Centre Daily Times | 03/24/2006 | Next year starts now for PSU basketball:
“You can find signs of Penn State’s hardwood improvement on paper, should you so choose. Fifteen wins, more than double the total of the year before. Four Big Ten wins, the most in eight years. A roster including the conference’s freshman of the year (Jamelle Cornley) and a third-team All-Big Ten selection (Geary Claxton).
“What you won’t find on the stat sheets or the standings, however, might better explain why the Nittany Lions have scratched their way well out of the Big Ten basement. Little things, like guys plunging back into the weight room less than a week after the season, knowing what needs to be done and doing it.
“‘Those are things that people don’t see, but for us, we know they’re there now,’ said Penn State coach Ed DeChellis. ‘I can tell those guys, ‘I want you here today at 2:45.’ Well, everybody’s here at 2:45, because we just have that chemistry now.’
“It is that chemistry and the kind of play it produced this season — not to mention the aforementioned jump in wins — that has given the phrase ‘Penn State men’s basketball’ a new connotation.
“‘Basically we’ve started to change the view of our program nationally,’ DeChellis said. ‘We’ve had three or four bad years, and then I think we’ve changed the perception of that.’ …”