2008–09 Penn State Nittany Lions men's basketball team
Encyclopedia
The 2008–09 Penn State Nittany Lions basketball team represented Pennsylvania State University
Pennsylvania State University
The Pennsylvania State University, commonly referred to as Penn State or PSU, is a public research university with campuses and facilities throughout the state of Pennsylvania, United States. Founded in 1855, the university has a threefold mission of teaching, research, and public service...

 and completed the season by winning the 2009 National Invitation Tournament
2009 National Invitation Tournament
-Semifinals and finals:Played at Madison Square Garden in New York City on March 31 and April 2* denotes each overtime played-NIT Championship:...

 over the Baylor Bears at Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden, often abbreviated as MSG and known colloquially as The Garden, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the New York City borough of Manhattan and located at 8th Avenue, between 31st and 33rd Streets, situated on top of Pennsylvania Station.Opened on February 11, 1968, it is the...

 in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

. Head Coach, Ed DeChellis
Ed DeChellis
Edward Richard DeChellis is an American college basketball coach and current head men's basketball coach at the United States Naval Academy. Previously he was the head coach at Penn State from 2003-2011 and at East Tennessee State from 1996-2003. At Penn State, DeChellis led the Nittany Lions to...

, coached his sixth season with the team. The team played its home games in University Park, Pennsylvania
University Park, Pennsylvania
University Park, Pennsylvania is an unincorporated community in Centre County, Pennsylvania, United States, and is the location of the flagship campus of the Pennsylvania State University....

 at the Bryce Jordan Center
Bryce Jordan Center
Bryce Jordan Center is a 15,261-seat multi-purpose arena in University Park, Pennsylvania. The arena opened in 1995 and is the largest such venue between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. It replaced Rec Hall as the home to the Penn State University Nittany Lions men's and women's basketball team, the...

, which has a capacity of 15,261, for the twelfth consecutive season. The season marked the team's sixteenth consecutive season as a member of the Big Ten Conference
Big Ten Conference
The Big Ten Conference is the United States' oldest Division I college athletic conference. Its twelve member institutions are located primarily in the Midwestern United States, stretching from Nebraska in the west to Pennsylvania in the east...

.

Their 2008-09 NCAA Division I men's basketball season pre-conference schedule includes the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets
Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets men's basketball
The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets men's basketball team represents the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets in NCAA Division I basketball. The team plays its home games in Alexander Memorial Coliseum. Under the tenure of Bobby Cremins, Georgia Tech established itself as a national force in basketball...

 and geographical rival Penn Quakers. The team has not appeared in the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship Tournament
NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship
The NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship is a single-elimination tournament held each spring in the United States, featuring 68 college basketball teams, to determine the national championship in the top tier of college basketball...

 since the 2001 Tournament
2001 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament
The 2001 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament involved 65 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. It began on March 13, 2001 with the play-in game, and ended with the championship game on April 2 in...

.

Current coaching staff

Position Name Year Alma mater
Head coach
Ed DeChellis
Ed DeChellis
Edward Richard DeChellis is an American college basketball coach and current head men's basketball coach at the United States Naval Academy. Previously he was the head coach at Penn State from 2003-2011 and at East Tennessee State from 1996-2003. At Penn State, DeChellis led the Nittany Lions to...

 
2003
Penn State
Pennsylvania State University
The Pennsylvania State University, commonly referred to as Penn State or PSU, is a public research university with campuses and facilities throughout the state of Pennsylvania, United States. Founded in 1855, the university has a threefold mission of teaching, research, and public service...

 (1982)
Assistant coach
Kurt Kanaskie
Kurt Kanaskie
Kurt Kanaskie , is an assistant head men's basketball coach at Penn State University. Prior to coaching the Nittany Lions, Kanaskie held head coaching positions at Drake, Indiana and Lock Haven...

 
2003
La Salle
La Salle University
La Salle University is a private, co-educational, Roman Catholic university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. Named for St. Jean-Baptiste de La Salle, the school was founded in 1863 by the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools. As of 2008 the school has approximately 7,554...

 (1980)
Assistant coach
Lewis Preston
Lewis Preston (basketball coach)
Lewis Preston is an American college basketball coach and the current head coach of the Kennesaw State University Owls men's basketball team in Kennesaw, Georgia...

 
2008
VMI
Virginia Military Institute
The Virginia Military Institute , located in Lexington, Virginia, is the oldest state-supported military college and one of six senior military colleges in the United States. Unlike any other military college in the United States—and in keeping with its founding principles—all VMI students are...

 (1993)
Assistant coach
Dan Earl
Dan Earl
Dan Earl is from Medford Lakes, New Jersey. He attended Shawnee High School in Medford, New Jersey, graduating in 1993. Dan was a highly successful basketball player.His accomplishments during his high school basketball career include the following;...

 
2005
Penn State
Pennsylvania State University
The Pennsylvania State University, commonly referred to as Penn State or PSU, is a public research university with campuses and facilities throughout the state of Pennsylvania, United States. Founded in 1855, the university has a threefold mission of teaching, research, and public service...

