The last month has been a whirlwind for Penn State men’s basketball interim head coach Jim Ferry. Following Pat Chambers’ resignation, Ferry had the task of stepping up and leading the Nittany Lions through the 2020-21 season.

Besides fillings Chambers’ shoes, Ferry must also deal with the challenges of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. That means coming up with more strategies on the court and encouraging good behavior off of it.

“This is like no other year,” Ferry said Wednesday. “Normally roles would get set, and some guys would get stuck in a role that they feel like they can’t get out of, and then a top-eight, top-nine, top-10 would form. The message is that every day and every game can be completely different if someone gets the virus. Some years you might not have to develop the freshmen right away, but this year we have to develop everybody because you just don’t know what’s going to happen.”

The Big Ten’s policies say players to test positivee must sit out for 21 days. For a small team sport like basketball, a positive test could mess up a rotation and change the game plan entirely.

Ferry notes that the staff is constantly shaking things up so that different players are playing with different people and creating chemistry.

He then shifted his attention to the freshmen and how important the development of the new group of players will be to the team’s success. Guards Caleb Dorsey, Dallion Johnson, and D.J. Gordon, as well as forward Abdou Tsimbila, have worked hard to make the transition to college easier.

“[The freshmen] are all fantastic kids,” Ferry said “You really feel bad for these freshmen, coming into a place like Penn State, and then it’s a completely opposite feeling because of the pandemic that we’re in. It’s “Groundhog Day.” They’re stuck in their rooms all day, every day.”

Ferry commended the freshmen on their resiliency in dealing with circumstances that have been presented to them.

“Because of the relationships we’ve had with these kids coming in, they’ve done a really good job,” Ferry added. “As a freshman, you want to hear that you have the opportunity to play, so that side of it is fine.”

Ferry did say, however, that the freshmen are a little behind in the technical stuff such as the vocabulary, but overall he has been very impressed with how they have been handling everything.