WPIAL Recruiting – Shaler’s Thorpe Picks PSU Hoops

By: Bruce Markey
Tuesday, November 8, 2011 | 11:04 PM

Shaler Area High School has one student who will be a future Penn State football player. Now Shaler has a student who will be a future Penn State basketball player.

Geno Thorpe, a junior at Shaler Area, made a verbal commitment to Penn State this morning. He made the commitment when new Penn State coach Patrick Chambers called him at 6 a.m. to wish him a happy birthday.

But Thorpe's commitment wasn't a spur-of-the-moment thing. He said he decided a few weeks ago that he would commit on his birthday.

The Shaler football player who already had decided to play for Penn State is senior tight end-linebacker J.P. Holtz. He committed to the Nitany Lions in the summer  – and said earlier this week that he is still 100 percent committed to Penn State, despite what is going on with the alleged Jerry Sandusky sexual scandal case.

As for Thorpe, he said the Sandusky case is "sad" but it didn't affect his decision. Thorpe had scholarship offers from Pitt, Seton Hall, Wisconsin and Rutgers, among others. But he said his final decision came down to Penn State, Pitt and Wisconsin.

Penn State's old staff was not recruiting Thorpe, but new coach Patrick Chambers started recruiting Thorpe this summer. Thorpe said Chambers was the main reason he chose the Nitany Lions.

"It [Penn State's recruitment] started at the Hoop Group Elite camp in June and then they saw me at the Paul Pierce skills academy," Thorpe said. "Ever since then, they've been going pretty good with me."

Thorpe, a 6-foot-3 guard, is considered one of the top juniors in the state. He is extremely athletic and has improved his outside shot over the past year or so. He averaged 17 points a game as a sophomore at Shaler and said Penn State recruited him as a point guard.

Thorpe's commitment to Penn State surprises some because he could have gone to a program more established in basketball. But …

"When you're younger, you kind of think about those things," Thorpe said. "But as I got older, I started looking at the bigger picture. Pat Chambers said he wanted to turn the program around and turn it into a top program. I want to be part of that."
Thorpe made unofficial visits to Rutgers, Seton Hall and Kansas State, and also has been to Pitt and Penn State. He plans to visit Penn State again this weekend for the Nebraska game.

Thorpe can't sign a binding letter of intent with Penn State until November of next year.