I know, right after a dismantling of Michigan, you’d think the focus would be on football.  Of course, we’ll have to be a little contrarian here at quebecpenspinning.  Yesterday morning, before the big game, Ed DeChellis and the basketball team held an open practice for season ticket holders to get a glimpse at the team, tour the new basketball offices, and enjoy some Papa John’s pizza with the team.

While you probably don’t care about the pizza (lukewarm, but ample), or the offices (ridiculously nice: Ed’s is probably the size of my dorm room, and there was an incredible media room with a half dozen big screen TV’s), I’m sure you’d probably like to hear a little bit about how the players looked, especially those of whom we haven’t seen much of, and after watching an hour of practicing and a 20-minute scrimmage, I’ve drawn some observations about Penn State’s incoming freshmen:

Tim Frazier: The first thing you notice is that Frazier’s a great athlete.  We’ve all heard about his leaping ability, but until you see someone 5’11 dunk from a standstill underneath the hoop, you don’t really realize just how incredible it is.  He’s fast, too, and on defense he’s overplaying the passing lanes, looking to poke the ball free and go coast-to-coast.  Pushing the ball is his game, and if Ed tries to go to a run-and-gun offense over the next couple years, Frazier will be his man.  Offensively, though, Frazier is a little limited.  He’s not a good shooter, and didn’t look comfortable shooting from outside of about 15 feet.  He’s got good ball control, and looks to drive and dish, which created a few scoring opportunities in the scrimmage, especially with Andrew Jones on the other end.  He’s on the small side, though, and going to the rim in Big Ten play will get you banged up. He needs to develop a solid jump shot so that his entire offensive game isn’t about getting hit.

Jermaine Marshall: Marshall came to Penn State without too much hoopla, having missed his senior season with an ACL injury, and though he’s an incredibly gifted athlete, Marshall has a ways to go as a basketball player.  He’s lanky and skinny, and doesn’t have the body yet to play anywhere but the wing, and I question how effective he can be as a defender.  The thing is, he shows glimpses of tapping into his talent: a great move to get by a defender here, a swish on a three there, but he found himself constantly out of position, drawing the ire of Talor Battle on more than one occasion.  Seeing as he’d be buried on the depth chart this year, there’s no reason to have him play.  Redshirt him, and let him work his knee back to 100%.  It’s not like he’d be playing much anyway.

Sasa Borovnjak: The biggest question mark with Sasa was how to pronounce his name. I’m told it’s Sasha Ba-ROV-ni-ak, but I could be wrong.  Sasa wasn’t as big as advertised: maybe 6’7, tops, as opposed to the 6’9 he was listed at by the recruiting services, though it didn’t affect him too much offensively.  Sasa was very soft around the rim, and showed nice touch on jump shots out to the elbow.  Sasa was one of those players who looked great in the practices, running drills to perfection, but when it came to the scrimmage he struggled to make much of an impact, playing tentative defense down low.  He’s still, obviously, very young and inexperienced, not just in the college game, but in the American game, having only played in the states for the past 2 years, and while you can tell that he’s going to be a nice piece down the road, he’ll take some time to adjust to the speed of the next level.  I’d assumed that Sasa would step in immediately and get lots of playing time at the 4 as Penn State tries to replace Jamelle Cornely, but didn’t show me that ability to step in immediately.  Still, with Penn State’s lack of depth down low, it looks like it’s going to have to be baptism by fire for the young man.

Bill Edwards: Physically, Edwards is easily the most developed of any of the freshmen on the team, and he might have the best NBA-body on the team even as a true freshman.  When he first committed, there were some comparisons given to Jamelle Cornley, but despite Edwards’ strength, he’s best suited at the 3, rather than the power forward position.  Edwards didn’t stand out to me much during the practices, but during the scrimmage he was willing to shoot, especially the three ball, and he’s got a smooth lefty delivery that shows what a polished game he has.  Though he’s still a young player, you can tell it won’t be long before he’s making a significant impact for this Penn State team.

We’ll have more previews up over the next couple weeks, as Penn State basketball season starts in just 2 short weeks with an exhibition against Slippery Rock on November 3rd.