Blue White Illustrated

For maybe the (rst time in your tenure at Penn State, you have more than a couple of juniors and seniors. Even though some are transfers and still new to the program, what will it mean to have 21-year-old players this year? What I would say is, it's noticeable in our workouts. We have men out there. We're bigger, we're stronger, we're more mature, we're athletic. We are huge. Wait until you see us. We are enormous. What impact do you expect that to have? I just think we've been through so much. We've been through the battles, we've been through the adversity, we've been through the challenges. We've been through the 10 games average of three points, and then we've also felt success. I think we're realizing that we do have talent here. We can beat the best teams in this league, so with all the experiences we've gone through over the last three years together, I think you 2nally are go- ing to see a change, a 3ip of the switch. We're meant to play here. We're meant to be here. We're meant to compete here. We can beat these guys. Has the mental side been the biggest obstacle? There's no question. There's been 60 years of poor tradition. There's been 60 years of letdown with a couple of one- hit wonders, and you're battling that. You're battling everything on the out- side, and honestly, you're battling everything on the inside because they know you haven't beaten some of these teams. Our history says, we're not beat- ing this team. And we're out to prove history wrong this year. That's the goal, to change what people think about us, and I think we can do it. Has that perception changed at all to this point? It hasn't. We're getting there. Unfor- tunately, it's an incredibly slow process, and we are de2nitely in an age of instant grati2cation. We want everything now. This is a process. We're building from scratch, basically. So it's been a slow process, but I feel like every year, maybe the wins didn't indicate it, but I felt like we got a little bit better. I felt like indi- viduals got a little bit better. I felt like the team got a little bit better. I felt like myself as a coach going through some of these experiences, seeing things for the 2rst time, I'm getting a little bit better. I'm getting a little bit wiser. So I feel like we're really making strides as a program. Now it's got to lead us to wins and then it's got to trickle down to the students 2rst. We need the students back and then the alums and then the fans and so on and so forth. Where do you think you are in that process? I haven't seen many changes with the students in my three years. But you're initiating some changes this year? We've done everything. We have half- time shows, we've got giveaways, we've got everything. Hang out with me. Whatever you want to do. We'll go to lunch together, we'll go to dinner to- gether, come to my house. Come on! We're doing everything! We're kind of like the [State College] Spikes. We'll do the monkeys on dogs riding around. Do you think your recent recruiting success will help? I think we're a viable option now for in-state kids. As James Franklin says, "We always want to win the state." So do we, and we're doing that. We need to try to get one of the best 10 players in the state, and we're doing that. We've got to continue to do a good job in the state anyway. And now we're getting into D.C. and doing some di4erent things. Penn State has never gotten into the DMV. We've never gotten into Philly. Check our roster this year. You've got John Johnson, D.J. Newbill, Shep Garner, Ju- lian Moore, and I throw Brandon Taylor in there. They begged me to recruit Philly. We recruited Philly. We've got 2ve kids from Philly on the team now. You have some options this year, maybe for the (rst time. You know what you're going to get from those top seven guys. You know what you're going to get from D.J. New- bill, Geno Thorpe, John Johnson, Ross Travis, Brandon Taylor, Jordan Dicker- son, Donovon Jack. You know what you're getting from those seven guys. However, we still need somebody to make shots. Our three-point shooting percentage needs to get better. We were the No. 1 defensive team [in the Big Ten] defending the two. We became the eighth – which is a miracle, we were at the bottom – defending the three. We got to eight! So that showed the progress. We're going to be a good defensive team again. We've got to make threes on the other end. We couldn't score. We didn't have a third option. It's making open threes. It's making open shots. Are Jack, Travis and Taylor the three guys who can swing you either way? I would agree with that. When Taylor got 10 last year, we won. I think Ross Travis, in all my years here, has had the best summer because I think he 2nally understands who he is and how he can be the best player and being that best player, how he can make this team bet- ter. He's going to dominate the boards, he's going to play fearless. I'm encourag- ing him to knock down that mid-range jumper, and we're going to post him up. He doesn't need to shoot threes. A lot of his points are going to come o4 of our defense. We're going to move him around a little bit more this year to put him in more of a comfortable situation. Is Taylor going to have to play the four? He's de2nitely going to play the four and the three. There's no question, I know he [wants to play the three]. And he's talented enough to do it. However, it takes time. You don't overnight just say, "Hey, I'm a wing player now." We're slowly developing him into being able to be a wing player. But he's a really good four. So make sure you're a really good four, but we're also going to move you to

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