This mens basketball team is frustratingly close

[itsofficial101]

1) They still could play their way in.

2) I know all teams have injuries and suspensions, but missing Reeves earlier and Watkins the last 2 games was devastating. We just don't have the depth to overcome that against tough teams.

3) They have proved that they can play with and beat ranked teams. But there are so many that we wish we could have had it back games. That is part of being a sophomore lead team.

4) We just don't get blown out so every loss is a heartbreaker where just a few plays here or there would have changed the outcome (or free throws or fouls called).

5) Just a little more quality depth would go a long way. How many late leads did this team give up while starters were gassed or in foul trouble?

My conclusion is that this team is right there. The starting talent is there. The maturity is coming along as the season progresses. But our Achilles heal is still depth.

What does the future hold? Can we keep the core together and continue to grow? Is there quality depth and hopefully another big man that we can have ready for next season? Can they extend this season?

 

[LemonEars]

This team has the most talented group of players ever assembled at Penn State in my opinion. The only thing wrong with them is that most of them are Philly type players. The object of the game of basketball in Philly is to see if you can spin 3 times in the air before you dunk the ball over your head. Chambers is doing a good job trying to change the Philly players but they often revert to Philly play and that is when the game unravels.

 

[Ranger Dan]

They are so close in their overall resume, but I believe that they are actually one of the best 20 or so teams in the country right now. They can play even with tOSU, Purdue, and virtually anyone else in the Big Ten. Anything can happen in a tournament and we could lose the first game in the Big Ten tournament or make a deep run.

One thing missing is scoring off the bench. When we bring in Bostic, Wheeler, Moore, Pierce, and even Harrar, they give great intensity, but I cringe every time they take a shot. Another issue is that Watkins lets things get into his head a little too much with the common fouls and recent technical. I'm also worried about his injury last night, but honestly haven't read anything this AM so maybe it's a non-issue.

 

[PSU73]

Puzzled about Watkins. Against Iowa, due to 4 fouls, he ends up with only 9 minutes of PT. Didn't watch that game, but was he really fouling that bad? His average has been 1 foul per 11 minutes for the season.
Then, what looked like a mysterious injury vs UM because it looked to NOT be the leg that hit the floor. Anyone hear what is the extent of injury?
I really enjoy watching him and feel he will get more dominant.
Tony Carr is special and the lift Reaves provided the team with his return is obvious.

 

[Obliviax]

Team took too long to gel. Some bad losses early and mid season (Rider, Wiscy, MD, Minn, NW). Lack of depth now, coming down the stretch....Nebraska game is very important, as is the first two games of the tourney.

 

[PA_JOE]

Watkins is done for the season. Not announced officially yet and I’ll come back here to apologize if I got bad info.

Puzzled about Watkins. Against Iowa, due to 4 fouls, he ends up with only 9 minutes of PT. Didn't watch that game, but was he really fouling that bad? His average has been 1 foul per 11 minutes for the season.
Then, what looked like a mysterious injury vs UM because it looked to NOT be the leg that hit the floor. Anyone hear what is the extent of injury?
I really enjoy watching him and feel he will get more dominant.
Tony Carr is special and the lift Reaves provided the team with his return is obvious.

 

[PSU73]

Watkins is done for the season. Not announced officially yet and I’ll come back here to apologize if I got bad info.

That is really, really too bad for him if it's the case. I hope the Lions have done enough to get a chance to dance, and Mike will be sorely missed if so.

 

[interrobang]

 

[Nitwit]

Yes, depth is a big issue right now. We don’t have any spark off the bench, just players who play hard but are limited offensively. It would be nice o be able to bring in a sharpshooter when we need points and are playing a small lineup.

 

[itsofficial101]

I'll admit that I haven't followed this team's recruiting efforts, is there much help on the way or currently redshirting? Or do we just have to keep developing what we have?

