Geno Thorpe is no longer a member of the Penn State basketball team the university announced late Thursday evening.
The news, which came in the form of a three sentence news release minutes prior to the start of Game 4 of the NBA Finals offered little insight into the reasons for the departure.
Program sources have indicated that the split was mutual. Unfortunately that kind of language does little to reveal what may have been a conflict between Thorpe’s unique personality and coach Pat Chambers’ vision for the program and emphasis on high energy, discipline and effort at all junctures.
Thorpe leaves Penn State averaging 8.7 points, 2.6 rebounds and 1.3 assists a game. However his numbers fail to reflect his growing role in the offense and excellent on-ball defending that seemingly had him en route to becoming a fixture on both ends of the court for the Nittany Lions and the potential for conference recognition.
The loss of Thorpe’s services leaves the door wide open for freshman guard Josh Reaves and sophomore Shep Garner along with redshirt freshman Isaiah Washington. While Thorpe has yet to fully develop his offensive game, the loss will put far more pressure on unseasoned players.
Thorpe’s departure is far from the first during Pat Chambers’ tenure. In fact, 10 players have left the program since 2011 although six of those losses involved players recruited by former head coach Ed DeChellis.
Conversely “only” four of the 14 players Chambers has recruited have left early with perhaps only two of those four players being truly viable Big Ten assets. Whatever the case, Chambers has not been without his fair share of turnover during his four years at Penn State.
Also, in fairness or at for the sake of a larger context, transfers have become something of an epidemic in college basketball in recent years making even fairly drastic roster changes not unique to Penn State. According to ESPN, following the 2014 season, 687 players left their current schools following the year.
How Penn State responds to this loss could be a critical aspect of the Chambers era. While the Nittany Lions are set to bring in several well-regarded recruits over the course of the next two years, the ability to find talent on the court and cohesion off of it is a difficult science.
As the news broke about Thorpe, Chambers had just finished hosting one Top 100 recruit in Sedee Keita and prepared for 2018 prospect Dwayne Cohill to come into town this weekend.
Two steps forward, one step back may ultimately be a path to success, but that takes time. Even with a recent contract extension, Chambers doesn’t have an indefinite amount of it.
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