Penn State Basketball: 2020-21 season preview for the Nittany Lions
Penn State Basketball enters next season looking for a new identity within the Big Ten after losing key players and head coach Pat Chambers.
Penn State Basketball is coming off one of the greatest seasons in program history, a much-needed sign of relief and repose after having enjoyed just two winning seasons in Pat Chambers’ nine-year tenure prior to last year.
But significant pieces of that success are no longer present in State College, Pennsylvania. Lamar Stevens, the second all-time leading scorer in program history, has graduated. Mike Watkins, the team’s third-leading scorer last season, is also gone. And now, in a sudden fashion, head coach Pat Chambers has resigned after an internal investigation into inappropriate conduct was performed this summer.
Chambers resigning – or losing his job at Penn State, for that matter – should not come as a surprise. He has been on the hot seat for years. An NIT championship in 2018 and Penn State’s success this past season most likely saved his job for another year, but a July 6th article from The Undefeated revealing an ignorant and racist interaction between Chambers and former PSU point guard Rasir Bolton forced Penn State administration’s hands.
Fast forward to October, and Chambers is gone, and in his place as interim is Jim Ferry. Ferry, who has served as Chambers’ assistant for three years, will now become a head coach at his fifth institution. Following a successful one-year stint at Div. III Plymouth State and three NCAA tournament qualifying seasons at Div. II Adelphi, Ferry spent ten years at LIU-Brooklyn and five mediocre years at Duquesne.
That mediocrity has been with Ferry for most of his Div. I coaching career, and it could possibly rear its head this season at Penn State. Removing his four years at Plymouth State and Adelphi – which produced an accumulative 104-19 overall record – leaves Ferry with a 210-246 mark between LIU and Duquesne.
Ferry is inheriting a Nittany Lions squad that finished 21-10 last season with an 11-9 mark in Big Ten play, their first winning season in conference play in Chambers’ 9-year tenure. They enjoyed their greatest climb in the Associated Press poll in program history – they appeared at 23rd in late December, their first appearance in the poll since 1996 – and climbed as high as ninth in mid-February.
Their resume was nothing short of loaded: wins over nationally-ranked Maryland, Iowa, Ohio State, and Michigan State, and blow-out victories over Georgetown, Syracuse, and Wake Forest. However, all went downhill for the Lions after they earned their number-nine spot in the AP poll.
After embarking on a streak of eight-straight wins, Penn State proceeded to lose five of their last six regular-season games. Among the debacle was a crucial victory over Rutgers that would have ensured their NCAA tournament hopes, but the Nittany Lions ended the year on a sour note with a horrific double-digit loss to Northwestern.
Losing their head coach a month before games are set to start and being forced to replace two starters – all of while being in what may be college basketball’s strongest conference this coming season – will be nothing short of a frustrating challenge. There are, however, a few positives for the Nittany Lions heading into next season.
A quick disclaimer: this preview was started before Chambers resigned but is written immediately after his departure. I would be shocked if there were not a few potential roster departures, but as it stands, this preview is written with what we have now.