation.
• Steve Kirkpatrick – Nice to see practice players get some run.

Some other notes

• Bill Edwards dressed again. DeChellis said in his post-game presser that they’re expecting him back after the Charleston trip. This is encouraging because he’s ahead in his initial 4-6 week recovery prognosis. He will play and probably take some of Cam’s minutes if Woodyard doesn’t step it up.
• Jermaine Marshall didn’t play again. A redshirt seems to be the plan.

Overall, a very exciting performance in the second half and lots of potential displayed against a pretty athletic RMU club. The team is now off to Charleston to play UNC-Wilmington in the first round of the Charleston Classic.

It didn’t help that this has been by far the most optimistic I’ve been for a Penn State basketball season since the Crispin era. With the positive end to last season, along with the uncertainty of how this team is going to be this year, I was just a little excited to get the season started on Friday. I was so excited to see basketball that I completely forgot how awful these early games are. It’s not a Penn State thing. It’s evidenced throughout college basketball. It takes a week or two for teams to get into the flow of the season and start playing competent basketball. It really makes you wonder why the hell the Selection Committee puts as much stock in these games in March. It’s all about the body of work, don’t you know.

So I would have to say the Penn game wasn’t too revealing to how PSU is going to play this year. Or maybe it was a significant sign that this is how we’re gonna be and I’m just in denial.

We all knew Talor Battle is going to produce the most, but if he’s counted on to do this much for PSU to win a game, it’s going to be a long season. Talor had a phenomenal game – 27 points, 10 rebounds, 4 assists. He consistently broke Zach Rosen’s ankles with some incredible hesitation steps and some ridiculous craftiness in the lane. Talor could always score in the paint, but the way he did Friday made me think he did really improve over the summer. He did whatever he want against the Quakers and it was a joy to watch. I particularly enjoyed his 1 on 5 drive that put PSU up 61-49, capping off a mini 7-1 run that put the game away with 4 minutes to go.

It was a choppy game, because the officiating crew couldn’t swallow their whistles. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many offensive fouls called in one game. It wasn’t unfair or one-sided, it just really kept the game from getting into any sort of flow. Three of PSU starters picked up 2 fouls in the 1st half – Drew, DJ, and Babb. That allowed for DeChellis to play 11 guys at least 5 minutes each in the first half. It was nice to see the new guys get so much time, but there was little cohesion among the ever-changing lineups. Battle was the only constant during the game.

Some tempo-free analysis:

As you can see, PSU shot well and took care of the ball like we did last year. But the offensive rebounding wasn’t there, which is a little unusual for DeChellis’ teams. PSU also didn’t do well getting to the foul line, especially when you consider Penn was whistled for 23 fouls. I thought the pace would be faster, but like I mentioned, I think the number of fouls interrupted the flow.

I was disappointed with the offense. PSU shot 27 threes (made 9 of them). You would think a Big Ten team would be able to getter better shots against an Ivy League team with nobody over 6’9″. I know we are going to shoot a lot of jumpshots from the perimeter, but there has to be some sort of balance. How about this stat; Talor Battle scored 9 baskets inside the arc, the rest of the team scored 8. If a 5’11″ PG is going to be our inside threat, we aren’t going anywhere. Andrew Jones didn’t look like the guy he was at the end of last season. He couldn’t get open in the post and we were never able to get some inside-outside ball movement going on. There were only 11 assists on PSU’s 26 made field goals (42.7%). Talor did most of his damage on his own. This cannot be the M.O. for this season.

The defense was okay. Penn State played straight man all night. I was impressed with Penn, to be honest. They had great spacing and did a good job penetrating and getting great looks. Zach Rosen is a solid PG. He can really dish the rock in traffic. Penn had 12 assists on their 18 made field goals (66.7%). Darrin Smith’s 1-11 performance and Tyler Bernandini’s foul troubles really hurt them. Bernandini actually scored the first 10 points for Penn, but finished with just 12. Penn State did a good job rebounding, but they didn’t really force turnovers (most of theirs were offensive fouls) and posted just a 2.1% Block Pct and a 4.8% Steal Pct.We gotta be more active on defense and create plays that will generate fastbreaks and points.

Player Bullets

• Talor Battle – Phenomenal, as previously mentioned.
• Andrew Jones – Didn’t play well. Foul troubles limited minutes until he fouled out. Scored 4 points and grabbed 5 boards in 21 minutes. Missed both of his free throws.
• Chris Babb – He played just 6 minutes in the first half because of foul trouble, but logged 17 minutes in the second half. Took him a while to get in a rhythm, but he hit 2 threes towards the end of the game and finished with 8 points, 4 boards, 3 assists, and a steal. There are going to be nights when he goes OFF.
• David Jackson – Looked okay. He was also limited by fouls. He scored 4 points on 2-6 shooting, but was steady on defense like always. His shots looked good, he rimmed out a few jumpers.
• Jeff Brooks – Second leading scorer with 10 points. He looked comfortable on the court. You gotta wonder, though, how a 6’7″ forward plays 27 minutes and only grabs 1 rebound. He’s gotta be more willing to mix it up inside.
• Andrew Ott – He was productive, despite how it looked. 5 points and 4 boards in just 14 minutes, but he also fouled out. The guys have to adjust to how the game is called.
• Cammeron Woodyard – He played the majority of the first half because of Babb’s fouls. He hit a pretty three from a feed from Talor, but shot 1-4 from behind the arc. You would like to see more production out of your sixth man who logs 16 minutes. He finished with just 3 points, 1 assist, and 1 rebound.
• Sasa Borovnjak – He’s not red-shirting. I get more and more encouraged by his play each time I see. He was diving on the floor and really hustling out there. He logged 13 minutes – scored 2 points and grabbed a board.
• Adam Highberger – I’m curious to see how much he plays this season. He’s just 6’2″ and doesn’t have the athleticism to create like our other guards. But his shot is money. Very quick release. He hit two big threes in the first half in his 5 minutes of action. He was also guarding Bernandini for a stretch, and while I found that to be a mismatch, surprisingly, Bernandini didn’t score on him.
• Tim Frazier – I thought he would play a bit more, but DeChellis I guess wanted to get his starters some run in the second half. Talor was also playing too well to come out. He didn’t do too much on the stat sheet other than record 2 assists in 8 minutes. Can’t wait to see more of Tim.
• Billy Oliver – Nice to see him see the floor. Didn’t do much in his 5 minutes to really form an impression. He did take a three and missed, but his stroke looked good.

Overall, an unimpressive first performance (except for Battle). They shot pitifully from the foul line (9-17), as usual, chucked up threes on offense, as usual, relied on Battle way too much (39 minutes against Penn?), as usual, and weren’t active on defense, as usual. But it is just the first game and I’m probably looking way too much into it. PSU got the W, so it’s on to the next one (Robert Morris, tomorrow).

PS – If you didn’t know, Denzel Washington was at the game to watch his son, Malcolm, who is a walk-on for Penn. I was disappointed that I was denied by the usher to go meet him. He’s the man.

Game Stories

• Battle powers Penn State in opener – CDT
• Penn State downs Penn 70-55 to win 5th straight season opener – GoPSUSports
• Penn short on answers in 70-55 loss to PSU – Philly Inquirer