DeChellis and Da Champions: Penn State wins first-ever NIT crown

The National Invitation Tournament might not be the biggest postseason tournament in all of college basketball, but on a night when Penn State won the first year-ending tournament in the program's largely futile history, there was at least one man in New York who could appreciate the significance of the Nittany Lions' accomplishment.
 
When Ed DeChellis's team finished off Baylor, 69-63, in Thursday night's NIT championship game, a fellow named Joe Paterno was part of the crowd that made this April encounter feel like another home game for the Blue and White. It's entirely appropriate that when Penn State hoops created a mountaintop moment that will withstand the test of time, a legendary coach was around to soak up the scene in the world's most famous arena.
 
On a national scale, everything about the 2009 Nittany Lions--from their coach to their players to the quality of their season-long resume--was underappreciated by much of the basketball world, especially the NCAA Tournament's selection committee. Penn State didn't play spotlight games in non-conference play, and DeChellis was not a coach who raised eyebrows across the country. With a young team that made up in hustle what it lacked in terms of pure polish, Penn State greatly exceeded expectations in Big Ten play, but not enough to reach the Big Dance. Instead, this team had to settle for the second banana in the ranks of postseason tournaments. Why does this NIT title mean so much to Penn State, then? Paterno could offer an explanation.

JoePa might have made a name for himself in another sport, but PSU's foremost icon grew up with basketball in Brooklyn. In his twenties, Paterno would watch George Mikan and other early-day hoops legends take to the court at the old Madison Square Garden, the building that preceded the newest incarnation of MSG on 33rd Street in Manhattan. When Paterno grew up with basketball in the 1940s and '50s, the NIT was the biggest show in college hoops, not the NCAA Tournament.
 
Only in the late 1950s did the NCAA event begin to eclipse the NIT, due to rules that steered conference champions away from New York. Even in the 1960s and '70s, the NIT represented a lot more than a consolation prize, due to the small number of teams participating in the NCAA Tournament (only 25 teams entered the 1974 tourney), but there was no question that at the end of the 1970s, only one tournament really mattered in Division I-A basketball. Among anyone younger than 60 years old, the NCAAs have been the only tournament that has really mattered over the past few decades. Paterno, however, is one special soul who can remember a time when the NIT ruled the roost. That detail, combined with the fact that JoePa was on hand at the new Madison Square Garden, makes this night of Penn State supremacy so much sweeter.
 
Just how did the Nittany Lions produce a moment so rich in poignancy and pride? Very simply, they followed through on their defensive game plan against Baylor. The Blue and White worked much harder than San Diego State did in Tuesday's semifinals, as a long and energetic group of white-shirted defenders didn't allow Baylor's backcourt combo of Curtis Jerrells and LaceDarius Dunn to light up the night in the Big Apple. Baylor did hit three 3-pointers in the game's first eight minutes, but after that, the long bombs stopped falling because PSU started closing down on the Bears' sharpshooters.
 
Jerrells and Dunn brought Baylor to its first-ever NIT title game because the two premier perimeter players both hit more than 50 percent of their field goal attempts in the first four games of this tournament. In round five, however, the green-shirted guards couldn't find a good rhythm. Jerrells and Dunn combined to hit just 11-of-33 field goal attempts, and went only 6-of-21 3-pointers. The parade of missed shots and fruitless possessions naturally marked a departure from Baylor's other postseason games, but more instructively, it left the perimeter-based Bears without secondary and tertiary strategic options. Baylor simply rests on its ability to hit threes, and when Coach Scott Drew's snipers missed the mark, more than half the battle had been won for the disciples of DeChellis.

Speaking of "battle," a handy note that helps explain this Penn State victory can be connected to Lion leader Talor Battle.
 
Just how central was defense to Thursday's landmark win? When Battle--who missed each of his first eight field goal attempts--finally registered a basket on a six-foot floater with 8:19 left in regulation, Penn State held a 50-40 advantage. Usually, a 1-for-9 night from the best player on their roster would translate into a sizeable deficit for the Nittany Lions. Because of their high-level defense, the hardwood heroes of Happy Valley instead held a double-digit lead when Battle's scoreline stood at 1-for-9 from the field. As a postscript, Battle did hit a few more shots in the final minutes to prevent Baylor from making a big run (the Bears never got closer than five points with 16.8 seconds left in regulation), but it was DeChellis's well-coached defense that truly won this contest in the first 31-plus minutes of action.
 
No, they won't be playing "One Shining Moment" in New York City. No, CBS won't be talking breathlessly about the standouts from State College. No, there won't be a confetti-drenched celebration in a big dome before 50,000 or 60,000 enthralled spectators. No matter--the Penn State basketball family has its first postseason championship in a city where basketball matters, and before a proud Papa who will always look at the NIT as something far greater than a second-rate event.
 
The rest of the country is indeed focused on the Final Four. So what? The Nittany Nation, and its unofficial president, Joe Paterno, will proudly cherish and lovingly remember the night when a program accustomed to the shadows suddenly became a champion.

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