Sunday, July 19, 2009
At the College Basketball Roundtable each week, we ask each member of the coverage staff for his opinion about a topic in the sport. We have two questions this week – one Saturday (Who will win the SEC West?) and one today.
Today's question: There are three seconds to play, and you're trailing by two. Who do you want taking the potential winning 3-pointer for you next season? ...
Steve Megargee's answer:
I'd go with
Penn State's
Talor Battle, who already has proved he can deliver in such situations, even when his team's season is on the line. Penn State trailed George Mason by three points in the first round of the NIT when Battle made a 3-pointer at the buzzer to force overtime. Battle scored eight points in the extra session, and Penn State went on to win the NIT championship. Battle might seem an odd choice since he's a streaky shooter who made just 33.9 percent of his 3-point attempts last year, but when his shot is falling, he's virtually unstoppable...
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Thursday, July 16, 2009
By Jeff RiceAs the Nittany Lions take their positions to begin the pickup game, the skinny kid saunters through the bodies, his eyes taking in everything. He cracks a joke, and one of the bigger guys laughs. Then the game starts, somebody throws him the ball, and — BAM! — Tim Frazier is already down the floor, leaving only a jetstream behind him.
Penn State’s freshman point guard is poised to give his team the speed it lost with the graduation of Stanley Pringle. But where Pringle’s game was 3-pointers and pullups, Frazier’s is about getting those shots, plus a few dunks, for his teammates.
“I’m definitely a pass-first, shoot-second type of guy,” he said. “I’m here to find the open man and make the correct passes and get open looks. ... Get a little ‘ooh-ahhs’ for the crowd, get the big men happy.” ...
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Wednesday, July 15, 2009
... [Bo] Ryan didn't have a Wisconsin player on the squad, but he did have four players who will go against him next season. He said he told them that they all improved during the tournament and 'will likely kick my rear end next season.'
At the top of that list is Penn State's Talor Battle. He wasn't expected to beat out Arizona's Nic Wise to make the team, but he did and led the Americans in scoring at 10.3 points a game and made 52 percent of his 3s in seven games (13 of 25).
'He not only improved during that NIT run for Penn State, but with this experience, too,' Ryan said. ...
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Billy Oliver had the best seat in the house when it came to Penn State men's basketball last season. Now the former Chatham High standout is hoping to exercise more than his eyes for the Nittany Lions.
A pair of concussions less than two weeks apart last October forced the former Cougars standout to be redshirted his freshman year of college. However, the year on the bench has given him some experience and perspective, and he may be better-suited to deal with the rigors of Big 10 basketball this year than if he had dove in as a true freshman.
Oliver recently returned to the PSU campus where he will attend off-season workouts and shootarounds and keep his basketball skills sharp until official practices begin on Oct. 15.
'It was frustrating,' Oliver said. 'I did all that work in the off-season and I couldn't even play. By the time I was cleared, we were halfway through the season.' ...
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Jermaine Marshall is learning patience. He doesn’t have any other options.
Penn State’s freshman guard missed his entire senior season at Red Land High School after sustaining a serious preseason knee injury. When he got to campus a few weeks ago, his long-awaited return to the court
lasted exactly one pickup session — he was diagnosed with mononucleosis and restricted to dribbling, shooting and light weightlifting until the illness cleared.
The good news? Barring any more unforseen setbacks, Marshall will be ready for the season.
“I was down for a while,” he said last week. “Coach talked to me about, ‘Be happy that it’s now instead of later on in the season.’ I’ll just be out for a couple weeks, so get it over with now.”...
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The State College boys’ basketball team spent this past weekend at Susquehanna University. The Little Lions drilled and played against more than 30 varsity teams from the region. Coach Drew Frank walked away from the camp pleased. Ho-hum.
Taran Buie, meantime, spent his week playing alongside basketball’s next superstars and drilling with LeBron James. All the while, the next high school all-star camp on the circuit beckoned.
A quick Web search of Buie’s name bears oodles of articles and photographs — too many to count — documenting the exploits of the highly regarded 6-foot-2 guard. You discover he’s one of the most prized prospects in the Class of 2010, choosing Penn State for his college destination over Maryland, Georgia Tech and Notre Dame.
What’s less noticeable is the fact that Buie, a half brother of Penn State star Talor Battle, will finish his high school career at State College, playing for the Little Lions. Frank has only spoken briefly with Buie’s mother, Denise Murphy, who moved her family from Albany, N.Y., to Boalsburg last month.
