Things could have gone worse in year one for Mike Rhoades at Penn State.
They didn’t.
Maybe this is the inherent pessimism that comes from following Penn State men’s basketball for the majority of my life speaking but usually when things go wrong around these parts, they keep going wrong.
And yet every time something went wrong this Penn State season – Rhoades’ first at the helm – they didn’t keep going wrong. And that’s why there’s a little bit of optimism after year one.
It’s enough to say that this era of Penn State hoops might, maybe just work.
Take for example Penn State’s five-game losing streak after starting the year 4-0. It could have gone south from there and kept going with a home date against Ohio State looming. And for much of that game it looked that way. But Penn State, trailing at one point by 18 in the second half, methodically marched its way back into the game, finally taking a lead in the final minutes thanks to Ace Baldwin Jr. to win 83-80.
Then in the very next game, the Nittany Lions were on the wrong side of a very incorrect foul call in overtime to give Georgia Tech a deflating win. Things could have spiraled from there but once again, they were steadied – winning three of its next four.
There was even the season-long stretch of losses on the road snapped by an ugly win at Rutgers and then an impressive win over Indiana at Assembly Hall.
But no greater microcosm of things not getting worse came in the days surrounding Penn State’s Return to Rec game. Just two days before, Rhoades had dismissed the team’s leading scorer, Kanye Clary, due to internal locker room issues.
And in the 35 or so minutes of that Rec Hall game, it looked like things would keep getting worse. Here was Penn State men’s basketball yet again with maybe not every – because this is Penn State basketball after all – but a large number of blue and white eyes on the program in a marquee game, struggling against No. 12 Illinois.
Yet in the final five minutes, Penn State posted another feverish comeback – cemented by three foul shots from Zach Hicks to tie and then win the game with 3 seconds left, leading to a court storming at Rec Hall for the first time in decades.
Rhoades’ decision to remove Clary from the team certainly proved to be the right one as his squad played its best all-around game of the year. A loss in that moment would have been the final nail in the interest coffin on the 2023-24 season. Yet, that win was not just the moment for this season but it was the first real moment where you could see that the Rhoades era might maybe just work.
Again, this is Penn State basketball after all and it’s always an uphill climb. (Please forgive me for using the analogy that was the slogan to the worst era of Penn State hoops in my lifetime.) That’s why you see the words “maybe” and “might” attached quite frequently in this post. I mean, after all, the universe’s angst toward Penn State basketball is how Rhoades got here in the first place. The Micah Shrewsberry era finally seemed to be the relief the tortured souls inside the BJC needed. And last season, it was. Then it wasn’t.
But in the first season since the Pennsylvania native was hired, Rhoades hasn’t done anything to overly cause concern – which again might be a complicated reflection of how jaded this program can make you. Still, if anything, he’s given you just enough of a sense of optimism to buy in here a bit.
Now Rhoades will have a full offseason to recruit and develop. He also has a full offseason to try to convince Baldwin – Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year – and Puff Johnson – who played his most inspired basketball particularly in the latter half of the season – to come back which will be no easy task. If he can, however, there’s no reason to believe Penn State couldn’t have a NCAA Tournament team in 2025. And if he can’t, he at least showed he has the ability to build a roster that can come together nicely.
That small speck of optimism is just enough to have you wanting more.
In his first season, Rhoades did more than enough to keep this team relevant and more than enough to capture the attention of those who aren’t plugged in to every moment even if the final record of 16-17 may have not been a reflection of that. Understanding that building block of optimism is essential to growing at Penn State. It’s the only way it will and can work and Rhoades at least showed enough to make you think about his program in a good way. That’s what’s needed.
And look, yes, that record of one game under .500 is the epitome of Penn State basketball, heavily weighted in almost.
But again, things could have gone very differently. Maybe Penn State doesn’t have that moment at Rec Hall if Clary is still on the team. Maybe Penn State doesn’t rattle off impressive wins against Ohio State, Indiana (twice) and Illinois.
They did though and now that sliver of optimism is just enough to make you say things could get better.
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