SB Nation User Blog: BSD

Penn State Basketball Preview - Part III

BSD — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 01:53:48 -0000

More photos » by Frank Franklin II - AP

7 months ago: Penn State's Talor Battle (12) drives past Notre Dame's Kyle McAlarney (23) during the second half of an NIT semifinal college basketball game Tuesday, March 31, 2009 in New York. Talor scored 17 points as Penn State won the game 67-59. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

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We took a hiatus from the basketball previews to focus on the football game against Ohio State last week. But the season opener is this Friday, so I have to wrap this up fast. Previously we discussed what Penn State has to replace, and what Penn State is returning. So today let's introduce you all to the new faces wearing the Blue and White this season.

35 - F - Billy Oliver - 6'8" 215 lbs

Oliver had hoped to make a contribution last year as a true freshman, but two concussions suffered in short succession during the preseason forced him to put on the redshirt and sit out the 2008-2009 season. Oliver took it as an opportunity to hit the weight room and the training table to bulk up his frame in order to compete right away when he came back. He was successful in adding 20 lbs of solid muscle over the past year.

Here's what the PSU website has to say about his playing style.

A terrific passer with three-point range and strong perimeter skills, the 6-8 forward has also displayed the anticipation and long arms to block shots and grab rebounds around the rim and will compete for playing time at the front line positions.

In high school Oliver lead his team to a 26-7 record his senior year while averaging 18 points, 10 rebounds, and 6 blocks per game. Oliver had a fight with the flu a few weeks ago, so he's just now getting back into the swing of things. In the exhibition game last Friday he played four minutes scoring three points and a rebound.

Penn State will be looking for Oliver to take some of the minutes vacated by Jamelle Cornley. Though Oliver has a long way to go to replace Cornley's heart and leadership, Penn State would be thrilled if he could contribute 10 minutes per game with five points, five rebounds, and a blocked shot or two.

11 - F - Bill Edwards - 6'6" 235 lbs

At 6'6" and 235 lbs, Edwards entered preseason camp as the most impressive physical specimen of the freshman class. As a senior, Edwards was named the 2009 Ohio Senior Player of the Year after averaging 17.4 points, 9.0 rebounds, 4.8 assists, and 1.7 steals per game. He was also nominated as a McDonald's All American. Edwards saw considerable recruiting interest from teams like Wake Forest, Ohio State, Michigan State, and Xavier.

Edwards has a big body and a lot of versatility that make him a perfect swingman. He can put the ball on the floor and create a shot, or he can spot up and hit a left handed jumper. Obviously, it's too early to tell at this point, but he sounds a lot like Geary Claxton and Jamelle Cornley in his size and versatility.

DeChellis had high hopes for Edwards to step in with quality minutes right away in the frontcourt, but a partial tear of Edwards's MCL during a preseason practice session will force him to sit out until mid December. If he can get back into playing shape quickly we may see him, but without the benefit of the out of conference slate to gain some confidence and comfort with the system, it wouldn't surprise me if Ed decides to redshirt Edwards until next year.

21 - F - Sasa Borovnjak - 6'9" 235 lbs

Borovnjak is the latest in the series of the Ed DeChellis European player experiment/obsession. But unlike other European players in the past, Ed didn't have to fly to some small hamlet in battle-torn Serbia to find this kid. Sasa was already having a lot of success on American soil.

Borovnjak played high school ball for Veritas Christian in Fletcher, North Carolina. Veritas plays a national schedule against some of the stiffest competition in the country, and Sasa more than held his own as a star on the team. He's an exceptional low post player, and like most European big guys he doesn't mind dribbling and even shooting an occasional three point shot.

Ed's past European experiment players have been major disappointments. None of them could adjust to the physical style of American basketball and just get shoved around under the basket. But there is hope for Sasa because he's had a few years of high school basketball to adjust by now. His teammates called him "Sushi" when he first arrived in the States because he had never lifted a weight in his life. But his high school coach said he quickly took to the gym and morphed into a very physical player. I particularly like this quote from his coach.

I've been very blessed and had some great players. I had Donnell Mack who is at Memphis now and who was a prolific scorer in high school and a top fifty kid. And I had a 7-foot-2 kid, Catalin Baciuhere, who just finished up his freshman year at Clemson. He was a top fifty kid. But I'm telling you, Sasa scores better than either one of those guys. He can score on anybody, anywhere, anytime.

Sasa showed off that scoring ability last Friday when he recorded ten points to go with four rebounds, one block, and two steals in just 14 minutes of play. If Penn State can count on that level of production from him every night they will have gone a long way toward replacing Jamelle Cornley.

23 - G- Tim Frazier - 6'1" 160 lbs

You may remember me from such movies as...

All the reports on Frazier from preseason observations are the same. He's incredibly quick. Some say he's faster than Stanley Pringle. But DeChellis has been stressing that he doesn't know how to control that speed yet.

