"I don't think his performance was expected," Penn State coach Jerry Dunn said. "Of anyone we certainly knew he was capable of being a good player in this league and a good shooter to be more specific, but not having any opportunity to play that much last year, I don't think anyone could have predicted the year that he is having right now."
There may have been one man that saw it coming — Jameel Ghuari, Sharif's father.
"He has been doing it all of his career against the same type of players that are the elite players in the country," Ghuari said. "He's always played at that level of competition. We played teams with Darius Miles, Corey Maggette, Jared Jeffries, and Omar Cooke even before his sophomore year. For him it was really about getting an opportunity to play."
Ghuari, a former basketball player himself, probably knows his son's game best. He coached him on the Bray Center Nike team in Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) basketball leagues. Chambliss credits his father with putting the competitive spirit that has allowed him to achieve at such a high level.
"I tried to instill in him to always leave it out on the court anytime you step out there," Ghuari said. "The key is working hard, hustling and doing the things that are intangible."
Chambliss' work ethic and desire to win was shown at the high school level when he switched from shooting guard to point guard his senior season. The change proved to be effective as he took his team all the way to the state finals and was named County and Conference Player of the Year. However, the Racine, Wis. native's effort was not enough to get him recruited by Wisconsin. Chambliss had dreamed of putting on the cardinal and white for his home state, and at the time was admittedly upset over the shunning from the Badgers.
"It does nothing now, but make me work harder," Chambliss said. "They didn't see what was in me I knew what was in me."
Chambliss decided on Penn State over Marquette and a few other schools. If he couldn't go to Wisconsin, he still definitely wanted to play Big Ten basketball. The amazing part of the process was that Chambliss committed to the Lions without even visiting the campus.
"The coaches were real persistent about recruiting," Chambliss said. "They called me, within the rules, and I got a lot of mail and interaction."
The 6-foot-1 guard who enjoys bumping to Jay-Z and chomping on Twizzlers did not come here with much ballyhoo, and in his freshman season he saw minimal time behind the Crispin Brothers and Titus Ivory. Being a part of the team's incredible run to the NCAA tournament was a very memorable experience and something he says he hopes that he can get back to.
This year, after losing four of five starters, the starting lineup was basically wide-open and when Chambliss was not starting early on he could have gotten down. But he didn't, thanks to his mother, Cherri Chambliss, who he says "makes me get things done the right way."
"At the beginning of the season he didn't start and he was frustrated," Cherri Chambliss said. "He called home and I said be ready because you got to be ready when the coach calls on you."
A lot of the success Chambliss has had on the court this season can be traced back to this summer. Chambliss played with the Big Ten Foreign Tour Team and traveled all over the world playing against international competition. He led the team in assists and averaged 10.5 points per game.
For a player that saw so little time during his freshman season the experience of being on the court for the majority of the game is crucial.
"It was a lot of experience," Chambliss said. "It (practice) was down in Indiana and it helped a lot to play against a lot of the other boys from the other schools."
Along with learning from players from other schools, Chambliss says he has taken something from practice with junior backcourt mate Brandon Watkins.
"I think just going against each other in practice has been a big confidence builder and since we have similar athletic ability, it helps even more," Chambliss said.
The spark that the "Energizer Bunny", the name Chambliss is appropriately called due to his seemingly never-ending flow of energy, has provided for this team has been a twinkling of bright light in an otherwise dim season.
Chambliss' three-point shots ignite the Penn State crowd into a frenzy and as he is going up with the shot you can hear the crowd roar in anticipation.
Only a sophomore, the Lions' future will lie in the hands of Chambliss, who has already proven he can more than shoulder the load.
And that is one thing he is sure never to shy away from.
