Billy Oliver is not your typical Big Ten forward. He only average 3.8 rebounds per game (in about 24 minutes per game) and 80% of his field goal attempts come from beyond the three-point arc. He's pretty much the complete opposite of Trevor Mbakwe, and not just because Oliver hasn't missed any games this season.

Before Thursday night's 65-45 Nittany Lion victory over Purdue, Oliver's spot shooting game was not much of a boon to the Penn State offense. He was only in double figure scoring for two games, and against PSU's first two Big Ten opponents, Michigan and Northwestern, Oliver had a total of 5 points. If Penn State wasn't so shallow in the frontcourt from waiting for Jonathan Graham and Ross Travis to develop, Oliver would probably be relegated to a small bench role.

Instead, Oliver started versus Purdue, knocked down a couple of threes during Penn State's opening run and never really cooled off from that point forward. He finished the night with an astonishing 21 points on 7 of 11 shooting that required a lot of help from his friends.

All of Oliver's makes were assisted on, which is far from a bad thing. It just goes to show how much Oliver's teammates helped out in setting him up for a big night. Mostly it was Tim Frazier making life difficult for the Purdue defense. His quickness and floor vision allowed Frazier to find Oliver and other teammates open for easy buckets.

Junior college transfer Matt Glover is started to become a sort of Swiss army knife for Penn State. He hasn't yet scored in double figures this season, but he's got 19 rebounds and 7 assists total in his last two games. I'm sure coach Pat Chambers would like Glover to drop in a few more baskets to help out on nights when Billy Oliver doesn't turn into Larry Bird, but the rebounding is much welcome on a Penn State team that is lacking in size.

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The Penn State basketball team last season finally achieved what they had been striving for since Ed DeChellis was named head coach back in 2003. The Nittany Lions finally reached the NCAA tournament after a thrilling Big Ten tournament run that included upsets over Wisconsin and Michigan State on the way to the tournament final.

Now they'll knock the program over and start again from the beginning. Well, not completely from the beginning. Although DeChellis made the surprising move to Navy over the summer, energetic new boss Pat Chambers has been able to hold on to most of DeChellis' class of 2011 recruits to give Penn State a chance at staying out of the conference cellar this season. Although the graduation of senior starters Talor Battle, Jeff Brooks, David Jackson and Andrew Jones makes a return to the NCAA Tournament a far off dream, Penn State does sport plenty of newcomers who are hungry to make an impact in the Big Ten.

The Experience

Junior point guard Tim Frazier is the lone starter coming back to school for Penn State, and wouldn't you know it, he's also the Nittany Lion who showed the most growth last season. Frazier did a great job developing from a pass first point to a pass first point who can also draw fouls and shoot a little bit. Although Frazier was adept at dishing the ball all season long (he finished with 5.1 assists per game), he didn't score in double digits until he put up 11 at Ohio State in the middle of January. The biggest factor in Frazier's struggle to score was the lack of confidence in his jumper. Through January, Frazier was just made one of 13 three point shots. That turned around completely later in the season, as the diminutive guard hit 10 of his final 19 threes while continuing to lead the Lions in assists.

Down the stretch, Frazier had two huge games: 22 points, 8 rebounds and 6 assists in the Big Ten Tournament semifinal versus Michigan State and 15 points 5 rebounds and 7 assists in the NCAA Tournament loss to Temple. In 2011-12, Penn State will need Frazier to take control of the team and look to score for himself a little more. With Talor Battle out of the picture, Frazier will have the ball a good deal of the time. Like Battle, Frazier isn't afraid to draw contact despite his below average size. If his shot stays as sweet as it was in the second half last season, he can develop into a star player in the Big Ten.

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It's amazing what an NCAA Tournament bid can do. After qualifying for the big dance last season under departed head coach Ed DeChellis, Penn State have earned themselves a six pack of appearances on ESPN networks for their Big Ten campaign that starts in late Decemeber.

The Nittany Lions only return one starter from last year's squad, and although Tim Frazier did play some of his best basketball down the stretch last March, Penn State still has their work cut out. The Lions do have the benefit of playing four of the conference's toughest teams just one time, but they'll still be shorthanded in the experience department in almost every game they play. Hopefully a non-conference slate that includes showdowns versus Kentucky, Boston College and Ole Miss can help the young Lions grow up in a hurry.

Let's break it down!

Big Ten teams that Penn State only plays once

vs. Minnesota, vs. Illinois, at Ohio State, at Michigan State

This is the type of schedule that will help Penn State grow up slowly without too many poundings. It's a far cry from last year's schedule that had State skipping only Indiana and Iowa once apiece.

Big Ten games by day of the week

Tuesday: one

Wednesday: four

Thursday: four

Saturday: three

Sunday: six

This is actually a pretty big change for Penn State. The Big Ten is playing many more games on Sunday this season, as opposed to last year when teams played mostly on Saturday.

Big Ten games by TV coverage

Big Ten Network: 10

ESPN2: 2

ESPNU: 4

TBD: 2

There's a little more attention on Penn State now that they are fresh off of a tourney bid, but national audiences would have been better served getting to watch Talor Battle play last season. With four new starters and a new coach to boot, Penn State will look totally different from the 2010-11 team, and they probably will be less exciting without a star player to woo the crowd.

Hit the jump for the Big Ten portion of Penn State's schedule, complete with tip times and network coverage.

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A nearly two week search finally yielded fruit for Penn State basketball Friday evening when the school announced it has hired Boston University's Patrick Chambers as its next head coach. Chambers will replace the departed Ed DeChellis, who left the Nittany Lions for a position at Navy last Monday.

