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Wolverines lose tourney opener on last-second shot – 03/08/01: “Penn State got a surprising lift from freshman Jamaal Tate, who came off the bench to hit four straight second-half 3-pointers as the Nittany Lions wiped out a five-point halftime deficit and took a 70-61 lead with just under 10 minutes left. “

Editor’s note: Although I have never initiated contact with any high school player or coach, occasionally they contact me. Jamaal Tate’s high school coach was one such coach. He didn’t say much more than how excited Jamaal was to be headed to Penn State and what a good man everyone involved – family, coaches, Jamaal – thought that Jerry Dunn was.



When things don’t work out for a player, I think of those days when everything seems possible and the player and his family and friends think he is on the fast track to something big ….

By David Jones

Of The Patriot-News

Jamaal Tate loves basketball. He showed how much by returning to the game this season after overcoming a yearlong bout with alcoholism.

But he loves his life of sobriety more. And he wants to keep a firm grip on it.

Tate has decided to quit the Penn State basketball team for good to make certain his recovery is permanent and his graduation is imminent, according to PSU coach Ed DeChellis. The coach said Tate met with him and PSU team physicians Friday and informed him of his decision.

DeChellis stopped short of saying Tate feared a relapse of the alcohol binges that knocked him off the squad and almost out of school in 2002. He did say Tate felt too consumed by the rigors of athletics and academics while still performing the daily affirmations necessary to keep his alcoholism in check.

DeChellis related Friday’s meeting when contacted yesterday:

“He said to me, ‘Coach, I don’t think I can do it anymore.’ He wants to make certain he’s going to his A-A meetings and wants to make sure he takes care of his academics.

I’ve never believed that any of the sturm and drang about the Big 10 would have any effect on our membership in the conference, but the ACC is where we should go …

ACC Is Leagues Ahead of the Rest (washingtonpost.com):

“Larry Shyatt, a Florida assistant, had examined Miami’s game against Xavier on Nov. 27, so he knew the Hurricanes were quick and could shoot well. What he didn’t anticipate when the Gators hosted Miami a week later was this: Miami 72, Florida 65.

“The two most noteworthy nonconference games involving ACC teams occurred in Gainesville, Fla., and Charlottesville. Miami, expected to be a bottom-rung ACC team, beat one of the Southeastern Conference’s top-tier teams. And Virginia, a supposed middle-of-the-pack ACC team, beat Arizona, the Pacific-10 favorite, by 18 points. “

Big Ten’s future doesn’t look bright:

“Early returns do not bode well for the Big Ten in the grand scheme of college basketball this season.

“While the conference is strong at the top, it has been disappointing after the top three or four. With finals lull going on across the nation, it’s a good time to crunch the results.

“Most noticeable, the conference has been weak against similar competition, the leagues who comprise the loosely defined ‘high-major’ category of Division I.

“Thirty-one conferences populate D-I. You can choose anywhere from six to 10 leagues as high-majors, depending on your opinion.

“Like European soccer, some of the mid-major conferences, such as the Mid-American and Missouri Valley, play their way into high-major status during any given season.

“And normal high-majors sometimes play their way into the middle of the pack, as the Pac-10 did last season.

“But in any given year you can usually depend on eight conferences to be clustered at the top of Division I: the Atlantic Coast, Big East, Southeastern, Big Ten, Conference USA, Big 12, Mountain West and Pac-10.

“These are the conferences the Big Ten always competes against for recruits, national stature and NCAA at-large bids come March. The Big Ten has not been pulling its weight recently, witness its paltry three NCAA bids last season, lowest in 20 years since before the expansion of the bracket to 64 teams. …”

Old Penn State was no recruiting force:

“Every time someone like Pitt’s Chevon Troutman plays at Penn State, you wonder what’s really possible for its men’s basketball program.

“If Penn State could only keep more Pennsylvania players in-state.

“If Penn State could ever take advantage of its rare moments of momentum, such as after 1996 or 2001 NCAA appearances.

“If a focused, energetic recruiting effort like the one Ed DeChellis has organized had been in place the last eight years.

“If, if, if. …”

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Centre Daily Times | 12/14/2004 | Young Nittany Lions on schedule after one-third of season:

“Sometimes you wonder how often a coach is speaking collectively. ‘When you’ve been waxed three or four years in a row, and you’re trying to convince guys for three days of practice that you can play with the 11th-ranked team in the country, that’s just not all, snap, snap, ‘OK, we kind of believe you, coach,” Penn State men’s basketball coach Ed DeChellis said after No. 11 Pittsburgh dropped his team 84-71 on Saturday. ‘It wasn’t just an easy adventure for three days trying to convince them they could compete and maybe pull an upset.’

