Fixing the basketball team?

[Ritzarmy]

What seems to be the problem with the basketball team? Is it the coach, lack of talent, recruiting, past history of losing causing players not to commit, etc. etc. etc.

So how would you fix the team?

I remember around 10-15 years ago Ohio State wasn't known for their basketball team but since have turned it around and made several NCAA tournaments. They have gotten good recruits and compete each year for the Big10 championship. So what do we have to do to copy that success.

 

[jvett77]

Penn State competes with all those city schools in the Philadelphia area like Temple, LaSalle, and Villanova who seem find talent year after year. PSU, being a 2 hour drive from Philly, would have to recruit harder in Philly, and offer full scholarships to attract players. First and most important, they should hire a name coach with an NCAA history of winning who knows how to evaluate players and find the talented ones.

 

[Ritzarmy]

This years team got better with Fraziers return but with Marshall tranfering went back to finishing 10th or worst in Big10.

 

[SFNL]

Talented basketball players don't want to go into the farmlands to play hoops. They prefer the city.

 

[Ritzarmy]

Indiana- how you explain that?

 

[linebackeru]

Chambers is making inroads in Philly and is very well respected there. It doesn't happen overnight. I think he is doing a very good job. Frazier getting hurt killed any chance they had of doing anything last season. I think they show big improvement this year.

 

[SFNL]

Indiana- how you explain that?

A long history of winning from back when the talent came from the farmlands...

 

[john01992]

I know joe paterno is a god to a lot of penn staters, but he was also a problem for penn state. his power caused the BB program to never get the resources it needed. my brother went to psu from 2002-2006 and he told me that in some cases the basketball team was forced to practice at the student rec center because the volleyball teams were given priority over the place where psu bb normally practices

the state pf PA has a lot of good basketball programs, but for some reason psu basketball is a joke. the one good thing that will come out of psu sanctions is that the BB will not only get the resources it finally deserves but the long overdue fan support.

 

[john01992]

and while osu might have been a joke for some time. they have lots of history (they were the best program in the 60s) and a very rich recruiting pool in columbus to work with.

as much as philly is a good place to find bb players...........a lot of northeast schools have already tapped it as their turf.

 

[Ritzarmy]

and while osu might have been a joke for some time. they have lots of history (they were the best program in the 60s) and a very rich recruiting pool in columbus to work with.

as much as philly is a good place to find bb players...........a lot of northeast schools have already tapped it as their turf.

Thanks man for that info. Let's hope your right that the sanctions will actually help the BB team.

 

[linebackeru]

I know joe paterno is a god to a lot of penn staters, but he was also a problem for penn state. his power caused the BB program to never get the resources it needed. my brother went to psu from 2002-2006 and he told me that in some cases the basketball team was forced to practice at the student rec center because the volleyball teams were given priority over the place where psu bb normally practices

the state pf PA has a lot of good basketball programs, but for some reason psu basketball is a joke. the one good thing that will come out of psu sanctions is that the BB will not only get the resources it finally deserves but the long overdue fan support.

Contrary to popular belief, Joe was never trying to keep hoops down. If boosters donate to Football, it went to football. Basketball doesn't have any heavyweight boosters, wrestling, hockey and football do. Volleyball just has tradition and great coaching. If basketball would ever get a heavyweight booster to pony up some cash, they'd get better practice facilities or take a higher spot on the food chain.

BTW, they were still getting bumped by other sports and even at least once by intermurals as recent as last year....but hey, blame Joe for lack of support for hoops.

The last part of your post makes no sense at all either. How will they get more resources when people still earmark their donations for football, wrestling and hockey?? People are far more into the wrestling team and amped for hockey than hoops and still care far more about football, bogus sanctions or not.

 

[Ritzarmy]

LinebackerU, Then how do you fix the BB team?

I would try hard to get Larry Brown to coach the team. He alone could bring in the recruits needed. I don't know what his current contract with SMU is but try to get him or someone with NBA coaching ability. Land some huge recruits 4-5 star players.

Adding Maryland and Rutgers to the Big10 only makes Penn State's recruiting and winning chances decrease.

 

[john01992]

linebacker- im sorry but joe pad did really good things & really bad things for PSU. i know a lotta penn states dont wanna hear it. the football program had way to much power, the arrests rates were out of control. we heard stories of joe pa making incidents involving his players disappear, we know the players had a terrific classroom success (which looking back seems almost too perfect and may have been the result of academic misconduct).

we all know joe pa ran the athletic program, if he wasnt guilty of sabotaging psu BB, then hes sure as hell guilty of not doing enough to support it. A man of his power should have seen the problem and at the very least tried to fix it. in the early 50s PSU BB was pretty good. but after 1965 the program died. how the state land grant in the biggest BB state have one of the worst BB programs among BCS teams is beyond me. Its not a question of boosters its a question of wether or not a school has the desire to win in that particular sport. You cant get boosters if everyone knows the school doesnt give a damn. unlike wrestling basketball is a sport that can actually steal part of the limelight and can be profitable enough to make an impact on the way psu distributes its athletic resources.

so yeah maybe psu did have a "cultural problem" and maybe the football team was out of control. i still think the NCAA sanctions were BS and the core of the issues affecting psu are seen in other athletic programs across the nation as well. but looking at the positive this gives psu a chance to reset and fix their issues. the new guys in charge will see to it BB doesnt get ignored. even though we went 8-4 with FB most likely heading into shit people are gonna start depending on BB, and for the first chance in 5+ decades BB finally will be getting more support than your average BCS school. im not talking donations when i say fan support......im talking about PEOPLE ACTUALLY CARING for psu basketball

 

[john01992]

ritz- larry brown wanted to make a "coaches school" where he single handedly built a program. he choose SMU because they were

1) isolated from other BB powerhouses
2) were joining the BB orientated big east
3) could tap the texas recruiting grounds
4) SMU is traditionally a weak FB school
5) smu is a small private religious school simliar to BB powers like gtown sju etc.

the BE disbanded right after (he got screwed by conference realignment more than any other person) but hes still sticking it out. but regardless psu doesnt really fit the profile of his ideal school and guys like him dont come around often.

