Men’s BB tonight at 8-2 Duquesne
- Thread starter Nitwit
- Start date
Makes you wonder why Bolton didn’t have the ball when up by 2 and they were forced to foul.
Yeah...even with that, Penn State at just over 65% FT shooting, Duquesne just over 90%!
Well, Bolton is the best free throw shooter, by far. Once, Bolton made those 4 FTs, no pressure on Stevens to make his.
Ugly end to a miserable game.
JoePa would say sometimes that there was enough glory for both teams. Not tonight.
Kind of glad Dambrot had his meltdown. Another 5 minutes would not have helped.
BTW, the kid who made the 4 free throws for the double technical...i like his form. Feet locked in, no body movement. Just the way Dibbs used to do it 40 years ago.
JoePa would say sometimes that there was enough glory for both teams. Not tonight.
Kind of glad Dambrot had his meltdown. Another 5 minutes would not have helped.
BTW, the kid who made the 4 free throws for the double technical...i like his form. Feet locked in, no body movement. Just the way Dibbs used to do it 40 years ago.
That coach is a NUT JOB. If I was a player on that team, I would be PISSED at that guy! That certainly can't help him with recruits, either.
It was a bad call, but... one thing not mentioned is if that foul wasn’t called, Watkins immediately tipped in the miss. At least the foul being called gave the Dukes a shot at us missing the FTs (which us missing the FTs was a very real possibility, and left 5.4 seconds on the clock).
It was a bad call, but... one thing not mentioned is if that foul wasn’t called, Watkins immediately tipped in the miss. At least the foul being called gave the Dukes a shot at us missing the FTs (which us missing the FTs was a very real possibility, and left 5.4 seconds on the clock).
Stevens is the best player on the team and at least should be a leader. He should be expected to make those FT’s at that point in the game.
Dambrot has a hell of a resume. He coached LeBron James in high school. James gives him a Ton of credit for developing him and the team. He's also is a four time MAC coach of the year. He took three MAC teams to the NCAA dance. His resume is far better than Chambers. My guess is that he either was sending a message to his team or something personal with the ref.
Well, it'll be interesting to see what they do against Alabama this Friday. So much they seem to need to work on. Free throws, turnovers, getting by the backcourt pressure...and overcoming that invisible force that keeps them from making layups.
They really did need this win, though.
They really did need this win, though.
Chambers has this team on the right track. Really think this team has elite 8 potential. Chambers says they are close to putting it all together.
Well it was played at Duquesne, so it was their arena but during a Christma break. Our players are just too soft. We don’t get to the rim with authority.
Funniest post of the year....came on strong at the end of the year to take the award.
NC State just knocked off #7 Auburn team, so maybe our loss doesn’t look quite so bad.
He really sent a message to his team... cost them a legit shot at beating an in-state, B10 team.
As a side note - Akron had become my mid-major team over the past few years, I loosely followed them and would watch their televised games. they were a fun team to watch - I checked out their hoops arena when I was in town a few years ago.
Fun fact: a "Zip" is not a kangaroo. It is short for zipper, paying homage to Akron, at one point, being a huge rubber producer (the rubber capital?). No idea why they chose a kangaroo as their mascot, but a "zip" is not referencing their mascot.
Then someone told him that they played Duquesne tonight, not Duke. Chambers promptly jumped out the window.
Trekked out to see it. They actually moved it to PPG Arena (Pens home) instead of the Palumbo Center.
That was a mistake. I'd guess the arena was 33% capacity, half of them PSU fans. It was pretty embarrassing for both schools
Nope, played at Pittsburgh Paints Arena, not the Polumbo Center. The next Penn State team to compete at PPA will win a national championship. (Hint - NCAA wrestling championships there in March.)
I'm past this is a young team deal. While it may be true.....most of the good NCAA teams are young teams as most kids don't stay in school for 4 years any longer. It seems we are always young and its always wait til next year..then we lose a guy or 2 and then its we are young and getting better.
What I see as the real problem is Chambers has brought in some good players but has no idea how to coach them up and put them in positions to be successful with their given talents. We run no semblance of an offense, its just pass it around and then someone chuck up a shot. No thought to work it inside out through Watkins or Stevens, no thought about pick and rolls or designed plays....to me it looks like playground basketball and that isn't winning at this level and that's where X's and O's coaching comes in and at this point its clear that Chambers has no clue.
I think the bottom line is we just can’t shoot. There was a chance to win every game this year but missing shots at key times and going on long runs without scoring did them in. You can’t win if you can’t put the ball in the basket. Last year Carr and Garner made shots...this year no one can shoot consistently. Pat may be recruiting better athletes, but they’re just not very good basketball players and they certainly aren’t very good shooters.