Tim is trying to go fast, and I think his speed will benefit him if he slows down some and then goes fast. He hasn't figured out that he can gear down and then when everybody is in his mode then he can go to the next level because he has a whole other gear. You can't always throw a fastball. You can throw an off-speed pitch and that is what we are trying to get him to understand. It doesn't always have to be 100 miles an hour. Go 80 and then go 100 and then you seem to go faster. The change of speeds is something he is going to have to figure out.

This is a typical adjustment for freshmen. They're used to high school where they can just blow past everyone. Try to do that in the Big Ten and more often than not you will dribble the ball off your knee or foot. So expect to see a few rookie mistakes, but you should also see flashes of amazing athletic ability like the video above.

Look for Frazier to play a lot of minutes this year. In the exhibition game he played 19 minutes and finished with four points (on a not-so-impressive 1-for-6 shooting) and five assists. His contribution will be critical in order to keep Battle's minutes down. Even if Frazier can just bring the ball up the court and get the offense started it will be a huge weight off of Battle allowing him to focus more on scoring and getting his teammates involved.

3 - G - Jermaine Marshall - 6'4" 190 lbs

Penn State is hoping they found a diamond in the rough with Marshall. A knee injury in his junior year of high school forced him to miss his senior year and fly under the radar, though he was seeing some minor interest from Temple and St. Joe's. ESPN graded him extremely high when they evaluated him as a 16 and 17 year-old before his injury.

Marshall's high school coach describes him as a highly versatile player. In high school he played all five positions on the floor, which also shows he's an unselfish player willing to do whatever was needed to win. His coach also raves about his vision on the floor and ability to anticipate things before they happen. He's very good at creating shots for himself and his teammates.

Here's what you won...

Due to his high school knee injury, Marshall hasn't played a lot of competitive basketball in recent years. So he may need some extra time to adjust to the college game. In the exhibition game last week he scored three points on his only shot, but only saw six minutes of play which suggests to me that Ed may have plans to redshirt him. The other factor at play here is that Penn State has just one scholarship player coming in next year in Taran Buie. Ed may want to space the scholarships out some so he doesn't have four one year and just one the next.

So those are the new faces. Before the opener on Friday I'm still going to try to get out one more preview post. In that edition we'll put it all together, look at the schedule, and I'll give you my prediction for where I see this team going this season.

So Long Casual Penn State Fan

BSD — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 21:16:29 -0000

More photos » by Carolyn Kaster - AP

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Well, I guess this is where you get off. Don't forget your lawn chairs and Igloo cooler out of the trunk. Not that you'll be needing those tailgating supplies anymore this year. Indiana in November? Yeah right.

We're still heading down the road a bit, but you look like you've had enough of this season. We wouldn't want to bore you any more than you already are. I mean, it's only Indiana, Michigan State, and the Outback Bowl. Who cares, right? It was a fun ride while it lasted. Thanks for gracing us with your company for these ten weeks. We'll be headed down to Tampa. And then there's the basketball season. You're welcome to come along for the ride if you want.

No? You've got too much to do to get ready for the holidays you say? We don't blame you. Got to get an early start on that Christmas shopping. I'm sure Walmart is having a midnight sale on apathy. Better stock up.

Make sure you get everything out of the back seat. Did you get your cell phone charger?

Well then, good luck and we'll see you next August. Don't be a stranger.

Signed,

Your friends at BSD

Making Big Plays?

BSD — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 21:14:44 -0000

More photos » by Carolyn Kaster - AP

4 days ago: Penn State head coach Joe Paterno, right, frowns as he looks at assistant coaches Larry Johnson, center, and Tom Bradley, left, during the second half of an NCAA college football game against Ohio State in State College, Pa., Saturday, Nov. 7, 2009. Ohio State won 24-7(AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

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We just couldn't make some big plays. -Joe Paterno

When I heard Joe Paterno mutter those words in his post game press conference, I just shook my head. What kind of big play were you hoping for, Joe? Were you hoping Evan Royster could run over right guard for four yards instead of two? Were you hoping tight end Mickey Shuler was going to turn that five yard pass into a seventy yard touchdown? Please don't tell me you were hoping the special teams were going to bail you out sooner or later. You can't return fair catches for touchdowns, you know.

It's not hard to figure out what went wrong on Saturday. Ohio State kept pinning the Penn State offense deep. The special teams couldn't buy them any room. Joe didn't want to take chances, so he played it safe by running right into the teeth of the Buckeye defensive line. Then they kept giving Ohio State the ball at midfield which allowed them to take some chances on offense. Once the Buckeyes got the lead, they shoved the dagger home. Or arm-punted it home. Whatever. Joe Paterno got suckered into playing Tressel Ball, and he lost again.

I felt bad for the players as the boos rained down in the fourth quarter. It's important that they know those boos were not intended for them. Though the players made their share of mistakes, they just ran the plays that were called. It's not their fault that the play calling did not put them in a position to succeed.

Nobody should pin this loss on Daryll Clark. He played well considering his offensive line stood about as stiff as a house of cards in a hurricane. He made some ill-advised throws late in the game, but you could tell he was pressing and trying to make something happen. You can't blame him for that.