A longtime assistant under Jay Wright at Big East powehouse Villanova, Chambers coached the BU Terriers the last two seasons, compiling a 42-28 record in Boston. This past season, BU won the America East championship and represented that league as a No. 16 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

Chambers grew up in Pennsylvania and attended Philadelphia University for college. His time in the Eastern PA has helped him forge strong recruiting ties there, ties Penn State, which has historically struggled snagging prospects from the talent rich city and its suburbs, desperately needs.

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Today marks one week since Ed DeChellis announced his decision to move on from Penn State to the United States Naval Academy, and much has happened in the past seven days. News has been made by some big names and some not so big names as the Nittany Lions look for their next head coach. Here's a recap of all of it.

On Wednesday, Penn State hired former college basketball coach Eddie Fogler to help athletic director Tim Curley with the search for a new coach. Fogler has helped schools including Auburn find replacements and will act as a consultant in Penn State's search. Also on Wednesday, news leaked from ESPN.com's Anday Katz that former Auburn coach Jeff Lebo was on Penn State's radar. In a joint statement with his current employer East Carolina on Thursday, however, Lebo denied being contacted by Penn State and reinforced his commitment to the Pirates.

Thursday also brought a tweet from Mark Brennan of Fight On State announcing that Penn State is considering former Utah head coach Jeff Boylen for its vacant position. Boylen led the Utes to a five seed in the NCAA Tournament in 2009, but was fired this spring after two straight losing seasons.

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It's Michigan Week here at BT Powerhouse, but big news out of Happy Valley on Monday is causing us to take a quick break from that fun for the moment.

Ed DeChellis announced last evening that he is leaving Penn State for the United States Naval Academy effective immediately, citing a "calling" to work at the service academy and a feeling that it's his "civic duty" to work with men and women serving the nation in uniform.

The Nittany Lions made the NCAA Tournament for the first time in his eight-year tenure this past March, but DeChellis will be leaving for a job that pays him over $200,000 less than what he would have made at Penn State Why? David Jones of the Harrisburg Patriot-News thinks he has the answer.

This is move looks like an absolute stunner on the surface – a high-major coach leaving for a low-major job and a pay cut of $200,000 annually. But a lot entered into it that makes it more easy to comprehend.

DeChellis, now 52, is not interested in coaching more than another 8-10 years, tops. He felt a lack of respect and commitment from the Penn State administration. When he asked for raises for his assistants, one of whom is the lowest paid of 36 in the Big Ten, he was rebuked.

After reaching the Big Ten tournament final and squeaking into the NCAA tournament for the first time in his tenure, he was unable to get an extension or raise on a contract lasting three more seasons.

When asked by Jones during a press conference if his decision had anything to do with lack of respect, compensation or job security, DeChellis denied the notion, saying the decision was based more in a desire to coach at Navy than leave Penn State.

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Mediocre. Average. Alright. Sufficient. 

These words that have been used to describe Penn State's basketball recruiting in recent years. The good news is, though, that's better than what was going on before the reign of Ed DeChellis. The bad news is, that doesn't win championships.

"They've shown they can pull top schools' plan B guys from just about anywhere and they rarely whiff or get stuck with stop gaps, anymore," Adam Bittner, of Black Shoe Diaries and BT Powerehouse, said. "That said, they can't steal plan A kids from Syracuse or Pitt to save their lives and let the Philly teams dominate there. They're not good. They're not bad. They're Penn State."

"If the middle of the road Big Ten team is what you expect out of Penn State, you would have to say that DeChellis has done a solid job," Wade Vanlandingham, of Penn State Central, said. "But if your expectations are that DeChellis should turn this team into a upper-tier big Ten team --meaning they finish consistently in the top half of the conference-- the recruits are not there. No one is in the NBA. No one, other than (Talor) Battle make the all Big Ten squad, etc."

This year's class, another stable of two and three-star commits, is at least being advertised as the best since the 2007 class that included Battle and Jeff Brooks.

The highlights are 6'10" big man Pat Ackerman and small forward Ross Travis. Both are kids with plenty of potential, but have an equal chance of flopping.

Ackerman, from Worcester Academy in Mass., has the body but needs to develop his abilities with the ball in his hand. Travis has struggled with back problems and could spend a lot of time in the trainer's room.

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It wasn't long ago that Ed DeChellis was sitting on very warm seat.

A month into last season, Black Shoe Diaries polled it's readers about DeChellis, and found that 94 percent were ready to give him the hook. A full 50 percent didn't even want to see him finish the year. 

But problems with Ed DeChellis's performance are nothing new.

Going into the 2010-11 season, Frat House Sports said DeChellis's job was in jeopardy. On March 17, 2008, Coaches Hot Seat Basketball Blog listed him as number five on its hot seat rankings. 

With last season's NCAA tournament bid, though, DeChellis seems to have bought himself at least another year or two. 

"There is no doubt the NCAA bid has saved his job," Wade Vanlandingham, of Penn State Central, said. "He can now say he got us to the postseason two of the last three seasons. But personally, I think this year is going to be another cellar finish for the Nittany Lions. So while I don't think his seat is hot now, it will be again quickly."

That seems to be the consensus among State fans.

"I think he's safe for at least two years," Adam Bittner, of both BSD and Big Ten Powerhouse, said. "The NCAA tournament bought him whatever hell rains down upon Happy Valley in 2012 with all the underclassmen. And as long as Penn State doesn't suck in 2013, I think they'll keep him around to take a legit shot at a tournament run in 2014 with a veteran squad."

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