Changing Culture with Leadership

Nittany Lions seniors were a breath of fresh air

By Ivan MaiselESPN.com(Archive)
December 30, 2008

LOS ANGELES -- A coach's greatest fear about losing is the way it lingers, like cigarette smoke. When the coach walks into a recruit's living room, the smell of losing comes in the door with him.

Derrick Williams was the highest-rated recruit of the bunch to sign with Penn State.When this year's seniors signed in February 2005, Penn State had finished with losing records in four of the previous five seasons. The cumulative record over those five years: 26-33. Joe Paterno had just turned 78 years old. Brian Cushing, a prep All-American linebacker from New Jersey, Paterno's recruiting backyard for decades, signed with USC.
"I wasn't sure what he was going to do," Cushing said Monday. "That was definitely a concern of mine. I didn't know exactly what was going to happen."
Cushing went elsewhere. So did a lot of blue-chippers. You couldn't blame them. Penn State had just gone 4-7. But from those seeds of doubt has grown something to behold. Penn State started winning again.
Eleven fourth-year players who signed that February, and seven fifth-year players who had come a year earlier, will be in the starting lineup Thursday when No. 8 Penn State plays No. 5 USC in the Rose Bowl.
In 2005, as freshmen learning from leaders such as quarterback Michael Robinson and linebacker Paul Posluszny, they helped Penn State go 11-1 and win the Big Ten championship. Over the past four years, the Nittany Lions are 40-10. They will play in their second BCS bowl in their four seasons. Nearly all of this year's seniors have earned their degrees, and there lies among them a bond that comes from achieving a common goal through hard work.

We had faith in the program at that time. We felt like we helped make a
difference.
-- Penn State WR Deon Butler

The most prominent player in the signing class of 2005, all-purpose star Derrick Williams, will finish his Penn State career as the most dangerous player in a Nittany Lions uniform. Williams stood out from the moment he signed to play for Paterno. Williams stood out not only because of his talent, but because of how much he differed from the rest of the class. Many of the stars of this senior class did not go to Penn State burdened by high expectations. Paterno and his staff found them and signed them anyway.
Fourth-year junior quarterback Daryll Clark came after Pennsylvania prep star Chad Henne decommitted and declared his allegiance to Michigan. Quarterback coach Jay Paterno had noticed Clark, from Youngstown, Ohio, while watching video of a tight end. Clark acceded to Joe Paterno's demand that he spend a year in prep school to shore up his academics. His grades had scared away many schools.
"He said to my parents, 'Grades don't show what kind of person he is. We want him to play quarterback,'" Clark said.
Clark sat for three years, waiting for his turn. When the time came this past spring, he seized the starting job by the throat.
"We definitely have developed a friendship and a bond, especially with guys like Daryll," Williams said. "I can remember when Daryll first came in, you could definitely see the guys who were going to make an impact on the team. He was one of those guys."
Senior wide receiver Jordan Norwood, whose father, Brian, had been Penn State's safeties coach until leaving this season for the defensive coordinator job at Baylor, thinks he might have ended up at Houston or Tulsa had Paterno not offered him a scholarship. Penn State offensive coordinator Galen Hall said Paterno didn't throw Norwood a bone because he was already part of the Penn State family.

Daryll Clark had to bide his time but now is the director of the HD spread offense."Joe saw him play basketball," Hall said, "and said, 'This is a player I want.'"
Norwood started one up on classmate and fellow wideout Deon Butler, who walked on to play at Penn State.
"People missed on him. We missed on him," Hall said. "Thank God we found him."
Butler had some interest from Wake Forest, but he went to Penn State, check in hand.
"We had faith in the program at that time," Butler said of himself and his classmates. "We felt like we helped make a difference. We've been through so much. We've been through more off-the-field incidents and how much publicity they got. That helped us bond together."
There have been arrests and court cases. They have seen classmates Chris Baker, a blue-chip recruit and a budding star on the defensive line, and defensive back Willie Harriott get thrown off the team for not staying out of trouble with the law. They have closed ranks, learned what not to do and learned how to lean on each other.
"Anytime you get good players that can stay four or five years, you should be pretty good," Hall said. "They came when they could have gone other places. They saw Penn State for what it is."
They came together barely out of high school, and now they have one game left to play as a team.
"I think the only time it really hit us was on Senior Day [Nov. 22 versus Michigan State], when we were introduced before the game," fifth-year senior safety Mark Rubin said. "Some guys were crying, and everybody was emotional. The five years went by so fast, and sometimes it feels like forever ago. We are the first class in Penn State history to win two Big Ten titles. From where we were to where we are seems forever ago."

