How do you define being basketball tough? Start with two words. Big Ten.
Check several rosters and you’ll come up with fitting candidates.
Penn State’s Jamelle Cornley qualifies as a bruiser first-class for openers. The NIT MVP powered the Nittany Lions to a school-record 27 victories and their first postseason title.
Considered undersized by most majors, he piggybacked Penn State to its last three victories with a tightly wrapped partially separated left shoulder.
‘We have tough kids,’ said Ed DeChellis, my choice as Big Ten coach of the year for turning an after-thought into a force to be reckoned with.
Even tough kids cry and Cornley shed a few after winning his first title since he was a high school freshman….