Blue White Illustrated

111 E. Beaver Ave s State College, PA 16801 www.The-Phyrst.com 814.234.4406 137 Elmwood St. s State College, PA 16801 www.HappyValleyBeer.com Wood-fire Grill 12 Beers on Tap 200 Year Old Barn 821 Cricklewood Dr. s Toftrees, State College www.AmericanAleHouse.net 814.237.9701 s Piano Bar s Sommelier 814.238.1406 814.234.7700 s 1611 Atherton St. s State College 814.941.7788 s Plank Rd. Exit s Altoona www.ChampsSportsGrill.net s Best Game Bar s Large Groups Welcome c lc e W We s p u o r G e g r a L s a e B m a st G e B s S n S h 1 A 1 6 1 0 0 7 7 4. 3 2 4. 1 8 me co r a l l C S r G s rt o p S s p m a h C . www s t i x . E d k R n a l P s 8 8 7 7 1. 4 9 . 4 1 8 S s . t n S o t r e h t 1 A 1 6 1 s 0 0 7 7 4. 3 2 4. 1 8 t e n . l l i r na o o t l A e g e l l o C e at t S A month ago in these pages, I urged Penn State hoops fans to stay the course with coach Patrick Chambers. Exploring the reasons behind the Nit- tany Lions' 1-11 start to the Big Ten sea- son, I contended that the record didn't reflect the quality of Chambers' team. This was a program with young, exciting players who were suffering through some growing pains but who offered the potential for a bright future. The Lions' final eight games of the regular season demonstrated as much. With its 72-56 victory over Illinois on March 10, Penn State improved to 7-13 in the Big Ten and 14-17 overall. The Nit- tany Lions' late-season surge included victories over sixth-ranked Michigan and 19th-ranked Maryland. They pushed through a narrow loss at Purdue on Feb. 16 and unloaded on Nebraska, Illinois and the Terrapins in successive games. And when challenged by a 4-point set- back at Wisconsin, the Lions earned a critical 66-65 win at Rutgers and their second win over the Illini to complete a stretch of five wins in six games heading into the Big Ten tournament in Chicago. And in that conference tournament, against any reasonable expectation at the start of February, the Lions enjoyed a first-round bye as the 10th seed. "I couldn't be more proud of a group. I don't know if you remember this, but we were 0-10. We were 0-10. We just got ourselves a bye," Chambers said. "That's a credit to the leadership of the players and to the staff, to stay the course and stick together and minimize the noise on the outside." That noise might have knocked a lesser group off-balance. The Lions had gotten off to a frustrat- ing start that included losses to DePaul, Bradley, North Carolina State and Ala- bama, plus a pair of early Big Ten defeats to Maryland and Indiana. Before the cal- endar had flipped to the new year, Chambers' future was being publicly questioned. But Penn State athletic director Sandy Barbour gave him a vote of confidence in late December, stating that she was "fully" committed to him and his staff. Twelve weeks later, she was asked again about her commitment to Cham- bers' stewardship of the program. This time, the question was asked at a press conference addressing the departure of women's basketball coach Coquese Washington after 12 seasons at Penn State. Barbour acknowledged that nei- ther of the basketball programs are where she wants them to be. But, she added, "I certainly assess them very dif- ferently in terms of their trajectory." That support from Barbour, both pub- licly and privately, proved to be of im- mense importance to Chambers and his staff. Rather than dwelling on the exter- nal scrutiny and allowing it to create pressure, the team was able to push through its challenges by concentrating simply on getting better. Players and coaches had always believed that im- provement was happening just beneath the surface, and they were proven right. "I said the record is not an indication or a reflection of how hard we were play- ing, how hard we were competing. We were so close in so many games that eas- ily could have been flipped, 13-7 instead of 7-13," Chambers said. " The credit goes to the players and the staff. They did such an amazing job of showing up every single day and getting better. "Those were our two things – im- provement and identity. Let's just im- prove a little bit each day and let's just focus on our identity, which is defending and rebounding." In staying true to those beliefs, Penn State's trajectory is one fans can soon feel grateful for having seen through. ■ JUDGMENT CALL Lions' surge shows faith was justified

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