 

[bdgan]

This team has the most talented group of players ever assembled at Penn State in my opinion. The only thing wrong with them is that most of them are Philly type players. The object of the game of basketball in Philly is to see if you can spin 3 times in the air before you dunk the ball over your head. Chambers is doing a good job trying to change the Philly players but they often revert to Philly play and that is when the game unravels.

I agree that this is the most athletically talented group ever at PSU but not the most fundamenally sound. That's especially true on the defensive end. Carr & Watson play an excellent two man screen roll game but aside from that it's pretty much Carr and Stevens one on one. This is from a UM gamed preview article:

"John Beilein uses the term “East coast buckets” to refer to how Penn State likes to play offensively. The Nittany Lions lead the Big Ten in points created out of isolation possessions per game, per Synergy, and the roster is loaded with players who can go one-on-one and create offense."

 

[gogolion]

Watkins is done for the season. Not announced officially yet and I’ll come back here to apologize if I got bad info.

Apparently Chambers announced on his coach's show last night that Watkins is out for Sunday.

 

[NewEra 2014]

I agree that this is the most athletically talented group ever at PSU but not the most fundamenally sound. That's especially true on the defensive end.

Good observation, bdgan. I agree with you on the athletic talent of this team, but I really don't like the way that they play basketball. It shows up in their record, as this team has top-4 talent in the BIG, but they are sitting at the middle of the pack. Then, you compound it with the fact that Chambers doesn't seem to be capable of helping these players improve their fundamentals, and you have this year's frustrating mess of a season.

I'm really torn on how I want to see this season play out. Part of me wants to see the team make a deep run in the BIG tourney and make the NCAAs, and part of me doesn't want to see them get rewarded for playing a crap brand of basketball.

 

[WDLion]

1) They still could play their way in.

2) I know all teams have injuries and suspensions, but missing Reeves earlier and Watkins the last 2 games was devastating. We just don't have the depth to overcome that against tough teams.

3) They have proved that they can play with and beat ranked teams. But there are so many that we wish we could have had it back games. That is part of being a sophomore lead team.

4) We just don't get blown out so every loss is a heartbreaker where just a few plays here or there would have changed the outcome (or free throws or fouls called).

5) Just a little more quality depth would go a long way. How many late leads did this team give up while starters were gassed or in foul trouble?

My conclusion is that this team is right there. The starting talent is there. The maturity is coming along as the season progresses. But our Achilles heal is still depth.

What does the future hold? Can we keep the core together and continue to grow? Is there quality depth and hopefully another big man that we can have ready for next season? Can they extend this season?

Frustrating for sure.
They are so careless handling the ball. They need to realize they are no longer playing against high school kids.

 

[slykens]

Frustrating for sure.
They are so careless handling the ball. They need to realize they are no longer playing against high school kids.

This is part of what is frustrating to me, as well. And it's not *all* the time - they played well against Purdue in the first half but got sloppy to start the second and it cost them.

Another thing that is frustrating to me is, almost without variance, the team takes 4-7 minutes off in (usually) the second half in every game. They simply stop scoring and stop defending. If they've built a lead they have a chance, if not they end up trying to get back into it and sometimes get more sloppy.

Look at the scoring charts on ESPN - for the Michigan game there's two plateaus, one for four minutes at 10 minutes in the first half then another for three plus minutes at 9 minutes in the second. You can see it again for the Purdue game from 1 minute in the first half into the second half. Again in the home OSU game at 17 minutes in the second half - outscored 11-0 in five minutes, fortunately they had a 30 point lead to start. At Michigan State they were up 12 then quit for five minutes to find themselves tied.

These are all *good* teams they had built leads on but then simply stopped scoring and defending. Imagine how this season would be different if they could have held those leads or at least won those games! (Obviously other than the OSU game)

I know teams sometimes will make a run during a game but for years it seems that Penn State is *always* good to give up a run in the second half. I don't know what to attribute it to - do the players or coaches get complacent with the lead, are they tired, is it that the bench can't contribute effectively and the dead period is when they're being rotated in?