A fresh wind blew through Penn State. The smell of losing is gone.

Blogging the Journey: "Another Step Up the Ladder"

At 1-4 we desperately needed something positive to happen before the semester break. To this point we have lost a few games that we really should have won, not playing to our potential. However, we were making progress and you just knew that it was only a matter of time until we started to pull it all together. We had a great week of preparation and practice leading up to Pitt-Greensburg, Mackey, our best player, was getting healthier and starting to show glimpses of reaching his full potential. Our defense was improving with each game, as was our rebounding. Unfortunately, there was a 6-7, 250 lb. "linebacker" in our way! Pitt-Greensburg's best player was averaging 28 points and 14 rebounds per game! This should be suiting up for the Pittsburgh Steelers, not Pitt-Greensburg! Obviously, the key was to keep them off the boards. Despite Daniel Wajjid's impressive 34 points and 19 rebounds, we were able to come up with a key road victory at Pitt-Greensburg, 79-78. It was one of the best games I have ever been apart of. It came down to rebounding, execution and the law of averages! We executed better than they did down the stretch, if you want to call Joe Balog's 3 pointer from beyond NBA range with less than a minute to play...execution? None the less, it was a big time play from a big time player! And, not to mention defined the saying "shooters keep shooting!" Joe was "0 for" up until that point, but maintained that shooters mentality and came through when needed. As for the law of averages...you would never imagine a 46% FT shooter going 6 for 6, but it happened when Wajjid stepped to the line and made all six of his Free Throws. Fortunately for us, the law of averages caught up with them and their 83% FT shooter went 1-2 with only 2 seconds to play to give us a well deserved and hard fought victory. To Pitt-Bradford's credit, they also played a great game. They were the most physical team that we have played so far.

Over the River and Through the Woods...to Pitt-Bradford We Go!

I never understood why our Men's and Women's coaches despised our annual trip to play Pitt-Bradford so much. Could it really be that bad? Then we went and it did not take me long to understand why. First, it was in the middle of the worst snow fall we have had so far this year. The inside temperature of our bus could only be controlled from the outside. The door to the bus flew open as we traveled down 22 west. Our route took us north on 219, which was a two lane road the majority of the way. Then we hit the lake effect snow! Our bus driver was passing cars in a white-out! Lesson learned...never sit in the first seat on a bus during a snow storm! Despite a 5 hour trip that should normally take 3 hours and 30 minutes, we arrived at the gym on time and all in one piece! The game itself, which was our first road game of the season, was pretty consistent to our trip...aggrevating! Despite Bradford jumping out to a 10-0 lead, we were able to battle back and make the game competitive to where we actually were within 5 points early in the second half. Unfortunately, our defense was like the weather outside...cold, and we were not able to take advantage of opportunities. When we were able to get a stop or create a turnover, we were unable to convert and often times turned it right back over again. With it being Thanksgiving, we did have a few things to be thankful for...we made it home safely and we don't have to go back until next year!

One week later we made the trip north again, this time to Penn State-Behrend. This trip, which unfortunately had the same outcome in the win-loss column, was a much better trip. The atmosphere at Behrend was great! The game was televised, the stands were full and there was energy in the air throughout their impressive facility.

Don't Take Shooting Ability For granted

Scheyer's Extra Work Pays Huge Dividends for Duke

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- The way Jon Scheyer figured it, he had two ways to look at his subpar shooting. He could do what most people tell great shooters to do -- forget about it, keep taking aim at the rim and have the confidence that eventually the ball will slip through the twine -- or he could do something about it.

