asked nate bauer, editor of Blue and White Online about the lions. below is the conversation.
1) how is lamar stevens looking as a senior stalwart. Personally i believe him to be one of the toughest players in the east. do you agree?
When Tony Carr left after the 2017-18 season, Stevens was, by default, “the guy” for Penn State going into his junior year. Especially with a five-game disciplinary suspension to Mike Watkins to start the year and few established complementary pieces, plus a no-show offensively from Josh Reaves in November and December, Stevens bore the brunt of the attention and responsibility and it showed.
It’s early but this season, he looks more relaxed and willing to let his teammates help carry the load. Down from 38-plus minutes a game through the course of last season, he’s averaged 23.5 minutes per outing so far with 15.0 points and 6.0 rebounds per game. His 3-point shooting was a major offseason emphasis but it still hasn’t arrived, and at 4-of-9 from the free throw line, he’ll be counted upon to improve there as he’s certain to take plenty of trips this season.
2) offensively, what does psu run regularly? defensively?
The reality for Patrick Chambers’ teams is that he wants the majority of its points to come from its defense. Solid in the halfcourt, some three-quarter court press, steady rebounding, push it up the floor, and score off that transition.
When in the half-court set, though, Penn State runs a ton of high ball screens, letting the point guard operate out of that with the big man rolling to the basket, penetration for the guards themselves, and dishing to shooters or the bigs off of it.
3) are fans warming up to the hoops program, given the centrality of football in happy valley?
It’s been a slog, and I think some progress has certainly been made through the course of Chambers’ tenure, which is now in his ninth season. But the reality remains that the fan base for Penn State overwhelmingly focuses on football, and then trickles off into rooting for any other sports that have national success, be it the repeated championships of wrestling, women’s volleyball’s consistency, or the recent emergence of the ice hockey program.
Penn State drew plenty of attention and momentum during its NIT championship two seasons ago, but most of it got lost in the process of an up-and-down 2018-19 season that began with 10-straight losses to open the Big Ten season before rebounding to go 7-3 to finish out the conference slate. Expectations are optimistic as a result for this season, but generally speaking, I’d be lying if I said that this game tonight has even a fraction of the interest that football’s game against Indiana on Saturday has.
4) has dread shocked you? (he did me). the guy could always shoot, but he's figuring out how to be a very impactful guy
In the sense that Penn State was counting on him to come in and be a consistent 3-point shooter, no, his performance hasn’t been much of a surprise. Put it this way, if he wasn’t knocking down threes, this team would or will be in major trouble as the reality from last season bore out that strong shooting from deep is how the game is won anymore.
This season, they’re hitting 37.7 percent through two games - taking a whopping 61 attempts so far - and my guess is that they want that percentage to stay there, even if the volume isn’t quite as high as it has been. Dread is 6-of-15 himself, at nearly half the team’s attempts, so he’s going to be a huge piece of that equation, though they also want him to diversify his selection and drive the ball more. So far, he’s only taken two attempts inside the 3-point line.
5) how far can these lions go in the big 10 and beyond.
It has as much to do with the rest of the Big Ten as it does Penn State, which tends to be the problem for these guys in that it’s just such a competitive league with games decided by a possession or two most nights for 80 percent of the teams in the conference. You always have three or four at the top that are going to be a mismatch and just at another level, and there will always be a team or two that just sinks like a stone, but in between those groups, there are usually eight to 10 programs that can beat each other on any given night.
This is an oversimplification, no doubt, but Penn State was on the cusp all year last year, including through the 0-10 start to conference play. Those one- and two-bucket losses must turn into wins at least half of the time if Penn State wants to reach its goals this season, which are obviously an NCAA berth (it’s been since 2011) and a finish in the top half of the conference, which would almost certainly be enough to secure it.
To the earlier point, though, the reality is that this team has the leadership, experience, and skill to finish as high as fourth or fifth in the league, but also has enough uncertainty that few people would be surprised to see as low as 10th. Tonight will be a good early litmus test to get a better grasp of what that potential might be.
