Centre Daily Times | 03/16/2006 | Penn State improves as a team:
“The story of Penn State’s modest but important turnaround begins where most rags-to-riches stories are born: the practice floor.
“In seasons past, the Nittany Lions would break off into groups of two or three or one — the same groups each time — to shoot jumpers or free throws before the coaches began practice. The six hoops in the Bryce Jordan Center might as well have been islands. There was little talking and less smiling from players bound only by the name on their jerseys.
“This season, that all changed. The groups melded into one. The Nittany Lions clowned around with each other before practice, then went out — as a team — and busted hump during it, then went out and had their best season in five years.
“At most major-conference schools, a .500 season, which ended with Tuesday’s 76-71 NIT loss to Rutgers, is no cause for celebration. But when your win total from the previous two seasons was 16, and you win 15 games with just three upperclassmen on the roster? Well, then, take a bow, Penn State. You’ve earned it.
“The cynics will look at the Nittany Lions’ schedule and see the likes of UMKC and Mount St. Mary’s. They will point out that of Penn State’s seven wins over Big Ten schools, five came against ninth-place Northwestern and 11th-place Purdue. They will scoff at ugly road losses to Ohio State, Iowa, Wisconsin and Pittsburgh.
“Those cynics, however, can’t ignore Penn State’s five-win jump from the year before in conference play, a landmark one-point win at No. 6 Illinois or a clutch win at Northwestern three weeks earlier that may have been even more important. They can’t deny the individual improvement made by Geary Claxton, Travis Parker, Mike Walker and Ben Luber that made it possible for the team as a whole to improve.
“These Nittany Lions, unlike many of their recent predecessors, were fun to watch. They played together and often above their abilities. Their limitations — size, depth, experience — made them all the more lovable and added to the scope of their triumphs. …”