Another town and one more show. Congratulations to the Nittany Lions team and Coach Ed DeChellis. The game Tuesday against Notre Dame was a masterpiece in defensive strategy and execution. In the win last night, DeChellis throttled down the offense to adjust to the Baylor zone. It was Big Ten basketball at its best- good crisp passes, patience, clock management, and strategic use of the paint by getting the ball to Cornley when the clock was expiring.
When Baylor fell behind, they switched to man-to-man and the Lions adjusted quickly by putting the ball into the hands of Talor Battle. He hit some nifty lay-ups off of drives to the basket as well as a three pointer that probably was the dagger for Baylor. Strong offensive rebounding by Penn St. allowed them to retain possession numerous times in this game. The play of Jones, Brooks, and Jackson was a key to this impressive win as well as the earlier victories. Give credit the passionate play of three seniors- Cornley, Pringle, and Morrissey, for this championship. They played their hearts out to bring the NIT trophy to Happy Valley.
I agree with the game commentators that the technical on Baylor Coach Scott Drew was not justified. He had every reason to take his coat off given the tightness in this game. The technical probably was the turning point as the Nittany Lions built up a good lead from that point on.
Scott Drew has done a marvelous job of bringing back the Baylor basketball program in a short time. Watch Drew as he is one of the better young coaches in the game and he has a strong coaching DNA inherited from his father Homer Drew at Valparaiso in the Horizon League.
This marks the second year in a row that the NIT Championship has been won by a Big Ten team. In many respects, participation in the NIT can be rewarding for teams that are not quite at the top level in their conferences since it provides an opportunity to play multiple games in a tight tournament schedule and prepare for teams not played against during the season.
A constant in this NIT run for Penn St. was their adherence to great defense throughout. It was another visible notice that Big Ten basketball is played on both ends of the court and it wins games. Now let’s get the Spartans to past U Conn.
Original Story:
http://hoopraker.com/2009/04/02/one-c...
