My Opinion
Cagers' season lifts team one step up ladder of success

How do you evaluate the 1994-95 men's basketball team?

You can start with the record, 17 wins and 10 losses in the regular season, nine of each in Big Ten play. Those numbers show a four-game overall improvement from last season and a three-game jump in league wins.

So if improvement is a sign of success, it was a pretty good year.

Of course, a team's success should be a reflection of its personnel. Coming into the season, senior center John Amaechi was the only proven commodity on a team otherwise surrounded by questions.

In the backcourt, Coach Bruce Parkhill tabbed sophomore Dan Earl and senior Donovan Williams as his starters. The preseason knock on Earl was that he was too small to withstand the rigors of a Big Ten schedule, while oft-injured Williams came into the season with only five career starts.

A slightly bulked-up Earl silenced most critics with a consistent jumper and a more aggressive game. He finished the season with 8.6 points and 5.3 assists per game. Not flashy, but sufficient.

Williams, who suffered through more injuries this season and played a mere 20 minutes a game, was the Lions' best perimeter defender.

With his starting shooting guard not doing much shooting, Parkhill was forced to ask a freshman to make a dent from outside. And Pete Lisicky, maybe the best pure shooter the program has ever landed, was more than willing.

With a flowing catch-and-shoot motion that often proved deadly, Lisicky hit 56-of-137 three-point attempts -- averaging better than 40 percent.

But Penn State's perimeter threat wasn't limited to the backcourt. Despite being forced to play away from his natural three-spot, Syracuse transfer and power forward Glenn Sekunda gave the Lions a boost with 14 points per game on 49.3 percent shooting.

At small forward, junior Rahsaan Carlton put together another season that teased with potential. With Lisicky and Sekunda showcasing their range, Carlton's scoring chances dropped off. He averaged only 8.2 points on sub-40 percent shooting.

And now to the pivot. Amaechi rightly earned himself a spot on the All-Big Ten first team with averages of 16.1 points and 10.2 rebounds. The Englishman tallied 18 double-doubles on the year, shot 55.6 percent from the floor and blocked 58 shots.

When his starters weren't in, Parkhill had few options. His backcourt subs were limited to Lisicky, injury-hampered freshman Damien McKnight and senior swingman Greg Bartram. Despite erratic shooting, Bartram provided quality minutes near the end of the season when he split time at the one, two and three spots.

Inside, burly sophomore Phil Williams didn't provide the kind of numbers the Lions needed off the bench. When not throwing menacing screens for his guards, Williams' primary duty was crashing the boards, but he pulled down only 3.8 rebounds per game. And senior backup center Michael Joseph's season numbers speak for themselves: 33 points, 31 personal fouls.

So does this record reflect these Lions? No, if you dwell on the half-dozen games they could've won but didn't. Yes, if you consider that nine of their 10 losses came to NCAA tournament-bound teams, and the 10th came to a 20-9 Texas Tech team that was robbed of a tourney berth.

Yes again, if you consider that the Lions didn't lose to a team they were more talented than. And yes, if you remember that they beat quite a few teams that were more talented than they were.

And the NIT is a pretty good reflection of where they ended up. Although their 9-9 league record left them only two games away from third place in the Big Ten, they didn't do enough to earn a spot among the nation's top 64.

Now, if they play like they're capable, the Lions could make the proverbial run and end up in Madison Square Garden in a few weeks.

But even if they don't get past the Hurricanes tomorrow, the latest Penn State basketball campaign can hardly go down as anything other than a modest success.