Hoopraker

Already a drafty, low population clime, the Bryce Jordan Center may be developing wind chill factors inhabitable to both the program’s fans and its current head coach. After failing to meet reasonable expectations last season and with evidence of underachievement already clear despite an experienced and talented roster this year, Ed DeChellis and his ballclub need to find a way to generate some heat.

No Easy Street

While it is probably too early to toll the bell for his now five year regime, DeChellis is at a stage when the rebuilding tag is no longer applicable and the program needs to start meeting a higher standard of consistent achievement. No one will suggest DeChellis inherited an easy time of things in Happy Valley when he succeeded Jerry Dunn in 2003.

Except for a bygone 1954 Final Four appearance, four straight 20-win seasons between 1989-92 under Bruce Parkhill, and an improbable run to the Sweet Sixteen in 2001 behind the pure shooting and senior leadership of Joe Crispin, this has been a program of low profile both nationally and on its own campus where football takes most of the oxygen.

The program’s modest, intermittent success, limited tradition, and geographic isolation were not conducive to any kind of quick alchemy. Parkhill’s painstaking efforts to make the program respectable were commendable, but much of it was accomplished before the school joined the Big Ten. Parkhill’s numbers slid dramatically thereafter and he surrendered the reins to Dunn in 1995. Dunn, too, despite the 2001 breakthrough, was not able to sustain the positive momentum and the program backslid appreciably in his final two seasons.

The tough history notwithstanding, DeChellis appeared to be a thoughtful, good hire. Armed both with the inside feel for the institution as a 1982 graduate and longtime assistant coach under Parkhill, as well as a deserved reputation as a turnaround artist at Tennessee State, a program he took from invisibility to three conference divisional championships and an NCAA tournament during his seven year stint, DeChellis had the right kind of bio.

And only two years into his tenure he put together a very competitive 2005-06 team team that finished 15-15 overall, 6-10 in conference. Reliant on solid veterans in Ben Luber and Travis Parker and impactful recruiting breakthroughs in Jamelle Cornley and Geary Claxton, DeChellis’ team played smart, well coached basketball and notched an NIT bid. It seemed the program had turned a very important corner and was destined to meet or exceed NIT-level basketball for the forseeable future.

The Ghost of the Backslide Returns

Last year’s 11-19 overall, 2-14 conference finish was an unfortunate return of the program’s tendency to backslide just when it appeared ready to stabilize. Inauspicious signs appeared early when the team dumped games to the likes of Stonybrook and Southeastern Louisiana in November and December. In conference play nine of the fourteen losses were by double digits and the team often evidenced marked inconsistency from game to game, even half to half.

All this with a roster anchored by two of the conference’s finest ballplayers in Cornley and Claxton and a potent backcourt trio of Luber, David Morrissey, and Mike Walker. A team that Hoopraker and countless others had rightfully assessed as NIT bound or as an outside shot for the NCAA tournament took a major step backwards.

Surely DeChellis would figure out a way to right the ship and exploit the return of his All Big Ten tandem, designated shooters Morrissey and Walker, and a universally hailed recruiting class of Talor Battle, Jeff Brooks, and Juco Stanley Pringle. Once again more than a few pundits leveled high, but hardly unfair expectations for this season’s club. And once again the early signs are not confidence inspiring.

The 0-3 trip to Orlando’s Old Spice Classic included one reasonable loss to a solid South Carolina club. The dumps to Rider (82-73) and Central Florida (70-59) are bad losses any way you shake them. Last week’s loss to St. Joseph’s, a well coached, consistently good program, is explicable given the absence of Cornley. But giving up 51 points in a half is harder to rationalize and echoes last season’s breakdowns in effort and defensive intensity.

Theories And Solutions

DeChellis has lured several very good players but not in great enough numbers to provide deep benches. Cornley and Claxton are freakishly talented tweeners at 6′5″, but have never had the compliment of a long and effective center who can get some of those less labor intensive, high percentage buckets at key junctures. They’ve been consistent producers since their arrival, but their only help on the offensive end has come from the backcourt. Morrissey and Walker are capable of big nights, but their perimeter games are not consistently bankable. Sometimes Cornley and Claxton find themselves having to carry too big a load.

The addition of a pure point guard in Battle (with help from Pringle) should pay dividends as the season progresses, but this is going to be a team that depends on regular defensive effort, hustle, toughness and turnover minimization. Besides Battle’s evolution which is largely about getting more minutes under his belt, the variables that will determine whether this team meets its deservedly high, but not unreasonable expectations are coachable.

The Next Five

The next five game stretch could well be a barometer for the program under DeChellis. How well will his team compete against a solid Seton Hall club, Princeton and Denver’s disciplined offenses, Colgate, and Lehigh? If the answer is meek and uninspired, the winter in the Bryce Jordan is going to be polar indeed.

Posted by DJ Elsass on Thursday, December 6th, 2007 at 7:51 am.