We are once again previewing all 18 Big Ten men's basketball teams for the upcoming year going in reverse order of projected finish according to the preseason media poll. Shockingly OTR was not asked to participate in that media poll so we will see how much we disagree with the consensus. Two teams per day on every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday between now and the start of the season.
We start with Penn State.
Last Year
Well, it was bad. Like finishing worst in the conference bad. Mike Rhoades zigged towards a bunch of freshman as everyone else zagged towards 35 year old Euroball professionals, and the results were about what you would expect. While they started 8-1 against a weak noncon, they kicked off conference play with a 41 point loss to Indiana and finished 3-17 in league play. Then they got bounced by Northwestern in the first round of the league tourney, so the Nits didn't even get false hope.
Happy Trails
In olden times, a bunch of crappy freshmen would would portend a bunch of not as crappy sophomores. But these are not olden times.
- Leading scorer Freddie Dilione is now a Georgia Bulldog, while second leading scorer Kayden Mingo headed to Baylor. That was the backcourt.
- The backup guards left too in Dominick Stewart (Richmond) and Eli Rice (Middle Tennessee), while Melih Tunca said "screw this" and went back to Turkey
- A handful of lightly used guys are gone in Tibor Mirtic (who entered the portal but as far as I can tell never left it), Mason Blackwood (St. Bonaventure), Sasa Ciani (Sacramento State), and Justin Houser (Florida Gulf Coast).
Starters
- PG Dasonte Bowen, 6'2'' Senior: Old friends are new again. Bowen started at Iowa before emerging as a starter for St. Bonaventure last season. He hasn't shown the ability to shoot straight, but he is very experienced and will pass the ball.
- SG Robert Blums, 6'4'' Junior: Blums spent the last two seasons at Davidson by way of Latvia. He should be really invested in the new Avengers movie. He actually led Davidson in points last year and shot north of 40% from three. Maybe we can start calling him Doctor Doom.
- SF Brant Byers, 6'8'' Junior: Byers comes over from Miami of Ohio, otherwise known as the One True Miami. He was a big part of the fun Miami team that went undefeated in the regular season and won a tourney game. Perhaps he watched too much Stranger Things, as now he enters the upside down of basketball fun.
- PF Josh Reed, 6'8'' Senior: Maybe? Maybe not? Reed was done with college basketball, but the new fifth year rule and subsequent litigation opened the door to his return. But maybe other courts have closed it? I'm a lawyer and I don't have any idea where we stand with these guys. But hey he at least wants to play for Penn State, which is worth something.
- C Ivan Juric, 7'0'' Sophomore: An actual returning player not subject to litigation (at least I think), Juric will be Very Tall and rebound and score around the basket. He did pop out and take some threes last year, though wasn't that great at them.
Bench
- C Tim Oboh, 6'11' Junior: Oboh comes over from Buffalo but was born in London. If nothing else he can turn the team on to a mean plate of toast with beans.
- G Jay Rodgers, 6'3'' Senior: Rodgers comes over from Central Connecticut State, where he was second team NEC. Second tier NEC is still NEC.
- G Thomas Allard, 6'7'' Senior: Allard is jumping up from Division 2 Alabama-Huntsville. Did you know Huntsville is called the Rocket City? Well now you do.
- G Reggie Grodin, 6'5'' Redshirt Freshman: Grodin redshirted last season, so whether he can play basketball will be a discovery we can have together.
- Four mystery Euroball freshmen in SF Francois Wibaut, PF Roko Prkacin, G Andy Gemao, and F Aleksandar Zecevic
Outlook
MaximumSam: Hey man, I don't know. The good news is everyone has some experience, and the freshmen are Euroball types who are older and have played some basketball. Predicting if any of them can actually play is something I've stopped trying to do. But it's tough for me to see this roster and predict anything but last or next to last place again. Fire up that hot seat on Mike Rhoades.
BoilerUp89: Mike Rhoades isn't on the hot seat because this is Penn State basketball. As our Penn State fans are well aware of at this point, the administration has no interest in investing in men's basketball. Part of me gets it (there are some unique challenges at Penn State when it comes to building a basketball program that can compete in the Big Ten) but it's still really disappointing that the Nits haven't been able to capitalize on noticeable steps back by Pitt, St. joes, and Temple.
Anyway, regarding this year's iteration of the Mike Rhoades experience: they need to address three major issues. Issue #1) outside shooting. Byers and Blums shot well at their previous stops, but will it translate against better defenses? Is there enough outside shooting beyond the two of them? It's certainly not proven. Issue #2) rebounding. Penn State was dreadful at it. Center Ivan Juric was okay on offense as a true freshman but needs to be stronger and stop getting bullied on the glass. He will need help for everyone else too. Issue #3) Defense. Considering Rhoades is a defense first coaches, it's somewhat hard to believe just how bad they were at allowing open shots from everywhere. Opposing teams had a higher effective FG% against the Nits than every other Division 1 team except two last season. The perimeter defense was awful and the rim protection was non-existent despite having a 7 footer at center. There's no evidence that the newcomers are even average defenders and there is no reason to expect massive jumps from Reed or Juric there either.
glass: As it ever was, the most interesting bit of Penn St's season remains "which good team will lose at Bryce Jordan Mausoleum?"
oh fuck...
