Remember the guy that nearly crushed Talor Battle in a post-game, passionate man hug? He’s writing his own Penn State Basketball Blog, Battle Does It Again.

Now, we don’t cover Men’s Basketball as much as we could here, mainly because we don’t have a beat writer and many of you would get tired of me repeating “wow, this is a very bad team” over and over. But for those of you who are curious about the “State of the Program,” this particular excerpt sums it up nicely:

Spending money is not the issue, and I believe the culture of the men’s basketball team has changed. But I hope [the Athletic Department’s financial decisions regarding Men’s Basketball] become a known fact in the offseason (so I don’t have to hear anymore demoralizing comparisons to the Pittsburgh Pirates). We will find out with the status of coach Ed DeChellis after this year.

There is no reason Ed should be allowed to coach another basketball season here at Dear Old State. [emphasis added] His 7 years of basketball here have produced nothing but overmatched players (with few exceptions) playing aimless basketball. With the transformation happening off the court within the program, I understand and am a little more forgiving that DeChellis has been allowed to coach here for so long with such futile results. However, this 2009-2010 campaign has been a complete failure, which is even more amazing when you consider that many people didn’t even have the expectation to go to the NCAAs this season. There are no excuses to go 0-12 with a roster compiled of entirely your own players. [emphasis added]

Whenever I point out Men’s Basketball’s failures, I usually get some flack for being derisive to a fanbase that, quite frankly, has its work cut out for them. But that has never been my intention – I simply feel that, whatever the problem is, our Men’s Basketball program is not congruent to the caliber of Penn State’s other athletic teams. That’s not a shot at the players, the fans, or the University. It’s simply my conclusion that something needs to be done. I don’t think I’d be incorrect in saying that Eric at Battle Does It Again holds a similar sentiment.

The post continues with an analysis of conference games under Ed DeChellis to demonstrate that despite the stability the coach has been given, he hasn’t fixed the problems that have kept Penn State out of the tournament. For those of you who are interested, I suggest you read on.

[Pic]