March 26, 2008

UNIVERSITY PARK, PA (UWIRE) -- Although the season is completed, there is no time for Ed DeChellis to rest.

The Penn State men's basketball coach said though the campaign did see success with the improvement of the young players, the team has to continue to grow in the offseason.

"This team will have to improve individually," DeChellis said during yesterday's press conference. "Each player has to improve individually -- skill-wise on the floor. Get some guys in to the weight room. Our young guys really have to improve their strength and their conditioning."

And it appears the team has taken this to heart.

DeChellis said Talor Battle and Stanley Pringle are back in the gym, practicing their shots, while the rest of the team starts their offseason training next week. Only D.J. Jackson, Danny Morrissey and Jamelle Cornley will have extra time off because of injuries.

The other area DeChellis is focusing on is recruiting. With Nikola Obradovic graduating early, the Nittany Lions have an extra scholarship to offer.

While there is still time, DeChellis said he isn't sure if he will use the scholarship this year or not. This is because two years down the road, he wouldn't have any to give, as there are no sophomores on the roster.

But with only three individuals who posted significant minutes gone, Penn State has higher expectations going into next season. And the wait to sustain success on the court has been a struggle for DeChellis.

"I may be the most impatient person," DeChellis said. "I've wanted to win, and I think we can do great things here -- I still think that. We've had some things happen that have been pretty challenging along the way that kind of slowed this progress down."

One of those challenges has been injuries. Knee injuries sidelined Geary Claxton and Cornley for long stretches of the season, with Claxton playing in little more than two Big Ten games. DeChellis said if it weren't for the injuries, his team would have been in the NCAA tournament, or at least challenged for a bid.

Instead, the team was left scrambling for an NIT or CBI postseason bid. Although Penn State didn't get either, DeChellis said he did have conversations about getting a bid.

But the 49-year-old coach continues to stay positive, as those injuries forced the freshmen into the spotlight. The season ended with five starters that consisted of four freshmen and one junior college transfer in his first year.

"This team is really young," DeChellis said. "The freshmen were really the catalysts for us along with Jamelle and Danny [Morrissey] and Stanley. It's really the four freshmen and those three guys who played the bulk of the minutes."

Another obstacle is the scheduling conflict. DeChellis said the team still has to fill in three more opponents for next season. He said he is making calls every day to prospective opponents about a two-for-one deal in which Penn State would travel once and get two home games against the same school. One aspect he was adamant about, though, was that the Lions would not take a two-for-one deal the other way around -- DeChellis said he wants as many home games as possible.

But everything comes back to the players. Calling himself the conductor, DeChellis said it is up to his players to "play the music." And with the tough last-second loss to Illinois in the Big Ten tournament now passed, the team is already talking about next season.

"We've got a very competitive group of kids," DeChellis said. "They are a hungry group of guys. I don't think they want to watch the NCAA tournament next year -- they want to compete in it."

(C) 2008 Daily Collegian via UWIRE