DeChellis, Lions earn change in program perception

CHICAGO - The Ed DeChellis era of Penn State basketball now enters its seventh year.

Following back-to-back 7-21 campaigns led by Jerry Dunn from 2001-03, DeChellis came to Penn State with the hopes of turning around a program that had largely been a doormat of the Big Ten since joining the conference during the 1992-93 season.

Before DeChellis took the reigns, the Nittany Lions went a combined 62-124 in the conference. Since, he’s gone 29-71 in conference play.

Clearly, big picture, little had been accomplished to alter the negative perception of the program from fans and media alike.

Yet, following the success of the Nittany Lions’ 2008-09 season, the signs of change in perception are there, inside and outside of the program.

Not surprisingly, DeChellis’ coaching peers were complimentary of the job he’s done, but seemed to lack the smoke blowing that generally comes with a Big Ten media day.

In a league that sent seven teams to the NCAA Tournament last March, the general consensus among the Big Ten’s coaches was that the Nittany Lions should have been among them.

“Obviously Ed would have liked to get into the NCAA. They probably were deserving of it,” Illinois coach Bruce Weber said. “They were a victim of our league having so many teams. Probably the overtime game in Iowa, they’re in second-place, they’re in the NCAA Tournament.

“But I think the NIT, it’s something we don’t push, they’ve won it, Ohio State has won it, Michigan won it a few years ago and there’s so many more good teams. They could have been in the NCAA Tournament, get the right match-up and make noise.”

After beating Penn State 79-65 in the second round of the Big Ten Tournament, Purdue head coach Matt Painter said he actually thought the Nittany Lions were a shoo-in for the Big Dance.

“I told them good luck in the Tournament, and I meant the NCAA Tournament, just because I guess I didn’t crunch the numbers, didn’t look at things, but I can only tell you what my eyes see and they’re an NCAA Tournament team,” Painter said. “If we’re an NCAA Tournament team then they are, in my opinion, from just watching. So I felt bad after I said it. I meant it as a compliment and after they started crunching the numbers, they had some bad breaks non-conference. There were some teams that weren’t as good as they thought when they scheduled them and that hurt them.

“It’s unfortunate because I thought they were an NCAA team. There’s no doubt that they’re a very good basketball program.”

Of course, maybe the most unfortunate aspect for the program on missing the Tournament last season would be that the conference appears to be much-improved from top to bottom this season. Consequently, earning a bid this season will be an especially tough task for a squad losing Jamelle Cornley, Danny Morrissey and Stanley Pringle, who, combined, accounted for more than 40 percent of the team’s scoring last year.

DeChellis is keenly aware of what his team is up against.

“We lost probably the most on paper that anybody has lost in terms of points, rebounds, we’ve lost the most,” he said. “That’s fine, pick us where you want to pick us, it doesn’t bother us. I’m never really concerned about that anyway.

“The league is the best league in the country. We play in it. How do you move up? I don’t know, win games. Get better players and win games. So, that’s our goal.”

The main key to the program’s success this year, junior all-Big Ten point guard Talor Battle, shared DeChellis’ lack of concern for preseason predictions.

With an overwhelming desire to reach the NCAA Tournament so palpable and clearly defined by everything Battle says and does, the only thing that matters now is what happens on the court.

“You can argue that we lost those guys and a lot of teams may think it was a one-time thing, but at the same time, people’s perception really doesn’t matter to what we want to achieve or accomplish,” Battle said. “We know what we’ve got and how hard we’ve been working. Nothing can be proved until you start playing the games so all of this is irrelevant.

“You walk around and there’s six teams in the top 25 and they may be walking around with a little more swagger, but that’s all irrelevant when the games start. You’ll see teams falling in and out of that top 25. Nothing is proven until the games start and that’s what I’m looking forward to to show people what we’re all about.”

In a conference filled with nationally-respected coaches, common sentiments emerge in pulling for certain coaches, despite the nightly competition amongst them. As evidenced throughout the day on Thursday, DeChellis is one of those coaches.

He was named the Big Ten coach of the year for the his efforts last season, and now faces the challenge of building on it. Considering the positive momentum brought by last season and the recruiting success that has come with it, this is an important year for DeChellis and the Nittany Lions, multiple league coaches indicated.

According to Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo, the Nittany Lions are a team poised to make that next step.

“He all but got over the hump,” Izzo said of DeChellis. “I was hoping he’d get in the NCAA but when you win the NIT, we’ve underscored that ridiculously. I mean, when you look at the NIT field now compared to what it was, there are better teams in that than you play in the first and second round of the NCAA Tournament.

“So I think that’s been underscored and Eddie has done an incredible job there. Those guards he’s had have been good and he’s getting better big men. Yeah, I think he can go. He’s gotta replace some people but I think he’s got that thing going now.”