But isn't Pat the 'shot doctor' as he was called on the one broadcast.... You'd think we would lead the country in shooting
They also said he was great at player development, so there’s that.
I thought Dread looked good last night. I remember one sequence where he got in the corner and they pushed the ball out to him, he put it up with nice form, swish, nothing but net, three points! Right after that, my first thought was, "give Chambers a couple years with him and he'll cure him of making plays like that."
I think that's a good point. It's funny, last night Penn State's team percentages were 47% for 3 pointers and only 41% for FGs overall. (Dread, BTW, was 4-7 last night, all shots 3 pointers - that's impressive, at least to me. Wheeler was also 4-7, but took no 3 pointers. By contrast, Stevens, Watkins, and Bolton had percentages under the average.
). That supports the notion that Penn State has trouble getting guys "in the paint" for a "good look" shot (not this off-balance chuck-it-up hope-it-goes-in stuff). I saw a couple times that mid-range, a guy would get free and kiss one off the glass for a basket. I think the talent and shooting ability are there. Whether it's lack of coaching or lack of physicality or what, something is preventing them from getting good looks into the basket.
I think that's a good point. It's funny, last night Penn State's team percentages were 47% for 3 pointers and only 41% for FGs overall. (Dread, BTW, was 4-7 last night, all shots 3 pointers - that's impressive, at least to me. Wheeler was also 4-7, but took no 3 pointers. By contrast, Stevens, Watkins, and Bolton had percentages under the average.
). That supports the notion that Penn State has trouble getting guys "in the paint" for a "good look" shot (not this off-balance chuck-it-up hope-it-goes-in stuff). I saw a couple times that mid-range, a guy would get free and kiss one off the glass for a basket. I think the talent and shooting ability are there. Whether it's lack of coaching or lack of physicality or what, something is preventing them from getting good looks into the basket.
well, PSU basketball has been a mess for decades. To be fair, it isn't Chambers' fault.
- basketball is a player's game. By that, it is about having the players to play the game. Since there are only 5 on the court, a true star will win most games. Two and you are in the NCAA tourney.
- most top players have dreams of playing in the NBA. So they go to schools that have been feeder systems for the NBA. PSU is not, and has never been, that with one or two exceptions; certainly not in comparison to UM, tOSU, Indy, Ill, Wiscy, etc. Not even to compare with St. Johns, Seton Hall, Villanova......
- Exacerbating is one-and-done. Not only do you need to land that one-and-done player, there is almost no player development. And, if you haven't been paying attention, almost all of the top programs are now one-and-doners. Certainly, if you want to sustain a program as a final four contender, you are a one-and-doner.
- Even more headwind for PSU is that most great players come from big cities. While there are exceptions, many want to play in big cities (or near them). One of the football recruits, the RB from FL, said he liked PSU to limit "distractions". This is clearly the exception.
- PSU hasn't put the time and money into the program. The facilities are mediocre, at best, and there are no fans in the stands. Our basketball program is worse than Pitt's football program (at least they have won games and have server HOFers in the NFL).
I am afraid, unless some kid goes David Robinson for PSU this is what it is going to be. I don't seem chambers being a bad coach. If we fire him, we will get on of two things: the same or worse coach or a really good coach who will leave for a sustained program within a year or two.
How about the Bradley loss? IUPUI, Eastern Illinois and Georgia Southern have beaten them..
We flat out stunk last offensively last night and were lucky to win. Sure, the single loss to NC State doesn't look bad and isn't a bad loss individually. It's the accumulation of the losses that looks bad and the way the losses occur. If the team had been playing better, last night would've been overlooked and we'd look at it as a tough win that we were lucky to get and just move on to Alabama. Hopefully, we'll be ready to play down there. They are extremely athletic and if we protect the ball the way we did vs Duquesne, we'll have twenty plus turnovers and it won't matter if we can shoot or not.
Haha.. I made a bet at the sports book in Grantville and watched the finish there.. Had PSU -5. Luckiest cover of my life. I had no problems cashing it though.
I don’t think anyone is expecting a Final Four caliber team, I know I’m not. But a tournament appearance every four or five years would be a step up. I get all that you’re saying about PSU basketball, but many programs face problems as well and still manage to have a competitive program. Many schools are competitive and they don’t even have a big city near them. If we have the talent to win x number of games and we’re not winning x number of games, then it has to be coaching. I would rather have someone come in and be successful and leave then continue on with mediocre to below mediocre results. What good is winning the NIT if you follow that up with a .500 season? You’re supposed to build on that not regress. I think Pat has had more than enough time to show what he can build at Penn State and we’ve seen it...I think it’s time to give someone else a shot. I’m quite confident we will finish in the bottom half of the Big this year, so we won’t have too far to fall if we switch things up.
