Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/260491
atrick Chambers has no hair. As part of a promotion for Penn State's upcoming THON philan- thropic event, Chambers and the rest of the Nittany Lions' coaching sta7 visited the For Men Only salon in State College, where they were shorn of what- ever hair remained on their stressed-out skulls. Beats the alternative, though. Having guided his Nittany Lions to a roughly .500 record – a record marred by a six-game losing streak to open the Big Ten season and 6ve heart-wrench- ing losses of three or fewer points – Chambers has looked for much of the season like a man ready to pull out his own hair. Thankfully for the Nittany Li- ons' head coach – and the high-def viewing public – the clippers took care of the job 6rst. The frustration, it seems, stems not so much from the team he's coaching or the circumstances of its particularly cruel losses this season, but the inability of fans and media to recognize where the program stands at this point in its evo- lution. Earlier this month, Chambers used a question about the importance of bench contributions as an opportunity to raise awareness. "It's huge for our program and our fu- ture, not just this year but for next year and the following year and the year a9er that. It's critical. It's critical to the suc- cess of this program," he said. "I know we've gotta win, but we're close. "Maybe you guys don't understand what I mean. 'We're close.' The playing 6eld that was once not such a playing 6eld is slowly becoming a playing 6eld. That's exciting to see. You guys might not see that in the record, but I see it on 6lm and I think the other coaches see that we're coming and we're getting closer to being able to compete at a very high level every single game." On its face, the point is largely inar- guable. Penn State has been competi- tive in nearly every contest it's played so far this year, putting together its best nonconference season in recent memory while also holding its own against some of the better teams in the nation's most formidable basketball conference. Though Penn State's statistics have declined since the start of the Big Ten season, the progress has been unmis- takable, even to casual observers. The issue for Chambers is that the Penn State men's basketball program has a dearth of observers, casual or other- wise. Too loyal to his players to directly call out underperformers, or to blatantly question the blatantly questionable o8- ciating that has produced a series of phantom fouls, one phantom 69h foul, and more recently, a phantom out-of- bounds call that nearly undid Penn State's upset bid at Ohio State on Jan. 29, Chambers is discretely begging for a little context. Coaching has been far from pretty, particularly in late-game situations. But Penn State's lineup features play- ers whom few competitors would trade for. Given their personnel shortcom- ings, the fact that the Nittany Lions have been in position to win a number of Big Ten games is an achievement in itself. "We're young. We've got freshmen and sophomores out there who are making mistakes," Chambers said. "You show them on film, you coach them, you teach them, and at some point the light's going to come on. At some point. "But they're just not there yet. Those mistakes are happening, and they're reoccurring. You just want to pull your hair out, and hopefully they figure it out, but it will take some time. This is a man's league. Juniors and seniors get it done, and we're getting closer to that." Following the Nittany Lions' 71-70 overtime victory over Ohio State in Columbus – the program's first win over the Buckeyes since 2004 and the first victory by an unranked opponent at Value City Arena in 80 games – maybe the conversation will start to change. For the sake of the program – and Chambers' hairline – Penn State fans should hope so. ■ Expectations for Nittany Lions out of sync with reality P