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commit to the program, announcing in the summer of 2013 that he planned to sign with Penn State. Rated 119th nation- ally by Rivals.com, he played for a Math, Civics and Sciences Charter team that reached the PIAA Class A :nal last season. Following breakout performances at some of the biggest camp circuits this past sum- mer, Watkins garnered considerable in- terest but stood :rm in his commitment to the Nittany Lions. Zemgulis, a Lithuanian transplant who spent the 2013-14 season with St. Mary Ryken High in the Washington, D.C., sub- urbs, stands 6-6, 220 pounds. He's a for- ward with excellent perimeter shooting skills. A relative unknown, Zemgulis was a U16 member in the European Champi- onships before becoming an exchange student and seeing his stock skyrocket last summer. Reaves is ranked 129th nationally by Ri- vals.com and is considered a top-100 player by other recruiting services. Having transferred to Oak Hill Academy in rural Virginia for his senior season, he will round out his high school career with one of the elite prep hoops programs in the country. Chambers attributed the Nittany Lions' recruiting success to his sta;'s persistence. "For them to do what they did over the last three and a half years is a tribute to them and their work ethic and their or- ganization and detail," he said. "It's a monumental day, for this program and the history of the program." The signings should help establish Penn State in areas it wants to recruit. Watkins hails from one of the premier hubs for Philadelphia basketball, while Reaves pre- viously attended Paul VI in Fairfax, Va., not far from Washington, D.C. If those players are able to improve Penn State's record in the Big Ten, the barriers to recruiting success will likely erode even further. "You're going to start winning, so people are going to start wanting to come," he said. "They're going to start helping you recruit other great players. The great re- cruiters are not me and the sta;. The players are the great recruiters. Now you've got a couple of guys committed and now they're the great recruiters. I think you're going to start seeing that. "I think what we all want here at Penn State and what we've always wanted over history is just consistency. I'm hoping for that." Steadily, the Nittany Lions have begun to :nd it. While the Class of 2015 might be the most highly regarded in school history, Penn State had already begun making in- roads in Pennsylvania's two biggest re- cruiting hotbeds, pulling Julian Moore out of Philadelphia and Geno Thorpe out of Pittsburgh two years ago. The additions of Shep Garner and Isaiah Washington last year built upon those earlier steps. Said Chambers, "It's critical to the suc- cess of this program and the longevity of this program and the consistency of this program. We have to get the right kids that :t Penn State. The kids who chose to come here over the last three-and-a-half years, well, they're special kids. "These kids are exactly that way: hard- working kids with great character who are into their academics, who understand what Penn State can provide for them, the op- portunity that Penn State provides for them, not just on a basketball level, but on a lifetime level, and on a social level." The line to play for the Nittany Lions for the next class has already started. A junior this season, four-star forward Joe Hampton made his verbal commitment to Penn State in August. Hampton, who is one of Reaves' teammates at Oak Hill, is ranked No. 70 by Rivals.com in the Class of 2016. With another four scholarships available for the Class of 2016 and a philosophy that aims to build with each successive year, Chambers said he plans to keep the recent recruiting success going. "I think the class that we have in here now, the Shep Garner class, I think it's a solid class and I think you're really going to like it and you're going to see it," he said. "This next class coming in is going to keep it going. Then we've got a nice class already coming behind that. "If we can be consistent with our e;ort in recruiting, I think that gives you con- sistency in your program." ■ This season, PSU has options Penn State head coach Patrick Chambers doesn't want to commit this season. For the :rst time in his tenure as the Nittany Lions' head coach, he might not have to. Toying with as many as 10 di;er- ent rotations during the team's pre- season, Chambers has options at nearly every position, has a roster with even distribution in both expe- rience and talent, and is looking for- ward to :nding what works best in the coming month. "I think the nonconference [schedule] is really going to tell our rotation and what everybody is con- :dent with and what we all trust," he said. "I think that's the most impor- tant thing. I feel like we should be able to go to our bench and get better if we do this the right way. "It could be eight, it could be nine, it could be ten, but I think the non- conference is really going to deter- mine that. And our friends in the striped shirts are also going to deter- mine a lot of that as well, how deep we're going to go in the :rst and sec- ond half." Lions look to perfect the art of fouling The Nittany Lions were hurt last season by a series of critical calls at inopportune moments, and that has prompted Chambers to re-teach both playing hard and fouling. For the :rst time in his career, he said, o

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