1) how is lamar stevens looking as a senior stalwart. Personally i believe him to be one of the toughest players in the east. do you agree?
When Tony Carr left after the 2017-18 season, Stevens was, by default, “the guy” for Penn State going into his junior year. Especially with a five-game disciplinary suspension to Mike Watkins to start the year and few established complementary pieces, plus a no-show offensively from Josh Reaves in November and December, Stevens bore the brunt of the attention and responsibility and it showed.
It’s early but this season, he looks more relaxed and willing to let his teammates help carry the load. Down from 38-plus minutes a game through the course of last season, he’s averaged 23.5 minutes per outing so far with 15.0 points and 6.0 rebounds per game. His 3-point shooting was a major offseason emphasis but it still hasn’t arrived, and at 4-of-9 from the free throw line, he’ll be counted upon to improve there as he’s certain to take plenty of trips this season.
2) offensively, what does psu run regularly? defensively?
The reality for Patrick Chambers’ teams is that he wants the majority of its points to come from its defense. Solid in the halfcourt, some three-quarter court press, steady rebounding, push it up the floor, and score off that transition.
When in the half-court set, though, Penn State runs a ton of high ball screens, letting the point guard operate out of that with the big man rolling to the basket, penetration for the guards themselves, and dishing to shooters or the bigs off of it.
3) are fans warming up to the hoops program, given the centrality of football in happy valley?
It’s been a slog, and I think some progress has certainly been made through the course of Chambers’ tenure, which is now in his ninth season. But the reality remains that the fan base for Penn State overwhelmingly focuses on football, and then trickles off into rooting for any other sports that have national success, be it the repeated championships of wrestling, women’s volleyball’s consistency, or the recent emergence of the ice hockey program.
Penn State drew plenty of attention and momentum during its NIT championship two seasons ago, but most of it got lost in the process of an up-and-down 2018-19 season that began with 10-straight losses to open the Big Ten season before rebounding to go 7-3 to finish out the conference slate. Expectations are optimistic as a result for this season, but generally speaking, I’d be lying if I said that this game tonight has even a fraction of the interest that football’s game against Indiana on Saturday has.
4) has dread shocked you? (he did me). the guy could always shoot, but he's figuring out how to be a very impactful guy
In the sense that Penn State was counting on him to come in and be a consistent 3-point shooter, no, his performance hasn’t been much of a surprise. Put it this way, if he wasn’t knocking down threes, this team would or will be in major trouble as the reality from last season bore out that strong shooting from deep is how the game is won anymore.
This season, they’re hitting 37.7 percent through two games - taking a whopping 61 attempts so far - and my guess is that they want that percentage to stay there, even if the volume isn’t quite as high as it has been. Dread is 6-of-15 himself, at nearly half the team’s attempts, so he’s going to be a huge piece of that equation, though they also want him to diversify his selection and drive the ball more. So far, he’s only taken two attempts inside the 3-point line.
5) how far can these lions go in the big 10 and beyond.
It has as much to do with the rest of the Big Ten as it does Penn State, which tends to be the problem for these guys in that it’s just such a competitive league with games decided by a possession or two most nights for 80 percent of the teams in the conference. You always have three or four at the top that are going to be a mismatch and just at another level, and there will always be a team or two that just sinks like a stone, but in between those groups, there are usually eight to 10 programs that can beat each other on any given night.
This is an oversimplification, no doubt, but Penn State was on the cusp all year last year, including through the 0-10 start to conference play. Those one- and two-bucket losses must turn into wins at least half of the time if Penn State wants to reach its goals this season, which are obviously an NCAA berth (it’s been since 2011) and a finish in the top half of the conference, which would almost certainly be enough to secure it.
To the earlier point, though, the reality is that this team has the leadership, experience, and skill to finish as high as fourth or fifth in the league, but also has enough uncertainty that few people would be surprised to see as low as 10th. Tonight will be a good early litmus test to get a better grasp of what that potential might be.