Truthfully, the interception was the fault of Andrew Quarless for not paying attention and having his hands up. The ball went right past him to the defender. Quarless had an absolutely terrible game. His blocking was as bad as I've ever seen it. In his defense, there were times he was asked to block a defensive lineman all by himself. That's a mismatch, but truth be told, if you want to play in the NFL, you need to make those blocks, son. And maybe if you catch the ball once in a while that would be good too.

The offensive line is what it is: A decent left tackle, a center that is probably better suited to play guard, and three inexperienced guys out there hoping they don't screw up. I'm sure Ako Poti was a very fine junior college player, but he's clearly not Big Ten material. The right tackle position has been a disappointment all season no matter who plays there. At left guard, Johnnie Troutman was so bad he got pulled in the second half. In fairness to him, he obviously injured his leg somehow in the first half. Matt Stankiewitch wasn't much better, but he's just a redshirt sophomore so I'm not writing him off yet. Next year everyone returns except Poti, McCormack, and Landolt. I have confidence they'll get better, and if not there are some pretty good freshman who should push them. This was just a year where rebuilding the offensive line hurt us, and I think we knew it would going into the season.

The defense played pretty well considering the offense went three-and-out seven times and gave Ohio State a short field to work with all night. But they were far from perfect.

Based on the last two games, Navorro Bowman is nowhere near ready for the NFL. Maybe his leg is bothering him or something and we don't know about it, but all night long he looked slow and his tackling form was terrible. Terrelle Pryor made him look ridiculous on his touchdown run. And I noticed it looked like Bowman was struggling to catch his breath just midway through the first quarter. Remember his 90 yard fumble return against Eastern Illinois where he ran out of gas with 30 yards to go? And remember how Paterno called him out a few weeks ago for lousy conditioning? It showed on Saturday night. Bowman better start getting his butt out of bed at 5 AM and running steps if he wants to play in the league.

It's been pretty obvious to me all year that the weakness of this defense is the safeties. Ohio State was the first team capable of making them pay for it. It was obvious they were picking on Astorino all afternoon. It's been known for some time that Astorino has been nursing a shoulder injury of some kind. He's not his aggressive self and it's obvious he's avoiding contact. Nick Sukay is doing an okay job at the other safety spot, but he doesn't have the athletic ability to make up for a cornerback that blows his coverage. I'm completely disappointed that Gerald Hodges hasn't seen more playing time this year. All we heard about all spring and summer long was how great he looked in practice. Well, why couldn't he see a few series when a game actually meant something? Instead they moved him to linebacker as a knee jerk reaction to Sean Lee getting injured. Way to waste his redshirt.

It sounds like I'm pretty down on the team right now, but really I'm not. I predicted 10-2 with an outside chance at 11-1 or 12-0. We all knew it was going to be a tough year to go undefeated when you have no experience in the offensive line, wide receiver, and secondary. This was a rebuilding year, so to win ten games and go to a New Years Day bowl game should make us feel pretty good about the direction of the program. It sure beats the four loss seasons of 2006 and 2007. And it sure as Hell beats the unmitigated disasters we saw in the early part of this decade. So this loss hurts right now, but we will rise again. Look out for this team down the road.

I'm not going to break down the offense and defense this week as I usually do. I've said everything I want to say right here. And besides, it's my blog and I'll cry if I want to.

Here We Come, Baby!

BSD — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 23:16:59 -0000

Well, before the year I said this had the look of a 10-2 team. And it looks like that's what we're going to get. More analysis at a later date, but for now there will be drinking. Lots of it.

The Indiana game can't get here soon enough.

Fourth Quarter Open Thread

BSD — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 04:00:59 -0000

Third Quarter Open Thread

BSD — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 03:57:02 -0000

Next Thread goes up at 6:00 PM.

Second Quarter Open Thread

BSD — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 03:54:36 -0000

Next Thread goes up at 5:15 PM.

Game Day Open Thread - Ohio State Buckeyes

BSD — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 03:52:18 -0000

Next Thread goes up at 4:15 PM.

Early Games Second Half Thread

BSD — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 04:10:43 -0000

More photos » by Al Goldis - AP

15 days ago: FILE - In this Oct. 24, 2009, file photo, Iowa players, including Troy Johnson (48) and Ryan Donahue (5) celebrate their 15-13 win over Michigan State in an NCAA college football game in East Lansing, Mich. Seventh-ranked Iowa is off to the best start in school history, also one of its most dramatic. The Hawkeyes survived yet again last week, beating Michigan State on the final play. But how long can Iowa keep tempting fate? (AP Photo/Al Goldis, File)

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Next thread goes up at 3:30 PM.

Early Games Open Thread

BSD — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 03:46:44 -0000

Games of Note:

Northwestern at #4 Iowa - ESPN

#21 Wisconsin at Indiana - Big Ten Network

Western Michigan at Michigan State - Big Ten Network

Purdue at Michigan - Big Ten Network

Illinois at Minnesota - Big Ten Network

Syaracuse at #13 Pitt - ESPNU