“Whether DeChellis was talking about the game or the season, his quote illustrated the challenge he and his staff are presented with a third of the way through their second season — convincing the members of his team that they are not their former selves.

“With three freshmen and a junior college transfer in what is essentially a seven-man rotation, that hasn’t been difficult. What has been is enduring the inconsistency that comes from relying on so many young players.

“The Nittany Lions, who sit at 5-4 in the midst of a 10-day break, have played hard, if not always well. They’ve done a lot of things right, if not always repeatedly. They will continue to go, as DeChellis has often said, as far as their youngsters can take them.

“Here’s a position-by-position breakdown of the Nittany Lions through the first nine games: …”

Williamsport Sun-Gazette

Editor’s note: I was at the same game that Troutman visited, and was in the arena milling around (along with Chevy, apparently) when the lights went out. Our interest in Chevy was at best tepid, as it appeared he would not qualify academically. He did not. It is a testament to Howland’s judgment and Chevy’s perseverance that he earned back his fourth year of eligibility by graduating from Pitt in four years. – Ed.

STATE COLLEGE — Chevon Troutman never really liked Penn State.

It’s not because then-coach Jerry Dunn left him alone in the Bryce Jordan Center with the lights off during a recruiting visit.

It’s because when he grew up in Williamsport, it was Penn State-this, Penn State-that, and he wanted to get away from anything blue and white.

So he went to the perfect place to be anti-Penn State — Pitt.

And just like a Pitt player should, he’s always geared up to play the Nittany Lions. Saturday, he scored 18 points in the Panthers’ 84-71 win over an outmatched Penn State team playing about as well and as hard as it could.

“It felt like a home game to me. I always like to come out to Penn State and beat them,” said Troutman. “It’s home, I told my teammates it’s home, and we played like it’s home.”

Pitt guard Carl Krauser said Troutman talked on the bus about how important the game was for that and other reasons. Penn State was the first power-conference opponent this season for the Panthers (7-0).

“We wanted to come out and play together and show the younger guys this is how we lead,” said Krauser.

Ross Jr.: PSU shows progress in loss – PittsburghLIVE.com:

“UNIVERSITY PARK — Obligatory disappointment at another Penn State men’s basketball loss to Pitt was tinged with relief Saturday.

“Pitt now has beaten its intrastate foe four consecutive times. But where the previous three wins had come by an average of just over 28 points a game, this latest installment yesterday in the Bryce Jordan Center was by a relatively competitive 84-71 score.

“This is progress.

“Penn State had even managed to lead, briefly, 30-29, as late at 5:25 before halftime. That Pitt responded to minor adversity to build the advantage back to nine by halftime, or that the 11th-ranked Panthers kept the Lions at arms-length through the second half, didn’t obscure totally signs of obvious improvement for Ed DeChellis in his second season of the rebuilding campaign at Penn State.

” ‘We competed. We thought we could win,’ DeChellis said. ‘When you’ve been waxed three or four years in a row, and you’re trying to convince guys for three days of practice that you can play with the 11th-ranked team in the country, that’s just not all snap, snap, ‘OK, we kind of believe you coach.’ ‘ …”

Pitt avoids letdown, outlasts PSU – PittsburghLIVE.com:

“For Carl Krauser, it was sort of a divine moment of inspiration.

Unlike the past three times the teams had met, Pitt’s swagger and gaudy record did not intimidate Penn State on Saturday.

“When the Nittany Lions grabbed a one-point lead late in the first half, jerking the half-capacity crowd at the Bryce Jordan Center to its feet, Krauser paused.

” ‘I had one of those Isiah Thomas flashbacks,’ Krauser said, grinning. ‘It was time to take over the game.’

Krauser and Chevon Troutman sparked a decisive run, and the No. 11 Panthers (7-0) hung on for an 84-71 victory.

“Penn State (5-4) became the first team this season to put up more than 60 points against Pitt. That’s especially stunning, considering the Panthers had beaten the Lions by an average of 28 points the past three seasons.

” ‘We weren’t scared at all,’ Penn State freshman guard Mike Walker said. ‘We just wanted to play.’

“Walker and Krauser, a junior, tangled the entire afternoon. Walker scored 16 points and won some battles, nailing four 3-pointers from way beyond the arc that caught Krauser by surprise.

” ‘I turned my head and I saw those 3-balls going up from yesterday,’ Krauser said, shaking his head and laughing. ‘If he gets hot, he can shoot from anywhere he wants to. I should’ve stayed up on him the whole game.’ …”