Reaction to Penn State Basketball's Non-Conference Slate

Actually, I think it’s a rather responsible schedule for the type of team we have. A few tough road games, a game against Maryland, and a bunch of teams we theoretically should beat but won’t be walkovers.

In terms of interest, it’s a B. In terms of finding the appropriate level of difficulty given the current state and goals of the program, it’s an A.

We did exactly enough to let us be successful without trying too too hard.

It’s useless to mount a truly vicious non-con schedule if you can’t win any of the games. That said, I find it truly amusing that a roadie to Virginia Tech is one of the tougher games – there’s the ACC’s version of Penn State right there. I do hope Battle gets to play in the Big Dance, though. All he needs is a little help from his friends (hint, hint, other guys).

Sets this team up for an invite if they perform, gives them a shot at the NIT if they don’t.

Thanks, Coach DeChellis!

that they may be yawning at us?

East Stroudsburg and Central Conneticut State? Are these made-up schools?

There’s a few pretty interesting matchups, and a few games that are meant to be wins… The schedule gives PSU a chance to go into Big Ten play feeling good, but also gives us the opportunity to turn a few heads… I am, however, disappointed that we won’t be playing BYU in New York.. I felt like that could have been a fun game to watch no matter the outcome…

Also, don’t sleep on Lehigh.. I do think we will win that game, but they are a pretty legitimate team.. I kind of felt like they got robbed last year by being a 16 seed.. and even then they gave the best team in the country all the could handle (for a while).

Pretty much. I’d like for them to schedule one suicide game. Nothing to lose. How long ago was it that we won at Kentucky?

Can we get a countdown to PSU Football’s first game?

I have seen some of the other sites, Oregon is coming to mind, that has a countdown to kickoff.

Would just be something fun to look forward too.

You may now go back to your regularly scheduled PSU basketball conversation.

I am not trying to come in here and create a stir, but I don’t know why you would not be excited by Virginia Tech. They are pre-season Top-25 by about every pundit that has put one out, they return a whopping 98.5% of their scoring, only losing a total of 38 points, they add a transfer who was the #79th overall player in the nation his senior year, they add a scoring PG who was 9 points short of topping Wilt Chamberlain in Philly High school scoring history, they add the #63 overall player from this year’s recruiting class, and they went 25-9 (10-6) from a team that yeah, you are right did not make the NCAA Tournament…somehow…despite having 10 wins in the ACC (first time in history of the tourney that an ACC team with such a record was excluded) and tying for 3rd in the conference, while schools 4,5,6, AND 7 were all admitted to the tourney…oh yeah, and did I mention WE RETURN 98.5% of our scoring! We also start 4 seniors and a junior. We are the prohibitive favorite to finish second to Duke in the ACC next year, and some people are even speculating that we could win the ACC outright with the departures of Scheyer, Thomas, and Zoubeck. So when you say that you’re not excited about Virginia Tech as an opponent for Penn State, I don’t know what you would be thinking.

Well said guys, and fair or not fugimaster24, it’s at least some kind of a reality. My roommate always jokes he must be yelling “THAT WAS THE BEST CALL EVER! WATCH ME I’M GOING TO GIVE YOU AN EVIL LOOK AND THEN INVITE YOU TO DINNER!” And I’d say it’s somewhat fair, because snubbed or not, that is exactly where we ended up the last 3 years. Thanks for the support though. I can’t wait to see you nittany lions in the burg. We owe you some extreme gratitude for your post April 16, 2007 support. Also, I’ve just always kind of had an appreciation for and an enjoyment of the football program, even though recently you guys have won 4-5 in state recruits over us, including royster and newsome. :(

See’s all these people leaving and us having a skeleton program and on top of that have an easier schedule. i like it!! it’ll give us some wins and maybe some confidence! If we scheduled Duke, and Kansas and the other big schools, i’d chalk that up now as 20 point losses and why would anyone want to watch that? and why would they schedule that game? So yea, i like us scheduling easier teams that give us a good run, but could be a good win as well. maybe we’ll get 20 wins again and get into the NIT or something. Who knows! But if we had a rough schedule and didn’t get 10 wins, and lost all our games by 20 points, i think we’d see a mass exodous from the team, and another loonnngggg summer of ho hum talk of the bball team…. OK!! Football season!!

during which the Lions were snubbed out of an NCAA Tournament bid in large part because of their weak non-conference opponents

Can we stop saying this? Yes, a stronger OOC schedule is preferable to a weaker one, assuming the win % stays the same, and PSU’s OOC slate in 08-09 was garbage. This much is obvious, and this much I’ll grant.

The truth is that PSU did not miss out on the tournament that year due to their schedule, no matter what the official word from the selection committee was. PSU missed the tournament because the selection committee thought PSU had the 8th worst resume out of the Big Ten, and the committee was not going to let 8 B10 teams in, period. A stronger OOC SOS would have improved that resume only if PSU had won those OOC games and maintained their health for the B10 slate, which is no given.

Penn State missed the tournament because the people in charge felt obligated to give multiple bids to the PAC-10 and SEC, something neither league deserved even a little, and because the team finished 5-5 with a home loss to a meh Wisconsin team and a road loss to a bad Iowa team.