Sunday Column: For PSU Basketball, Setting The Bar a Little Higher Doesn’t Make it Impossible to Reach

The Big Ten is a tough basketball conference on a yearly basis, and just might be the toughest conference in the country this year. Five Big Ten teams are currently in the AP Top 25, with four of them in the top 10 and three in the top five. Joe Lunardi, who does this for a living, has nine of the league’s teams as 95% locks for the NCAA Tournament field.

Penn State, and stop me if you’ve heard this before, is not among those nine. Yes, the Nittany Lions should have and assuredly would have played in the tourney last year had one actually been played, but the last time they actually played in one, Talor Battle was a 22-year-old lead guard, not a 32-year-old assistant coach. The Nittany Lions have never, since joining the Big Ten in 1992, made the NCAA field in consecutive seasons, despite (or because of) playing in a conference that regularly sends at least seven teams to the tournament each year. 

As a long-suffering hoops program prepares to turn another page, it’s as good a time as any to ask: What should realistic and reasonable annual expectations be for Penn State men’s basketball?

Contending for conference championships?

Finishing in the top half of the league?

 Making the NCAA tournament in most years?

Making it every two or three years?

No matter where you place the bar for the next head coach, it’s probably above where the bar has been since … forever. It is understandable to struggle when you’re battling top 40 teams on almost every night once the calendar hits January. So why not become one of those top 40 teams?

Why does that have to be so hard?

Yes, getting the new hire right is a big part of that and the foundation from which so many of the other essential steps must be taken. A financial commitment to the sport that has not been previously seen in State College will be crucial in making that hire and in providing him with the support and resources to bring in and retain a quality staff, keep facilities competitive, etc. But money alone won’t be enough, nor should it be thought of as such.

The new coach must take advantage of the “new coach buzz” honeymoon period that immediately follows a new hire and, most likely, make healthy dips into the transfer portal, to recruit impact players. Those players will need to buy in to the staff and each other and play the kind of ball that will attract more quality players. The die-hard, somewhat masochistic core of fans who have watched team after team come close to rounding a corner only to see them trip and stumble as they make the turn must band with some bandwagon jumpers and create a home environment that can steal a point/call or two on big nights and, during and between the games, make those top recruits believe they will be embraced and valued.

It all may sound simple and easy and it won’t be either of those things, but nor is it as unattainable as some believe. If you’ve followed Penn State hoops long enough, you’ve heard the same old refrain of excuses: The administration doesn’t care, and won’t invest the needed resources. The fans don’t care, and won’t invest their time. Lather, rinse, gripe about the officiating, repeat. But a winner, even a modest winner – an annual finish from sixth through eighth place in the Big Ten as opposed to 10-13; an NCAA tournament berth every other year – automatically raises what are essentially nonexistent expectations. It provides incentive for the administration to invest more in the program, even if it’s in modest amounts. It provides incentive for a few more fans to make the drive from Harrisburg or Altoona for a weeknight game in February. It puts you in a few more nationally televised games, gets you some ink from a few more national outlets, raises the eyebrow of a top-50 recruit who has never been to central PA.

With the right hire and some momentum, winning can be sustainable, provided the recruiting stays consistent or consistently improves, provided the coaching can develop players, scheme around their talents and push the right buttons late in tight games. Ed DeChellis got close. Pat Chambers got closer. They both understood they weren’t on a level playing field with the Big Ten programs they faced but also thought they could narrow that gap.

There are coaches out there who can win here (even under this administration!). Maybe it’ll be the next guy, or maybe the one after him. This program has been through, and put its fans through, enough heartache and heartburn to last three lifetimes, but it’s not cursed. Three NCAA tournament appearances in 29 (non-pandemic) years is a little ridiculous, yes. But so is thinking that it will take a miracle for Penn State to make, say, three tournament appearances in a four-year stretch – even if the coach who eventually does it will probably be hailed as a miracle worker.