Blue White Illustrated

T he seventh year of Patrick Cham- bers' tenure as Penn State men's basketball head coach was his most eventful yet. Undoubtedly on the coaching hot seat coming off an up-and-down debut for star true freshmen Tony Carr and Lamar Stevens, Chambers and the Nittany Lions continued down a winding path that included a 10-3 mark in the nonconference season, fol- lowed by a back-and-forth 9- 9 Big Ten record. Just missing inclusion in the NCAA tourna- ment field following a sprint to the semifinals of the Big Ten tourney, the Nittany Lions went on to win five in a row en route to the National Invitation Tournament championship. Carr later announced that he would forgo his final two seasons of eligibility to take his shot at an NBA future, seniors Shep Garner and Julian Moore exhausted their eligibility, and sophomore Nazeer Bostick decided on a transfer. In their places, another heralded class including Rivals150 guard Myles Dread, plus three-star prospects Rasir Bolton, Myreon Jones and Daniil Kasatkin will try to fill the void. The newcomers will be joining All-Big Ten honorees Mike Watkins, Josh Reaves and Stevens. Will that combination be enough to get the Nittany Lions back to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2011? Blue White Illustrated editor Nate Bauer sat down with Chambers recently to find out. BWI You've made it very clear that the NCAA tournament is your goal this sea- son. How do you get there? CHAMBERS We've got to build off of last year with our 26 wins and 51 records broken. We've got to rely on our leader- ship with Josh, Lamar and a healthy M E N ' S B A S K E T B A L L RISE AND SHINE The Nittany Lions' head coach aims to ensure that his team continues its climb HUDDLE UP Chambers talks strategy with his team during a game against Ohio State last season. Photo by Mark Selders/Penn State Athletics I N T E R V I E W P A T R I C K C H A M B E R S

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