Column: Abrupt, Disappointing End Doesn't Diminish Penn State's Big Season

Surely, Patrick Chambers didn’t know what he was saying.

Meeting with the media Monday afternoon, two days removed from a disappointing loss at Northwestern to end the regular season, three days ahead of a trip to Indianapolis to make it all right in the Big Ten tournament, the head coach insisted on a baseline understanding.

Finishing the regular season with a 21-10 overall record and an 11-9 mark against conference competition, his Penn State team had already achieved so much. The Big Ten tournament and an assured at-large berth in the NCAA tournament would only build on them.

“I couldn't have asked for any more from this group,” Chambers said. “I really think they left it all on the floor.”

Thursday afternoon, fate made sure of it.

Following a rapid succession of escalating decisions nationally, the Big Ten decided to call off its year-end tournament. By mid-afternoon, the NCAA was the last domino to fall, calling off not just the men’s basketball year-end tournament but all of its winter and spring championships.

“Today, NCAA President Mark Emmert and the Board of Governors canceled the Division I men’s and women’s 2020 basketball tournaments, as well as all remaining winter and spring NCAA championships,” the statement read. “This decision is based on the evolving COVID-19 public health threat, our ability to ensure the events do not contribute to the spread of the pandemic, and the impracticality of hosting such events at any time during this academic year given ongoing decisions by other entities.”

An unprecedented development that would upend the seasons of student-athletes at every level of competition, in every sport currently being played, the impact on Penn State men’s basketball offers a clear view of its most immediate impact.

And it’s a painful one.

Most obviously, Lamar Stevens’ college career came to an abrupt end. Penn State’s senior forward finished the season with 547 points in 31 games, building on three prior seasons that generated 1,660 points. His total of 2,207 points will leave him devastatingly shy of Talor Battle’s program-record 2,213 points, placing him second all-time when his ascendance to the top was all but assured heading into the conference tournament and an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament.

The scoring record is just a small piece of the larger picture for Stevens, though.

Stevens’ decision to return for his fourth and final year of eligibility wasn’t made in the hopes of owning Penn State’s all-time scoring record. Rather, from the onset, he announced an intention to reach the postseason goals that had long been elusive to the Nittany Lions and, more specifically, throughout his tenure. All of it was deeper than accolades, accomplishments or even just basketball.

“If I didn't love this school, love my coaching staff, love my teammates, there was no chance that I would have come back to school. But I do,” Stevens said last May upon announcing his return. “I have a strong belief in everybody in the Penn State men's basketball program, so what I said my freshman year coming into Penn State to shift the culture, it's something I want to stick by. And if I were to fail, I would want Penn State to know I gave everything I have for my entire time there and really took advantage of everything that I could. But I'm going to give everything in my power to share to make sure that those goals and what I said coming out of high school get accomplished.”

Undeniably, Stevens made that clear this season, exemplified by his own performance but also that of the team’s overall success.

In a list that Chambers would rattle off before ever stepping foot in Indianapolis, the Nittany Lions’ accomplishments were significant. Their 21 wins were third-most in the regular season in Penn State’s Big Ten era. Their 11 conference wins were the second-most. Their 10 weeks ranked in the AP Top 25 tied for the longest stretch in program history.

“There's a lot of success here. And it needs to be talked about,” Chambers said, rejecting the notion that a 1-5 stumble down the stretch should mar anything at all. “We all want to dwell on the last few games in the last two weeks. I get that. But I'm going to choose to look at the positives, because we can't steal the joy of this team, this group, and what they did, where they put us and where we're going this week and then on Sunday. It's exciting stuff.”

Riding into the Big Ten tournament determined to demonstrate that excitement through its performances, Thursday's announcements created a feeling on the polar opposite end of the spectrum.

Joining Stadium’s Jeff Goodman for his podcast Thursday night, Stevens provided a running narrative of the disappointment the Nittany Lions were dealing with in real-time. Seemingly still in disbelief at what had transpired, Stevens revealed just how intensely the feelings and emotions were within the Penn State locker room.

“At first I was in shock. We had a meeting in the locker room right after, and I just couldn’t help but hold back the tears, and just crying. Everybody in there was just crying, it was just so emotional, just hugging each other because we just weren’t ready for it to end,” Stevens said. “It’s one thing to lose on the court, but to not even have the opportunity to play with each other again so abruptly, we weren’t ready for that. It was just an extremely emotional, emotional scene.”

Still raw, the long view of Penn State’s 2019-20 season, even with its bizarre and disappointing end, will be one of great pride for the group that delivered its successes.

For Stevens, his legacy, more than that of any of the notably players that have come before him, is tied to the success of the program next season and in coming years. Finally poised to build on its success, the team filled with promising young players returning even in the absence of Stevens, Mike Watkins, and Curtis Jones next season, the opportunity for the Nittany Lions to sustain it is rarified indeed.

Even if it takes some time to get there, it's a place the Nittany Lions can be proud to eventually land.

“There's a lot to celebrate,” Chambers said. “We wish we would have got the double-bye and been the co-champs. Don't get me wrong, I wanted all that. But I also can't diminish what this group has meant to me and what they've done this year. Let's celebrate them.”

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