Penn State will face Pitt in Brooklyn as part of the Legends Classic at the Barclays Center the tournament announced on Monday. The news comes a few days after the Nittany Lions’ released their complete out of conference slate of games. Penn State will play either Texas A&M or Oklahoma State the following afternoon in Brooklyn.
The news gives Penn State something to hang on to with an otherwise lackluster slate of games upcoming in 2017-18. Beyond Pitt, the Nittany Lions can put Big Ten/ACC Challenge opponent NC State on a very short list of meaningful teams in the non conference lineup.
The entire schedule, aside from the aforementioned teams: Binghamton, Campbell, Columbia, Coppin State, Fairleigh Dickinson, George Mason (away),George Washington, Montana, N.C. State (away), Oral Roberts, Rider.
Bluntly, none of those really light a fire under fans and perhaps even players. George Washington is a program always capable of putting up 20 win seasons and George Mason has been a consistent presence in its own right, and some of the smaller names are better than most might realize, but none will likely tip the scales at the end of the season.
Which is why Penn State’s schedule is something that won’t go away as the year goes along, especially if Pat Chambers’ best team to date inches closer and closer towards the postseason. For those who have spent time around the program it’s a year that already smells very much of 2009, a season in which Ed DeChellis had one of the best teams in the program’s history, only to miss out on the tournament in large part due to a poor non conference schedule.
Of course this mattering requires Penn State to win in the Big Ten at a rate the Nittany Lions have come close to but have yet to achieve under Chambers. If it’s going to happen it will almost certainly be this season, and with over half a decade at Penn State under his belt he may not have many more to give it a go.
Then again, if Penn State goes the route of 2009 and ends up with the most single-season wins in program history or something approaching it, that itself might be enough to keep Chambers around for another run in 2018. An intentionally poor schedule crafted for the sake of career longevity is kind of a far-fetched theory, one that would go against much of how Chambers has scheduled in the past, but it’s certainly a potential outcome. Albeit since her vote of confidence following the Big Ten Tournament there isn’t any indication that Penn State athletic director Sandy Barbour is losing that faith.
Whatever the case might be this schedule isn’t doing the Nittany Lions any favors, if that matters remains to be seen.
