Happy Hour Valley

PSU v. Baylor: The Final “Hurrah”

So, this is what it’s culminated to: All those months spent trouncing Canadians, delivering season tickets to fans’ doorsteps, and shooting “This is SportsCenter” style commercials (not to mention all the blood, sweat, and tears endured in practices and games) have led the Fighting DeChellises to this moment: A chance to secure the program’s first-ever NIT title with 36 bus loads of students and a large alumni fan base cheering them on and a 7 PM tipoff on ESPN.

Standing in their way are the Baylor Bears, a team that made the NCAA tournament last year and had high hopes of getting back to the Big Dance this year. Unfortunately, things didn’t go as hoped, the Bears lost 10 of their final 12 regular season games but rejuvenated themselves in the Big 12 tournament, upsetting Kansas and Texas before falling short against Missouri in the championship game. The Bears have since continued that momentous run all the way to the NIT finals.

Taking a quick look at the stats via KenPom we can conclude the following:

• The Bears are one of the most efficient offensive teams in the country (12th in adj. efficiency) and they shoot an awesome 53% inside the arc (20th). Additionally, they’re not too shabby either from 3-point land as they shoot approximately 36.4% from that range (71st)
• They’re nothing special defensively, ranking close to 200th in all the major defensive categories (effective FG %, turnovers forced, rebounds, etc.)
• According to some message board fodder I’ve read posted by a Baylor fan on PennStatehoops.com, part of the reason for Baylor’s recent success was due to switching to a zone defense after playing man for most of the year. If we don’t stymied by this zone scheme, then we should be able to get some good looks from the perimeter for Battle, Pringle, Morrissey, and anyone else with decent shooting range

Also, here’s the projected starting lineup for Baylor (ppg listed next to players’ names):

G Curtis Jerrells, 6-1 Sr. (16.3)
G Tweety Carter, 5-11 Jr. (10.6)
G LaceDarius Dunn, 6-4 So. (15.7)
F Kevin Rogers, 6-9 Sr. (12.6)
C Josh Lomers, 7-0, Jr. (3.3)

I caught a little bit of Baylor’s semifinal game against San Diego State the other night and I can tell you that we’re going to have our hands full with their guards; much like Notre Dame’s guards they’re all excellent shooters but on top of that they’re athletic enough to beat you off the dribble. Our perimeter defense once again will need to rise to the challenge or it could be a long night…I also don’t like the fact that they sport 6′9″ and 7-footers inside but then again, we seemed to handle Notre Dame’s Luke Harangody pretty well and I have yet to hear of Kevin Rogers or Josh Lomers draw Harangody comparisons. AJ III looks like he’s finally discovered his talent and Jamelle is still Jamelle (i.e. a beast that will eat your children). Look for Ed DeChellis to try and mix it up with man and zone defenses until he finds a style that works at containing Baylor’s three-headed backcourt monster and sticks with that the rest of the game.

From a pure intangibles perspective, there’s no debate here: PSU has the major advantage. As mentioned already, 36 buses carrying 2,000 rabid members of the “Nittany Nation” student section are on their way to NYC as I type this and you can sure as hell bet that the alums within reasonable driving distance are going to make an appearance as well. If you thought Madison Square Garden sounded like BJC North last night, then wait ’til you hear tonight’s crowd.

Additionally, this is the last “hurrah” for Stanley Pringle, Jamelle Cornley, and Danny Morrissey. The latter two especially, have been through a lot: Danny was a true freshman on the 2004-05 squad that won a whopping seven games (including a lone Big Ten win against Northwestern) and was also on the 2006-07 team with Jamelle that won only two Big Ten games and suffered defeats from the likes of Stony Brook and Southeastern Louisiana. Danny has been a source of fan frustration at times for his lack of athleticism and defensive issues but at the same time has given our backcourt a perimeter-shooting threat and he isn’t afraid to step inside and take a charge from somebody several inches taller and 50 pounds heavier. He really is the team’s “Personal Jesus.”

And what more can be said about Jamelle that we haven’t heard of already? He got spurned by his hometown Buckeyes and came to PSU to be “the man” and be one of the cornerstone players that would take this program to the NCAA tournament by the time his career was finished. Unfortunately, only 50% of his dreams became reality (still better than your average dreamer, I suppose) but it’s obvious at this point he would still be just as elated to finish his career in Madison Square Garden hositing that NIT trophy and being part of the historic PSU squad that snagged the school’s first-ever postseason championship. I also just found out from my friend Andrew, that Jamelle has his own bobblehead. Andrew was even kind enough to send me a photo of his own bobblehead…Why didn’t I get the memo on this sooner?

As for Stanley, I know I’ve razzed on him for the whole library masturbation incident but it’s just too difficult to resist cracking jokes about it. Can you imagine Norm MacDonald doing “Weekend Update” on Saturday Night Live without ever making fun of O.J. or Michael Jackson? In all seriousness though, Stanley has been an extremely valuable asset in the backcourt, he’s also extremely quick, is a great ball handler (pun totally unintentional) and possesses excellent shooting range. He will certainly be missed…And the nude art stacks at Pattee Library will be a little more subdued from now on.

As for our little prediction contest: I’d like to congratulate John on winning the whole enchilada. John is currently 17-13 on the year while C&C and I sit right at .500 at 15-15 and with only this game remaining, well…You do the math. The Bears are a 4-point favorite, this can only be a good thing for our players as it will give them even further incentive to play their hearts out (as if they’re not already motivated enough) and make PSU basketball history by bringing home an NIT trophy to finally add to that long-empty trophy case sitting in the corner of the coaches’ offices.