Frank hasn’t had any contact with Buie and knows little about his game, other than the hype it brings.
“I know our players have said you can watch him on YouTube. I’m not really big on that,” Frank said. “Obviously his reputation precedes him. To be ranked in the top 40 or top 50 (nationally among rising seniors) or whatever he is, you know you have a special player coming in.” How special? ...
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Tuesday, July 14, 2009
By Jeff RiceYou could say Penn State's basketball veterans use the summer pickup games to stay in shape, to stave off boredom or to try a new move or two.
What they’re really doing, though, is sizing up and building up the new guys.
“We’re just trying to pick apart what they’re doing good, what they’re doing wrong,” junior forward Andrew Jones said.
Four Nittany Lion freshmen are being gently but frequently scrutinzed by their upperclassman peers this summer. Jones’ pet project is Sasa Borovnjak, the 6-foot-9, 230-pound forward from Veritas Christian Academy in Fletcher, N.C.
Borovnjak averaged 26 points and 12 rebounds per game for Veritas as a senior. His likely position at Penn State is power forward, but he’s gone up against Jones — who starts at center for the Nittany Lions but is essentially a power forward— to get an idea of the physical specimens he will see in the Big Ten.
“It’s hard,” said the Serbian- born Borovnjak, who speaks English confidently if not perfectly. “He’s a big guy, and I have to work more and more to get stronger, to be equal with him. He’s taller and stronger. I’m learning from him.” ...
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Monday, July 13, 2009
The first few weeks on campus can be overwhelming for a college freshman — new people, new surroundings, new routines.
But Bill Edwards has always been familiar with the unfamiliar.
“It’s another adjustment,” said Penn State’s freshman forward, who turned 18 last week. “But I’m kind of used to it.”
Edwards, one of four new faces in the Nittany Lions’ summer pickup games, split his childhood between his native Middletown, Ohio, and various cities in Europe. His father, also named Bill Edwards but better known as
“Dollar Bill,” played professionally in Greece, Italy and France for 12 years after a standout career at Wright State and a brief stint with the Philadelphia 76ers....
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Sunday, July 12, 2009
AKRON, Ohio — Teenage summers can be a blur, but for Taran Buie, this one seems to be flying by at a particularly blinding pace.
Since wrapping up his junior year at Bishop Maginn High School in Albany, N.Y., Buie has led his Albany City Rocks AAU team in the vaunted Rumble in the Bronx tournament; traveled to Dallas to compete in the Nike Deron Williams Skills Academy as one of the top 20 point guards in the country; and helped his family move to a new home in Boalsburg.
And that was just in June.
“It’s been a busy month,” Buie said.
The Nittany Lion hoops commit spoke earlier this week in Akron, where he was among a pool of 80 top high school players at the LeBron James Skills Academy, Nike’s annual invitation-only summer camp. Buie sat on a wooden bleacher between sessions, holding a precautionary ice bag to his ankle — “It’s fine,” he said, “just taking care of my body” — and talking excitedly about his future in Happy Valley." ...
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Wednesday, July 08, 2009
Katz recovering a bit in PennStateHoops.com's eyes:
"If the U.S. is going to win this tournament, it might need another game from [Talor] Battle like the one he had against the Serbs. He was 7-of-12 from the field, 3-of-6 on 3s and scored 17 points in 22 minutes. Battle wasn't the first choice to make the squad a few weeks ago at the trials in Colorado Springs. The expectation prior to the event was that Arizona's Nic Wise would win the job. But Battle, fresh off leading the Nittany Lions to the NIT title, won the job and has been a bit more consistent than Fisher at the point.
"'He's really come a long way in my eyes as far as being a point guard,'' Ryan said. 'He earned his way here and he continues to improve. I'll pay for it later when we play Penn State in the Big Ten. But he's getting great game experience and handling it well.''"
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Monday, July 06, 2009
Seven home games and three games in Charleston Classic highlight non-conference scheduleJuly 6, 2009
UNIVERSITY PARK, PA., July 6, 2009 - Nittany Lion coach Ed DeChellis announced a 12-game non-conference slate and one exhibition game that will begin the 2009 Big Ten Coach of the Year's seventh season at the Penn State helm and the 114th season of Nittany Lion basketball.