 

[Doctor Krieger]

and while osu might have been a joke for some time. they have lots of history (they were the best program in the 60s) and a very rich recruiting pool in columbus to work with.

as much as philly is a good place to find bb players...........a lot of northeast schools have already tapped it as their turf.

Hey John...you get everything worked out with the mods then?

 

[john01992]

Hey John...you get everything worked out with the mods then?

obviously cuz im not banned and posting here........

 

[john01992]

oh and i liked the name wisco the best

 

[linebackeru]

LinebackerU, Then how do you fix the BB team?

I would try hard to get Larry Brown to coach the team. He alone could bring in the recruits needed. I don't know what his current contract with SMU is but try to get him or someone with NBA coaching ability. Land some huge recruits 4-5 star players.

Adding Maryland and Rutgers to the Big10 only makes Penn State's recruiting and winning chances decrease.

They didn't want Larry Brown, he had ineterest before they hired Chambers. You need a booster who gives a shit to donate money and upgrade facilities first and foremost. Bottom line, basketball will be at best 2nd or 3rd fiddle on its best day at PSU. Wrestling is HUGE there and Cael has a dynasty rolling with no end in sight. Hockey has built a ton of excitement and has unlimited resources as well.Bsketball will be better with Chambers, he's finally got his guys there now and gets frazier back. Its not as bleak a picture as you paint going into this season.

 

[linebackeru]

linebacker- im sorry but joe pad did really good things & really bad things for PSU. i know a lotta penn states dont wanna hear it. the football program had way to much power, the arrests rates were out of control. we heard stories of joe pa making incidents involving his players disappear, we know the players had a terrific classroom success (which looking back seems almost too perfect and may have been the result of academic misconduct).

we all know joe pa ran the athletic program, if he wasnt guilty of sabotaging psu BB, then hes sure as hell guilty of not doing enough to support it. A man of his power should have seen the problem and at the very least tried to fix it. in the early 50s PSU BB was pretty good. but after 1965 the program died. how the state land grant in the biggest BB state have one of the worst BB programs among BCS teams is beyond me. Its not a question of boosters its a question of wether or not a school has the desire to win in that particular sport. You cant get boosters if everyone knows the school doesnt give a damn. unlike wrestling basketball is a sport that can actually steal part of the limelight and can be profitable enough to make an impact on the way psu distributes its athletic resources.

so yeah maybe psu did have a "cultural problem" and maybe the football team was out of control. i still think the NCAA sanctions were BS and the core of the issues affecting psu are seen in other athletic programs across the nation as well. but looking at the positive this gives psu a chance to reset and fix their issues. the new guys in charge will see to it BB doesnt get ignored. even though we went 8-4 with FB most likely heading into shit people are gonna start depending on BB, and for the first chance in 5+ decades BB finally will be getting more support than your average BCS school. im not talking donations when i say fan support......im talking about PEOPLE ACTUALLY CARING for psu basketball

LOL, ok, where to start here....you have some real ESPIN misconceptons here. You may want to check those out of control arrest records and some of the bullshit those kids were charged with that ws made into some huge deal. It was also only news because it was PSU and they had been so damn squeaky clean. I see you have UM and Colorado logos on your name. TO call any team out of control with those 2 teams on your fan list is comical. Colorado was about as out of control as it gets and I can tell you some nice stories about Michigan and what they did to get kids there and then what they did to keep them there from several local recruits, but hey, they've always been shady, so its not news. Also, Paterno did far more than the University of Michigan did to report a child predator at their University, but there's no problem there, they upgraded their reporting standards AFTER that incident to EXACTLY what Joe DID when he reported. So, Joe's "bare minimum and not doing enough" is the upgraded standard to report this stuff at UM. Yeah, I guess we are held to a higher standard here. As far as the sanctions, show me any rule PSU broke according to NCAA bylaws.....I guess its better to cheat and break their actual laws like OSU, Florida, Oregon, Tennessee, FSU, UNC, Syracuse, etc and just fight them on it and they go away. Break no laws, cooperate and you get slammed.

Boosters=better facilities, which=better players, which = wins, which = fans support. It all goes hand in hand at a place liek PSU. Its the only sport they aren't good in, Joe always let them use football as a recuiting tool as well. I had sideline passes from work for years and saw tons of potential Bball recruits on football game sidelines. Joe always made time to come over and speak to them like the football recruits, but yeah, he was sabatoging their program. Football funds the entire athletic program, so what you are saying is that they should take opportunities away from non revenue sports to give the bball program more money?? PSU has a huge AD that is one of less than 5 completely self sufficient AD's in nation. If you start pumping more money into Bball, you kill some other sports that give opportunities to kids, =besides, bball already funds itself and makes a profit. You say boosters don't matter, but fact is that's where all the facilities come from. If football boosters found their money was going to bball, they'd quit giving.

 

[Ritzarmy]

And it isn't as sunny as you paint it.