 (1997)
Director of basketball operations
Jon Perry
2004
ETSU
East Tennessee State University
East Tennessee State University is an accredited American university located in Johnson City, Tennessee. It is part of the Tennessee Board of Regents system of colleges and universities, the nation's sixth largest system of public education, and is the fourth largest university in the state...

 (2002)
Video coordinator

Roster

Name # Position Height Weight Year Home Town
Chris Babb 10 Guard 6–5 210 Freshman Arlington, TX
Arlington, Texas
Arlington is a city in Tarrant County, Texas within the Dallas–Fort Worth metropolitan area. According to the 2010 census results, the city had a population of 365,438, making it the third largest municipality in the Metroplex...

Talor Battle 12 Guard 5–11 165 Sophomore Albany, NY
Albany, New York
Albany is the capital city of the U.S. state of New York, the seat of Albany County, and the central city of New York's Capital District. Roughly north of New York City, Albany sits on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River...

Jeff Brooks 25 Forward 6–8 200 Sophomore Louisville, KY
Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kentucky, and the county seat of Jefferson County. Since 2003, the city's borders have been coterminous with those of the county because of a city-county merger. The city's population at the 2010 census was 741,096...

Jamelle Cornley 2 Forward 6–5 240 Senior Columbus, OH
Columbus, Ohio
Columbus is the capital of and the largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio. The broader metropolitan area encompasses several counties and is the third largest in Ohio behind those of Cleveland and Cincinnati. Columbus is the third largest city in the American Midwest, and the fifteenth largest city...

Adam Highberger 14 Guard 6–2 170 Sophomore Blairsville, PA
Blairsville, Pennsylvania
-External links:* * *...

David Jackson 15 Forward 6–6 205 Sophomore Farrell, PA
Farrell, Pennsylvania
Farrell is a city in Mercer County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 6,050 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Youngstown–Warren–Boardman, OH-PA Metropolitan Statistical Area.-History:...

Andrew Jones III 22 Forward 6–9 245 Sophomore Philadelphia
Steve Kirkpatrick 41 Forward 6–5 225 Sophomore Carlisle, PA
Carlisle, Pennsylvania
Carlisle is a borough in and the county seat of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, United States. The name is traditionally pronounced with emphasis on the second syllable. Carlisle is located within the Cumberland Valley, a highly productive agricultural region. As of the 2010 census, the borough...

Will Leiner 13 Guard 6–1 170 Senior Coplay, PA
Coplay, Pennsylvania
Coplay is a borough in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, six miles northwest of Allentown. It is part of the Lehigh Valley region of the state. In 1900, 1,581 people lived in Coplay; in 1910, 2,670 people lived there...

Danny Morrissey 33 Guard 6–3 190 Senior Cleveland, OH
Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The city is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately west of the Pennsylvania border...

Billy Oliver 42 Forward 6–8 205 Freshman Chatham, NJ
Chatham, New Jersey
Chatham refers to two neighboring municipalities in Morris County, New Jersey – Chatham Borough and Chatham Township. The two are separate municipalities, the first a municipality that was settled in 1710 as a colonial English village in the Province of New Jersey...

Andrew Ott 54 Forward 6–10 235 Sophomore Abington, PA
Abington Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania
Abington Township is a township in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 55,310 in as of the 2010 census.Abington Township is one of Montgomery County's oldest communities dating back to before 1700 and being incorporated in 1704. It is home to some of the county's...

Stanley Pringle 11 Guard 6–1 180 Senior Virginia Beach, VA
Virginia Beach, Virginia
Virginia Beach is an independent city located in the Hampton Roads metropolitan area of Virginia, on the Atlantic Ocean at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay...

Joonas Suotamo 21 Forward 6–10 230 Senior Espoo
Espoo
Espoo is the second largest city and municipality in Finland. The population of the city of Espoo is . It is part of the Helsinki Metropolitan Area along with the cities of Helsinki, Vantaa, and Kauniainen. Espoo shares its eastern border with Helsinki and Vantaa, while enclosing Kauniainen....

, Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

Cammeron Woodyard 24 Guard 6–5 205 Freshman Westminster, MD
Westminster, Maryland
Westminster is a city in northern Maryland, United States. It is the seat of Carroll County. The city's population was 18,590 at the 2010 census. Westminster is an outlying community within the Baltimore-Towson, MD MSA, which is part of a greater Washington-Baltimore-Northern Virginia, DC-MD-VA-WV...


Schedule and Results

|-
!colspan=10| Big Ten Tournament
2009 Big Ten Conference Men's Basketball Tournament
The 2009 Big Ten Conference Men's Basketball Tournament was played during Championship Week between March 12 and March 15, 2009 at the Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana. The winner, the Purdue Boilermakers, received an automatic bid to the 2009 NCAA Tournament. Purdue defeated Ohio State...


|-
!colspan=10| 2009 NIT Tournament
2009 National Invitation Tournament
-Semifinals and finals:Played at Madison Square Garden in New York City on March 31 and April 2* denotes each overtime played-NIT Championship:...


Players

  • Talor Battle
    • Big Ten Player of the Week (Nov. 23)
    • All Big Ten first team point guard

  • Jamelle Cornley
    • Big Ten Player of the Week (Jan. 26)
    • All Big Ten second team forward
    • 2009 NIT MVP
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