Basketball: Penn State searching for confidence, wins:
“Rebuilding is the general term folks use for this process, but such talk discounts the details. This, more appropriately, is a full-time construction project. And a frustrating one.
“At Penn State, a freshman recruiting class comes in and plants hope. Then a foundation of veterans crumble.
Wins come early in the season. Then losses follow in nine of the team’s next 10 games.
“Confidence builds. Then it erodes.
“In his second season as men’s basketball coach at Penn State, Ed DeChellis already knows this much about his so-called rebuilding process: When the pieces fall apart just as quickly as they’re stacked together, results come slowly. If at all.
“Today, when the Nittany Lions (6-11, 0-4 Big Ten) play host to Northwestern, they’ll take the court looking far different from the team DeChellis anticipated at the start of season. In recent games, DeChellis has used, at times, a lineup featuring four freshmen and a junior college transfer. He has just nine scholarship players at his disposal and admits that players are wearing down in practice. If this sounds familiar to the chorus of last season — young team, little depth, few victories — that’s because, well, it is. …”