City of Basketball Love

Marley Paul (@MarleyPaul22)
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Under the eye of 15-year coach Jay Wright, Villanova is Final Four-bound for the first time since 2009. Pat Chambers won’t be on the bench this time around as Wright’s former associate head coach did not receive consideration for the NCAA Tournament or the NIT following a 16-16 (7-11 Big Ten) season at Penn State.

The Nittany Lions haven’t been to the big dance since 2011, a year before Chambers’ arrival. Their Final Four drought spans all the way to 1954. The U.S. Supreme ruled on Brown v. Board of Education in that same calendar year, barring segregation in public schools. It’s been that long for Penn State, which beat Southern Cal that season in a third-place game.

Five seasons into his regime in Happy Valley, Chambers appears to be tapping onto the door of relevancy after maximizing the most out of talents like Tim Frazier and Brandon Taylor, and now successfully tapping into the Philadelphia recruiting pipeline, namely Roman Catholic, to establish a presence in state that features established programs Temple, Pitt, and the aforementioned Wildcats.

Entering the 2016-17 season, the Philadelphia area will have six representatives on the roster, alongside Williamsport native Isaiah Washington. As he wrapped up the season, Chambers said on March 16 that he plans to borrow aspects from Wright’s small-ball system to quicken the offense that put up 65.8 points per contest, 311th out of 346 teams nationwide.

However, while setting the bar for his program, Chambers isn’t looking at Villanova. His eyes head Midwest to Michigan State and Tom Izzo, who's responsible for pounding the Nittany Lions by almost 60 points in the last two meetings combined behind the play of standout seniors Denzel Valentine and Bryn Forbes.

Izzo has built a reputation for getting the most out of lesser talent. Since his first season in 1995, he’s recruited just 12 McDonald’s All-Americans. In comparison, 21 All-Americans have pledged to Kentucky since 2009, while both programs have made three appearances in the Final Four over those past seven seasons.

It was fitting he picked up a pair of technical fouls and his lone ejection of the season in East Lansing, Michigan. It's the place he wishes State College could resemble in terms of athletic success on the hardwood and football field. Here’s what Chambers said earlier this month on his admiration of Izzo and the Spartans:

"If you look across the country and look at two teams that you would like to aspire to once be, or at least create that culture, or create the way he graduates his players, the success he finds on the floor, that’s what you want for your program. That’s what I want for Penn State and, by the way, they have really good football. So that’s a great model for us to look at and kind of research and study. I don’t think we’re as far away as everybody thinks, I think we’re getting closer.

"I look forward to someday, you might be on to bigger and better things, but finding you (the reporter who posed the question) and saying ‘hey, what do you think now?’"

Penn State athletic director Sandy Barbour granted Chambers a contract extension last March that will keep him at the helm through at least 2019. He’s tasked with leading a program with just nine NCAA Tournament appearances entering its 120th season in school history. After placing his imprint on the recruiting trail and finding growing success in conference play, he appears to be trending up to catch Sparty.

Read what a few of Chambers' Big Ten colleagues, including Izzo, one of his loudest supporters, had to say about him and the Penn State program:

Feb. 25, 2016, Penn State 56, Nebraska 55. Cornhuskers coach Tim Miles: 

"I’m trying to build with a bunch of young guys. At times we have two or three freshmen on the court. At Penn State, Pat Chambers always has his kids fight. He has good talent. Brandon Taylor and Shep Garner are really good players. Those two guys are potential all league players in our conference. I like what they have done. We’ve had some really good battles with these guys but this was a tough one. They deserved to win, they outplayed us for most of the game."

Feb. 28, 2016, Michigan State 88, Penn State 57. Spartans coach Tom Izzo:

"Well as a coach, there were a lot of different emotions today. One, is because I have great respect for Pat (Chambers) and the job he has done. And you know, we went into this game looking at Penn State and knowing that they beat Iowa and Indiana. And you know, we haven't beaten Iowa yet and they're playing some of their best basketball. When I say that we gave it our full prep, I mean, we made the game as big of a deal as we could because they have been playing good and we also wanted to accomplish some things - which I think we did end up accomplishing.

"Yeah, because I am telling you, he is a good coach. I mean his team has won four out of five and are really growing and making some plays. I just talked to him and I told him, you know, that unfortunately I did think that call was the right one. Maybe there was some calls before that one, I don't know, but, you know we're all frustrated sometimes with different things. But, this is a good coach who has busted his butt and has some good young kids that are getting better and played pretty well.

"To close it up I'd say that today was a strange day. I feel for Pat (Chambers). It was a tough day for them. They're a better team than they played."

March 4, 2016, Northwestern 71, Penn State 61. Wildcats coach Chris Collins: 

"I knew this was going to be a hard fought game. Pat (Chambers) and I talk all the time, we’re at similar junctures where we’re in a heck of a league, battling to try to fight for our own program’s respect and notoriety within the league.  Anytime we play against Penn State, I know it’s going to be an absolute war and you’re going to have to play incredibly hard to beat them, and I thought we did that tonight.

"… got off to a great start against the zone and obviously, being up 20 with 15 minutes to go, I knew they weren’t going to go down.  That’s not what the Penn State program is about.  They’re going to fight until the end."