Jon Scheyer tied a season high with 23 points in Duke's win over Xavier.Scheyer chose all of the above.
He kept shooting but he also slipped into the gym. With exams over and school out last week, he grabbed a spare 20 minutes whenever he could and concentrated on his stroke.
Scheyer always has been a shooter. He was the tallest kid on his youth team, but his coach, Scott Lidskin, didn't let that dictate where he should play. He put Scheyer at the point, slid him over to 2-guard and told him no matter his size, to keep his outside game alive.
Blessed now with one of the sweetest strokes in the college game, Scheyer wouldn't seem like a guy in need of any after-school lessons on shooting mechanics. But he was just 13-of-38 from beyond the arc through Duke's first 10 games and didn't think the ball was dropping for him like it ordinarily does.
So on Saturday against Xavier, when a Scheyer 3-pointer came up short, yet caught some sort of gravitational force to fall back into the net -- despite a wacky spin that defied all logic -- all the junior could do was smile.
"That felt great," he laughed. "Those are the kinds of shots I haven't been getting to drop."
Who knows? Maybe it was the ghost of Jimmy Hoffa giving a heavy breath to help the Blue Devils win yet another game in their favorite home outside of Cameron Indoor Stadium. Duke has played 19 games at the Meadowlands and won 18 of them.
But none quite like this. Scheyer's 3-pointer gave him 14 points. There were still 11 minutes to play against Xavier.
In the first half.
Duke put together what the players and coach Mike Krzyzewski agreed was its best game of the season, an offensive masterpiece and defensive beatdown, that left the No. 7 Musketeers tread-marked under a 22-3 deficit and ultimately, an 82-64 loss.
"We played great today," Krzyzewski said. "Not good. Crazy good."

Two games ago, Duke went to Michigan, home of this year's Final Four, and played the kind of uninspired and unsatisfactory game that has turned the Blue Devils into Barcalounger residents come the last weekend of the season. Duke took an eight-point loss to the Wolverines and with it, the knowing nods of critics everywhere who insist the Blue Devils can't win without a big man and with their slobbery love affair with the 3-point line.
Krzyzewski benched his starters the next game and the Blue Devils responded with a 44-point pasting of UNC-Asheville. But that was directional Carolina, not Carolina, and truth be told, Duke's second five should be able to beat Asheville's top five.
Xavier probably isn't the seventh-best team in the country. The Musketeers' top-10 berth hinged on a buzzer-beater against Virginia Tech and a win over a Memphis team that has spiraled downward from its top-15 mark since that game in Puerto Rico. They are relying on a rookie point guard in spurts and no true point guard for most of the game.
But Xavier also isn't the 16-side of a 1-versus-16 game and that's exactly what this game looked like. Sean Miller tried blistering tirades and every sort of lineup change he could muster. Musketeers fans even tried a shout-out to university president Father Michael Graham, but not even the Jesuit's pipeline to the man in charge could stop this freight train.
Because here's the thing about Duke: When they're good, they're very, very good. Against Xavier, the Blue Devils admit they were the best they've been.
"Absolutely our best game," said Gerald Henderson, who finished with 19 points on 7-of-13 shooting.

"We're at our best when we're using each other, there's no way around it. Everyone on this team knows that. When we do that, we're a very sharp team and
tough to beat." - Gerald Henderson, Duke

Duke opened with an 18-1 run and never looked back as the Blue Devils dominated Xavier in every facet of the game.Miller lamented the impossibility that is defending the Blue Devils when they're in that type of mood. With four guys who can drive and handle the ball, they are a pick-your-poison team.
Do you follow Henderson to the rim and leave Scheyer alone or do you jump out on Scheyer and leave Henderson to roam? What about Kyle Singler, who can do both, or sharpshooting Greg Paulus off the bench? And Brian Zoubek may not give Duke a star big man, but he does give the Blue Devils a big-man presence. In his most active game in front of his home state crowd, Zoubek had nine points, five rebounds and four blocks.
"I hope they said this is one of the best games they played," Miller said. "Because when they get Gerald and Scheyer going like that, they're in a whole new category as to how good they can be."
Scheyer knows just how critical his role is. A lethal sixth man last season, he is now an even more vital starter. With Paulus coming off the bench to make room for Nolan Smith, Scheyer is the guy who can best stretch a defense. He knocked down three 3-pointers plus scored off a turnover before the first TV timeout, pushing the Xavier defense about to midcourt. He finished with a season-high 23 points, shooting 5-of-7 from behind the 3-point line.
Against Michigan, Scheyer wasn't the problem, as he led the Devils with 16 points. But he was just 1-of-5 shooting 3s, making his teammates imminently more guardable.
And so while Krzyzewski sent his message by pointing the starters to the pine, Scheyer decided to deliver one to himself in a few lonely minutes in the gym.

"No, you can't take it for granted," Scheyer said of his shooting ability. "Even now, this is one game. I've still got to keep working on it." - Jon Scheyer, Duke