Jay Bilas spoke about Penn State basketball on television. No, it wasn't for ESPN or CBS Sports, but Bilas told WTAJ that he's known Pat Chambers for a while, and likes what he's seen so far at Penn State.
Bilas' full statement was brief but telling. "Pat has kept his head down and kept working. The key is, you gotta get really good players, one class on top of another, that are willing to sacrifice for the good of the whole. Penn State...is making an institutional commitment, because you can't just name a coach and everything's gonna be great, it's gotta be an institutional commitment. And they've made that commitment over the years in football, and I think they're taking steps to do it in basketball."
Bilas was in the State College-area as the guest speaker for the Blair County Sports Hall of Fame induction ceremony, which is indeed a thing that exists. Penn State basketball is clearly trending up, and with the Roman Catholic Trio™ and Joe Hampton joining the fold (along with one more open scholarship), things are looking better than ever. With the strong commitment to Chambers and the basketball program as a whole under the Barbour administration, Bilas may be talking about the team a lot more in the near future. Who knows, maybe one day Penn State will get College GameDay for basketball. But let's not get ahead of ourselves; an NIT berth would be nice for now.