The Nittany Lions will face at least two 2009 NCAA Tournament teams and one 2009 NIT team, travel to Virginia and Philadelphia and play three games in a strong field at the 2009 Charleston Classic in South Carolina. Times and television arrangements for the non-conference games as well as the entirety of the Big Ten schedule will be announced by the Conference office at a later date.
Penn State's nine guaranteed non-conference opponents will bring an average RPI of 134, based on RPIs at the end of 2008-09 campaign, into the 2009-10 season. That is better than 80 RPI points lower than the average of last seasons 13 non-conference opponents entering the season. Five 2009-10 opponents had winning records and three won more than 20 games, including NCAA participants Temple (22-12) and Robert Morris (24-11).
Penn State will play an exhibition game vs. Slippery Rock on Friday, Nov. 6 in the Bryce Jordan Center, the night before the football team's home date with Ohio State, and will get its 2009-10 season started by taking on Penn in the Jordan Center on Friday, Nov. 13. A perennial Ivy League contender, Penn's 2008-09 season-ending RPI of 252 is the highest among the Lion's non-conference opponents, but the Quakers return four of their top five scorers and their team MVP from last season.
The Lions will take on Robert Morris at home on Monday, Nov. 16 before heading south for the Charleston Classic in Charleston, South Carolina, Nov. 19-22. Penn State will play three games in the weekend tournament, which also includes teams from the ACC (Miami, Fla.), SEC (South Carolina) and Big East (South Florida) as well as Davidson, LaSalle, Tulane and UNC- Wilmington.
Penn State will return home on Wednesday, Nov. 25 for a match-up with Sacred Heart before hitting the road again for a two-game stretch, which begins with a Big Ten/ACC Challenge showdown at Virginia on Monday, Nov. 30. Following the battle with the Cavaliers, the Lions will head to Philadelphia for a re-match with Temple on Saturday, Dec. 5 at the Liacouras Center. The Owls, who went 22-12 last season, knocked off the Lions, 65-59, at the Jordan Center last year. Penn State will be playing a game in Philadelphia for the third straight season.
Penn State will close out the non-conference season with four-straight December home games highlighted by a Saturday, Dec. 12 tilt vs. Virginia Tech. The Lions downed the Hokies, who reached the NIT last season, in a thrilling 66-61 game at the Jordan Center in 2007.
Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC) will visit the BJC on Tuesday, Dec. 8. Gardner Webb comes to town on Saturday, Dec. 19 and the Lions wrap up the non-conference slate taking on American, which posted a 24-8 mark last year, on Monday, Dec. 21.
'We put a lot of time and effort into developing a non-conference schedule that we feel is very competitive and helps put us in the position we want to be in at the end of the season,' DeChellis said. 'We have some good road and home tests and hopefully some strong tournament opponents in there. We consulted several people in the conference and nationally to make sure we were making the right decisions in regards to effecting our RPI and tournament resume should we be able to put ourselves in that position at the end of the season.'
The 2008-09 campaign was a season of 'firsts' for the Nittany Lion program. DeChellis led Penn State to a school record 27 victories, culminating in the 2009 NIT Championship, the program's first national post-season tournament title. The Nittany Lions (27-11) earned four victories over RPI Top 25 opponents, with seven wins over Top 50 teams, including their first-ever victory at Michigan State, the NCAA Tournament runner-up.
The Nittany Lions return three starters and eight lettermen for the 2009-10 campaign, including sophomore point guard Talor Battle (Albany, N.Y.), a first team All-Big Ten, USBWA and NABC All-District selection. Battle (16.7 ppg, 5.3 rpg, 5.0 apg) is joined by returning sophomore starters D.J. Jackson (4.5 ppg, 3.2 rpg) and Andrew Jones (6.2 ppg, 5.7 rpg). Penn State returns 53 percent of its scoring and 65 percent of its rebounding and will welcome four incoming freshmen, as well as forward Billy Oliver (Chatham, N.J.), a freshman who red-shirted this past season.
Penn State 2009 Non-Conference OpponentsNov. 6 Slippery Rock (exhibition)
Nov. 13 Penn
Nov. 16 Robert Morris
Nov. 19-22 @ Charleston Classic (Miami, South Carolina, South Florida, Davidson, Tulane, LaSalle, UNC Wilmington)
Nov. 25 Sacred Heart
Nov. 30 @ Virginia
Dec. 5 @ Temple
Dec. 8 Maryland Baltimore County
Dec. 12 Virginia Tech
Dec. 19 Gardner Webb
Dec. 21 American"
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