Penn State head coach Ed DeChellis has been around long enough to know how preseason expectations work. Even though his Nittany Lions basketball program had a winning record in the Big Ten last season, just missed out on the NCAA Tournament and cut down the nets at the conclusion of the NIT, Penn State generally doesn’t draw much preseason buzz.
So it follows that PSU, which has lost the services of outgoing players Jamelle Cornley, Stanley Pringle and Danny Morrissey, isn’t considered a contender for the league crown this season. At the Big Ten Basketball Media Conference in Chicago on Thursday, a voting panel deemed Michigan State, last season’s runner-up, as the team to beat followed by Purdue and Ohio State – 2008 NCAA participants who return all of their starters.
For that reason, the soft-spoken DeChellis was not in high demand as reporters feasted on the available coaches and star players in the Crowne Plaza ballroom. That’s fine with Nittany Network as we were able to conduct a rare one-on-one interview with the Penn State coach.
In the following video, we ask DeChellis about the Lions’ preseason position, the exhaustive role of standout point guard Talor Battle, the development of key players such as Chris Babb and Andrew Jones, and the early impressions being made by guard Tim Frazier and the rest of the Lions’ freshman class.
Click here for five good minutes with DeChellis ...
Sitting down with DeChellis
