City of Basketball Love

Marley Paul (@MarleyPaul22)
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Losing his best player in D.J. Newbill to graduation before inking a touted recruiting class that won’t wear blue and white for another year, Penn State coach Pat Chambers refused to lower expectations for the 2015-16 season. In fact, the outside noise of a possible “lost season” actually incentivized this close-knit group. 

“It’s a slap in the face to these seniors,” Chambers said Wednesday at his season wrap up press conference. “Especially to the four-year seniors in Brandon Taylor and Donovon Jack, who committed to us at a tough time. They could have left, and there were rumors that they were gonna leave and there have been many closed-door meetings that nobody knows about to ensure them that this is the right place for them and they stayed.”

Taylor’s commitment to the Nittany Lions (16-16, 7-11 Big Ten) paid off this year as the 6-foot-6 forward was named to the Third Team All-Big Ten. Making the shift from an perimeter jacker, the New Jersey native recalibrated his offensive style to become a low-post threat to complement his outside prowess. He boosted his scoring to 16.3 per game — up seven points from last season.

In addition to Taylor’s improved output, Shep Garner labored through a rollercoaster Big Ten season in his sophomore campaign. He has started all but one game over the past two seasons and, on most nights, was the Robin to Taylor’s Batman as the Chester native finished the season averaging 14.3 points, 3.8 assists and 3.5 rebounds while playing a team-high 35.2 minutes per game.

These two players, alongside a group of rotating standout contributors, fostered the winning mentality that culminated in statement wins: a pair of upsets in late February over two Tournament-bound teams in Indiana and Iowa. Those wins aided Chambers pick up his third straight season of at least 16 wins — a feat unattained since arriving to the Big Ten over 25 years ago.

“That shows consistently, which is what this program sorely needs,” he said. “We are taking major steps, and I’m just so proud of what they did this year, to say ‘oh yeah, is that what you think this year is going to be? We’re going to show you,’ and it definitely gave us a little more motivation, there’s not doubt about that.”

What worked well for this group? Brotherhood.

They found themselves on the wrong end of some a few lopsided contests (five road losses by 20 or more), but refused to give up on the end goal of making progress. Accountable was evident, mostly from Taylor sternly talking to teammates when he saw unsavory play.

Heck, Chambers intentionally started a one-sided screaming match with a referee — and got ejected — amid an eventual blowout at Michigan State simply because he felt Taylor was being slighted on whistles.

“By far, this was the team I enjoyed so much because they were so connected and so together, the locker room was connected,” he said. “They’re brothers, they’re friends they hang out all the time. There were no cliques, no groups. So I hope that they can take that away because that translates to success, on the floor and off the floor. The seniors have left a legacy, they put their imprint onto this program and I’m grateful for that.”

“I’m disappointed it had to end, but all good things come to an end. But they came to work with their lunch pale and hardhat every day, and for that, I’m appreciative and that’s what the seniors did for us, and hopefully they pass that down to the young guys.”

Going forward, Chambers will manage a youthful team of six new contributors on the hardwood that will be expected to take this program to greater heights. As he preps for his sixth season in Happy Valley, Chambers plans to answers to his own expectations before anyone else’s, even athletic director Sandy Barbour, who was present at the press conference.

“Sandy doesn’t put any pressure on me. It’s me, who puts the pressure on me,” he stated emphatically. “That’s why you work as hard you as do because you want to do something great. You want to leave your imprint, turn a program around, that’s what it’s all about. You guys don’t have to put pressure on me, Twitter doesn’t have to put pressure on me, I’m doing it myself, so it doesn’t matter.”