Let’s pick things up where we left off.
At the end of last year’s Penn State’s men’s basketball season, I said that things for Mike Rhoades in his first year of head coach could have gone worse.
But thanks to him, they didn’t.
In year two, things could get even better.
As Penn State men’s basketball opens up its season against Binghamton tonight, there’s a feeling that the Nittany Lions can pick up things where they left them with Rhoades in year one and do even more.
The fate of Penn State’s season turned around in about a week’s time last year. In late February, Rhoades removed Kanye Clary from the team, Penn State beat No. 12 Illinois at Rec Hall in the final moments, and the squad closed out the season with another big win over Indiana – before falling to the Hoosiers in the second round of the Big Ten Tournament. All of this came after a three game losing streak as well.
In a year that didn’t have much of a pulse early on, Penn State found it in the final stretch and it continued into the offseason.
The biggest question mark of whether or not Ace Baldwin Jr. – reigning Big Ten defensive player of the year and loyal follower of Rhoades from VCU to Happy Valley – would return for 2024-25 was answered positively. Plus, Puff Johnson, another key piece in the quickly assembled team that Rhoades put together last offseason, also decided to return. (Although he was less of a question than Baldwin who played mind games on Twitter all offseason.)
Also back in that core are Nick Kern, Zach Hicks and D’Marco Dunn. It’s a one that’s a well-tenured team in the era of college basketball’s whiplash-inducing transfer portal that’s not always full of well-tenured teams.
Paired with Rhoades’ ability to steal a few wins here or there, it’s also a core that should generate some excitement it can build upon what it started last year.
It should be better because it’s older and more experienced – something that goes a long way in college hoops. It also doesn’t have to do the patchwork that Rhoades had to do in year one.
Aside from Clary, the only other major loss this offseason to that core was Qudus Wahab – who led the team in rebounds last year. In his place, Rhoades leveraged the transfer portal, welcoming in 7-foot junior Yanic Konan Niederhauser from Northern Illinois to fill that quite literal big role. Additionally, Penn State added Freddie Dilione, a former top 50 recruit-turned-transfer who may benefit from a change of scenery from Tennessee, and Eli Rice from Nebraska.
And 2024 will also mark the first chance for Rhoades to reap benefits of his strong recruiting efforts as Penn State welcomed Miles Goodman, the program’s second highest ranked recruit ever. (Although he was bumped down a notch thanks to the commitment of 2025’s Kayden Mingo last week.)
It’s hard to ignore the ground-swelling feeling that Rhoades’ approach has offered. He’s confident but not in an arrogant way. He’s believable, he’s authentic and he’s only getting more in terms of resources and support to grow the program.
Layer in his relatively fresh style of coaching and that senior core and as I brought up at the end of last season, there’s no reason this team can’t make an NCAA Tournament appearance.
In fact, it’s nice to have some positive expectations entering a season with Penn State’s men’s hoops program – much of which is generated by Rhaodes’ confidence.
Of course, it’s also got to battle through a Big Ten that features 10 of its 18 programs either ranked or receiving votes in the AP Top 25 poll. The expanded Big Ten will also offer some new challenges, particularly a blue-blood like UCLA – even if it’s a program that’s not what it used to be. But in one of the more physically tough leagues in the country, the level of challenge remains relatively the same.
Plus, Rhoades, and his predecessor Micah Shrewsberry, showed that you can win quickly at Penn State – and generate some buzz.
Right now, there’s an optimistic outlook to this Penn State season with a senior-heavy core that should be able to carry what Rhoades built in year one into year two.
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