Basketball Press Galore

So I'm not used to reading about Penn State basketball in the media in the offseason, let alone Penn State Football Eve, but today 3,000 words were spilled about our beloved program. I'm so shocked by it that I thought it deserved some attention.

--The first and longest article comes from Yahoo/Rivals:

Chambers' unlikely journey leads to Penn State

This is a standard Chambers' story piece that we all read when he was first hired about his stabbing and coaching background. But there's some good quotes from Frazier in there:

By the time Chambers had finished meeting everyone, he had logged 10,500 miles in his first eight days on the job.

"The only person he didn’t do it for was [sophomore forward] Sasa [Borovnjak] because he’s in Serbia," saysTim Frazier, a junior point guard from Houston. "He’d just gotten a new job, and I’m sure he had tons of things to do. But he took the time to visit everybody and meet their family.

"It just shows what kind of guy he really is and what kind of coach he’s going to be. He cares about everybody and about what’s best for everybody."

--The second piece comes from PSU grad Dana O'Neil at the Mothership (which is the current lead story on the CBB main page):

Chambers Already a Fan Favorite at Penn State

Better yet, on a sweltering August day, he had free bottles of water. 

"I think I ran out in about 30 minutes," basketball coach Pat Chambers said. "I was swarmed." 

Whether Chambers finally can breathe life into the flat line that is Penn State basketball remains to be seen. But the new coach sure knows how to ingratiate himself. 

Since he was hired after Ed DeChellis' surprising departure to Navy, Chambers has split his time recruiting players and recruiting fans. How the former pans out remains to be seen, but few doubt he's been a raging success at the latter. 

Dana has been covering Chambers since his days with Villanova and BU, so expect her to pimp him and her alma-mater quite often now that he's coach. 

-- Lastly, the Sun-Gazette in Williamsport reported on the Nittany Lion Club meeting last night. Assistant coach Brian Daly spoke, since Chambers was at Kildare's supporting Coaches vs. Cancer. Daly offered the best quotes of the morning. 

Replacing Battle will be Challenge for PSU Men

"Well it's pretty difficult," Daly said laughing about replacing Battle. "It's a security blanket almost, like get the ball to Talor, he's going to make something happen. We're never going to replace a Talor Battle, so we're looking for somebody to step in to that void of leadership and Tim Frazier stepping up to the plate. He wants to be that leader and when you're going from second fiddle to the guy, it's an adjustment, but he's looking to carry that load and we're looking forward to that."

Frazier, a 6-foot-1 junior guard, showed glimpses of his capabilities last year while playing in Battle's shadow.

Battle will be surrounded by a young team this season, one that Daly says he and the new staff need to evaluate.

"They want to be good, which is good, that's half the battle," Daly said. "The five new guys (we) have, they're putting in extra shots, they're getting to the gym when they don't have to be there. It makes us all feel good."

In addition to Frazier taking on a leadership role, Daly thinks that redshirt sophomore forward Billy Oliver can shoulder the load along with sophomore guard Matt Glover.

"I think Billy and Tim have taken the leadership mantle and one of the young guys that came in that wasn't really a freshman (is) Matt Glover," Daly said. "He leads by example, he's in there. He's a newcomer, he's not ready yet, but we're looking by the end of the season for him to take a leadership role as well."

Some interesting words there about Matt Glover. The unknown JuCo from California sounds like he's going to be a player for this squad that's counted on to do some things.