Thankfully Penn State has hockey and wrestling, because the success of those programs has made the winter sports season exciting and successful.
All three programs — women’s hockey, men’s hockey, wrestling — are among the best in the nation. All three have a decent chance at a national championship. Well, in the case of wrestling, it’s expected.
Unfortunately, that’s not the case with a couple of other winter sports — women’s and men’s basketball. There’s just not much national championship caliber about either program, or the support they receive from the athletic department.
While those other sports are atop their conference standings, the basketball teams are pretty much mirror opposites.
Basement Basketball
After an upset victory over USC on Wednesday night at Rec Hall, the Lady Lions are 4-13 in Big Ten play, which puts them 16th in the 18-team standings.
That victory was the third in a row for Penn State — good outcomes and a nice late-season run but possibly too little too late to help the team become one of the 14 teams to qualify for the conference tournament. Even if the Lady Lions do earn a tournament berth, it’s a long way from where they are to anywhere good.
On the men’s side, the Nittany Lions are 2-15, comfortably last in the conference. They play at home Saturday against Iowa. They won at Washington on Feb. 11, and their other Big Ten W came Feb. 1 vs. Minnesota at the Bryce Jordan Center, giving them one conference victory at home and one on the road this season.
That’s nice balance, but no matter the location that’s not nearly enough. They’re also a significant distance from anywhere good.
With the men comfortably in the bottom half of the Big Ten in terms of NIL investment in the roster, it’s no surprise they’re stagnating at the bottom of the standings. Injuries have not helped. It’s been a tough season by many measures.
Closing the gap will not be easy for either program, and it might not really matter to the overall athletic program if they do — which could be part of the problem.
After all, well, at the start of it all, getting the basketball programs to some level of meaningful ROI might require even more meaningful investments. And meaningful investments could detract from other matters of financial importance for the athletic program.
At this point, the men’s basketball program makes money because of the Big Ten’s media rights deal. It’s in the black despite struggling on and off the court.
Realistically, any new or unrealized income associated with the program would have to come from attendance. But if the program is already profitable on paper, what’s the upside of a bigger investment to get fans to show up? Especially because it’s not certain it would pay off.
There’s almost no path to the women’s program finishing in the black financially.
Attendance and Success
We’ve been told winning matters, and all Penn State teams are competing for national championships. That’s the goal.
That’s clearly the case for the men’s hockey and wrestling teams. They both rank among the nation’s leaders in attendance, too.
The wrestling team attracted an indoor record of 16,006 for its home meet against Ohio State, and it regularly sells out Rec Hall. The team’s smallest home crowd this season was 6,223, as loyal blue-and-white fans happily watched one of the team’s eight shutouts this season.
The men’s hockey team ranks ninth nationally, attracting an average of 6,410 fans to Pegula Ice Arena, which has an official capacity of 5,782. Of course, more than 75,000 fans showed up for the Beaver Stadium game. Add that into the mix and the home average jumps to second nationally.
The men’s basketball team averages 5,734 fans (86,010 for the season) at the BJC while the women averaged 1,804 (25,262 total) for its home schedule that was split between the BJC and Rec Hall.
Even the small things point at the lack of investment in the programs.
Penn State touted its return to Rec Hall for Lady Lions games this season, but they never moved (or duplicated, if necessary) the program’s banners to hang from the rafters. Nitpicky? Yes, but if it matters, it matters to do it right.
Likewise, radio/streaming broadcasts of the women’s basketball teams are not tailored to the program. Specifically, the prerecorded pregame voiceovers refer to Nittany Lion basketball. But it’s Lady Lion basketball, and it just seems silly and stark when you hear those references (one incorrect) back-to-back.
It’s been that way all season, maybe longer. If easy, low-hanging fruit like that cannot be adjusted, it seems like fixing the program’s bigger problems might be even more challenging.
There is room for growth and positivity — maybe moreso for the men’s basketball program if some players could remain healthy — but big, meaningful investments in basketball at Penn State would be a big, meaningful change for the school’s athletic program.
People care, and it would be interesting if the basketball teams were good. It’s just not clear that it matters.
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