really smart and heady, being a seasoned
veteran out there. He's playing as smart
as I've ever seen, more consistently, not
trying to do too much, but making good
decisions when he has to do certain things
with the basketball."
In other words, the player who has start-
ed every game in his career has come to
illustrate what a mature ;>h-year senior
can do for a program. His intangibles –
leadership, toughness and willpower –
have all had an impact on the rest of the
program, Chambers said. The proof is in
the results. Those tantalizing games last
year in which Penn State kept things close
till the end, only to lose by one or two
possessions, are turning into wins.
With the Big Ten season fast approach-
ing, the challenge is about to get even
bigger. The Lions need consistent pro-
duction from Newbill's supporting cast,
players such as Garner, Brandon Taylor,
Ross Travis, Donovon Jack, John Johnson,
Jordan Dickerson and Geno Thorpe. Now
in his third season with the Nittany Lions,
Newbill knows well what lies ahead.
"During the Big Ten season, we're going
to need a lot of guys to step up. You need
14 guys to win in the Big Ten," he said.
The Virginia Tech game was "good for
building [players'] con;dence – going out
there and making big plays and taking
shots and making big shots. It's just a
con;dence-builder for us."
In the meantime, Newbill is a=rming
his place in the program's history. Despite
starting his career at Southern Mississippi,
he was 12th on Penn State's all-time scor-
ing list as of mid-December (1,349 points),
and he's one of only four Nittany Lions to
eclipse 500 points in multiple seasons.
He could ;nish as high as fourth place in
the school's career scoring column, trailing
only Talor Battle (2,213), Jesse Arnelle
(2,138) and Joe Crispin (1,986).
Chambers recalled seeing glimpses of
that potential years ago when Newbill was
attending Strawberry Mansion High. "I
thought he had a chance to be this kind of
player," Chambers said. "Until you get inside
their chest, you just don't know, but once I
got to know D.J. and built a trust with him,
I knew he could be really special and be a
great player… one of the best to ever come
out of Penn State."
■
FAVORITES It's hard to pick against Wisconsin,
which returns four starters from a team that
reached the Final Four last season. The Badgers
have impressed so far, their only loss coming at the
hands of Duke, 80-70, in Madison. It would sur-
prise no one if they're still playing in April. Beneath
Wisconsin, the next tier of Big Ten teams is full of
familiar names. It'll be news when Michigan State,
Michigan and Ohio State aren't among the league's
elite teams. Of those teams, the Buckeyes are a pop-
ular pick to challenge Wisconsin for regular-season
supremacy. The knock on Ohio State last year was
that it wasn't a very good o running the
show. Cra> is gone, but the Buckeyes appear to have found a big-time scorer
in freshman D'Angelo Russell. The former McDonald's All-American was
among the league's scoring leaders as of this writing with an average of 17.7
points per game. As for the rest, the Spartans can never be counted out, and
Michigan may be a contender, too, although a home loss to NJIT – the New
Jersey Institute of Technology, in case you were wondering – gives pause.
DARK HORSES Nebraska was last year's surprise team, ;nishing 19-13 be-
fore falling to Baylor in the second round of the NCAA tourney. The Corn-
huskers may or may not be able to build on that performance; a 74-73 home
loss to Incarnate Word suggests the latter. But they've still got Terran Petteway
and Shavon Shields, who were averaging 19.8 and 17.7 points per game, respec-
tively, through nine games. Looking for an even darker horse? How about
Maryland? This was supposed to be a rebuilding year for the Big Ten newbies,
but they've gotten o< to an eye-opening start, winning 10 of their ;rst 11
games, including a 72-63 upset of No. 13 Iowa State.
MVP CANDIDATES Wisconsin's Frank Kaminsky is a preseason All-Ameri-
can who has lived up to his advance billing. Matched up against Duke's cele-
brated freshman Jahilil Okafor earlier this month, the 7-foot senior ;nished
with 17 points and nine rebounds. One of Kaminsky's teammates, junior for-
ward Sam Dekker, was also getting a lot of preseason love, as was Michigan's
Caris LeVert. Nebraska's Petteway enjoyed a breakout debut a year ago a>er
transferring from Texas Tech. Meanwhile, Penn State senior guard D.J. Newbill
was outscoring everyone in the league (and nearly everyone in the country) with
an average of 21.9 points through his ;rst 11 games. If the Lions can pull o< a few
surprises this season, Newbill may well be in the mix for postseason honors.
PENN STATE'S OUTLOOK This is the most talented team that Patrick Cham-
bers has assembled in his four seasons in University Park, as evidenced by its 10-
1 start, the team's best since 1995-96. But if the questions about whether Cham-
bers' program is on the upswing have been answered a=rmatively, another
question arises to take their place: Who are the Nittany Lions going to jump?
Coming o< a 2013-14 season in which they ;nished 10th in the standings and
bowed out in the ;rst round of the conference tourney, the Lions appear primed
to leapfrog the stragglers and maybe a few middleweights, too. With their strong
performance in the nonconference season, they're already well-positioned for a
postseason berth of some sort – and we're not talking about the CBI, a consola-
tion prize to a consolation prize. They'll ;nd out right away how they stack up
against the Big Ten's elite, as they open at Wisconsin on Dec. 31. But the real test
will be whether they're able to ;nish o< the kind of winnable games that slipped
through their ;ngers last season. The league doesn't look to be as stacked as it's
been in previous years, so the Lions' rise appears to come at an opportune time.
SEASON
PREVIEW
B Y M A T T H E R B
