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so it's going to be such a great off-season because the competition is going to be like I've never seen it before in practice and in these workouts. BWI Do you have starters in mind? CHAMBERS I wouldn't pencil any- body in. Shep you can probably pencil in. He's earned it. BWI How much of a benefit was last season's finishing stretch? CHAMBERS Great momentum. We feel very confident right now. First time we get a bye in the conference tourna- ment, which was awesome. That Ohio State game didn't turn out the way we wanted it to, but boy, did we compete. Brandon Taylor got drilled in the eye and it really affected his last four minutes and I felt bad for him. His eye was all bloodshot, he could barely see and I did- n't realize it until after the game. He's such a competitor, he didn't tell me. But great momentum, really. Kids are working hard. … Everybody is taking care of their business. Our scheduling is off the charts. It's going to be one of the hardest schedules that Penn State has ever seen, maybe since the Jerry Dunn year when they went to Kentucky [2000-01]. It's going to be harder than that. BWI Why create such a challenging schedule when you have so many new players seeing action for the first time this season? CHAMBERS I think we need to really prepare these kids for the Big Ten. I've done nonconference [scheduling] every way you can possibly imagine, and now I want to go after it. I think now is the right time to chal- lenge these players and put our program in a different platform, and I think we're doing that. We're playing Pitt with Notre Dame and Villanova, which is a whole other platform for us. We're play- ing Duke, which again is another strato- sphere we're trying to reach. We want to see where we are against the best in the country. Sometimes you don't know that until you play Michigan State, until you play Indiana, until you play Michi- gan and Ohio State. So I just think this is the year we've got to challenge these young kids and see what we can do, and I want to create excitement around the program. I want people to go, "Wow, they're playing in North Jersey, they're playing in Connecticut, they're playing in D.C." BWI Is this group a little better equipped to bounce back from a loss? CHAMBERS We're going to find that out fast. I feel like my staff and I are better coaches today, and I think we're well-equipped to handle anything now. It's taken [a while], but we're married to the process. I think we can put that in a different compartment now. We started out 0-14 [in the Big Ten] in year two. We started out 2-8 this past year. We've seen so much, I don't think there's much that my staff and I can't handle. I would say these juniors are right there with us. I think they've seen so much, they've been through so much. I think we have a very confident bunch because of the locker room connectivity, the leadership by Brandon Taylor and Donovon Jack. It really helped us, and that's going to continue with Shep, Ter- rence and Payton. I feel strongly about that. So that's why you go out and try to do different things. I want people to get ex- cited. I want Penn Staters to get excited. And then the next game, Rhode Island is 15th in the preseason right now. So it is a big-time schedule that's going to pre- pare us. And guess what: Who knows which way it's going to go? BWI So how do you set expectations for fans and the players themselves? CHAMBERS Just get better every day. It's a process. Learn from losses. Get better every single day. Don't treat Duke like you wouldn't treat GW. We've got to treat everybody the same and continue the mindset of preparing ourselves for the Big Ten. Expectations are going to be high. We have to just stay present and be the best Penn State basketball team we can be. Don't get too far ahead of our- selves. Don't look in the distance: OK, we have this game here, this game here, and then we play Pitt. No. Stay right here. This is all going to add up, and then once we hit late December, early Janu- ary, my job is to get us ready to play in the Big Ten. My job is to surpass seven wins. That's the goal. We're creeping up that way. It's taken a long time to get to this position, but I feel very confident heading into the season that we're going to be a better Penn State basketball team. BWI Do you feel like you can get the development you need from the fresh- men in that expedited timeframe? CHAMBERS It's going to be up to me to manage that. We've got to manage those freshmen and manage those min- utes, and we've got to rely on our veter- ans. We've got to manage Mike, because he's really a freshman. He's never played in these games. He was absolutely ready, but he's developed, he's skilled, and it's probably the best thing that ever hap- pened to us. You've got to remember, the last three years we won 16 or more games. We're getting more consistent. We're looking to be consistent. I think everybody is looking for that. So now we've just got to take the next step. Whatever that step is, however we get there. Two years ago, it was a funky way how we got to 18 wins, but we got there. This past year, everybody said "transi- tion year" and there's no way you're going to win four games in the Big Ten, and we did it. BWI You think these kids understand that now? CHAMBERS I think there's a little bit of a kick in our step. I'm not going to say swagger, but there's a little different mindset. We all know what we want to do. We all know the expectations we have, and that's what we're going to strive for. But we can't get ahead of ourselves. I know you guys don't want to hear process, but it really is. It took us five years to finally get a [Big Ten tourna- ment] bye. It took us five years to get seven wins. It took us five years to get the right kids and to start getting better recruiting classes. It takes time. And thank goodness Penn State gave me the time. ■

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