B1G Basketball Preview 2026: Penn State

Last Season

On January 3rd, there was hope. The Nits were 12-2 and sported wins over Northwestern and Purdue in conference. Then the wheels on the Mike Rhoades Express fell all the way off, and Penn State would grab just four more wins the rest of the season to finish next to last in the conference. They didn't even make the Big Ten Tourney.

Defectors

The rougher part is here, as the Nits had a pretty talented and experienced team. The list of people leaving is long.

• Yanic KONAN Niederhauser found himself a first round draft pick with the Clippers. Let's see if he can get one of those sweet off the books deals.
• Eligibility is a thing again, and it came for Ace Baldwin, Puff Johnson, Zach Hicks, Nick Kern, and D'Marco Dunn. That's a lot!
• The portal came for Kachi Nzeh (Arkansas Little Rock), Jahvin Carter (Middle Tennessee State), Miles Goodman (Pennsylvania Corrections), and Hudson Ward (Western Michigan).

Starters

• PG Kayden Mingo, 6'1'' Freshman: Usually I kick freshmen to the bench, but that won't be an option for the Nits this year as they have seven of them. So with Ace Baldwin gone, Mingo is their top recruit and the most likely to play a lot. The book on him should be familiar to Ace fans - he has a super motor who is long enough to be a defensive pest.
• SG Freddie Dilione V, 6'5'' Junior: A former top 50 recruit, Dilione barely played for Tennessee before transferring to the Nits last season to middling results. Whether this is the Final Frontier for Mike Rhoades may depend on Dilione finding the basket on a regular basis.
• SF Josh Reed, 6'7'' Senior: Reed comes over after three seasons at Cincinnati. He should fit in well as he can play and defend multiple positions, even though he Ain't Nothing Special at much of anything.
• PF Eli Rice, 6'8'' Junior: Listen, I know Eli Rice is not a power forward, but I remain loyal to the Old Ways of basketball positions. Anyways, Rice transferred from Nebraska last season but then missed the year with an ankle injury. He fits the scheme as a long, switchable shooter who can play multiple positions, but he's also had a rough go as far as injuries so tough to tell if the Nits can count on him.
• C Sasa Ciani, 6'9'' Junior: A late arrival after seasons at UIC and Xavier, Ciani is the only center shaped object on the roster who isn't a freshman, so he can fit here. He showed some rebounding last year and put the ball in the basket, though his minutes seemed to dwindle over the course of the season.

Bench

• SF Mason Blackwood, 6'7'' Freshman: After Mingo, Blackwood is the next highest rated freshman on a team filled with them. Stop me if you've heard this before - he can play multiple positions and is a good defender. Wouldn't be surprising if he ended up in the starting lineup.
• SG Dominick Stewart, 6'5'' Sophomore: What's this? A guy who played for the Nits last season? Stewart didn't play much as a freshman, but he occasionally showed a bit of scoring and pesty defense, and should play more because there isn't anyone else.
• SG Melih Tunca, 6'5'' Freshman: Big Ten coaches are attacking Eastern Europe with an enthusiasm unknown to mankind. Although Tunca is from Turkey - was that Europe or Asia? Geography is for the nerds. Anyways, he was scorer and playmaker for Turkey during the Turgut Atakol U20, which is apparently the Sekai Taikai of Turkish basketball tournaments.
• C Justin Houser, 6'11'' Freshman: Every team needs a moon faced kid who is Very Tall. Houser fits this bill perfectly.

• C Ivan Juric, 7'0'' Freshman: His bio says he went to high school in Wichita, but he played in the Croatian Premier League two years ago. I'm guessing he is secretly 27 and will lead the Nits in cigarettes smoked this year.
• CG Reggie Grodin, 6'5'' Freshman: Grodin profiles as a white kid with a big mop of hair. How did Northwestern let him slip away?
• PF Tibor Mirtic, 6'8'' Freshman: I'll call him the Ghost because 247 doesn't even have a picture up. I bet Mike Rhoades could trot out a random G Leaguer with a Mirtic jersey and no one would know. Anyways, per his bio he once scored 22 points against Cibona, so you know he's legit.

Outlook

Man, I dunno. A year after playing middling ball with a bunch of seniors and a first round draft pick, Mike Rhoades zigs towards a herd of freshmen and a bunch of Euroball. Torvik projects them to be last in the league, and it's tough to find any reason to disagree.

My main takeaway is that Mike Rhoades is becoming indistinguishable from Tim Robinson, and from here on out I will be posting pictures of Robinson in place of Rhoades. So if we are midseason and Penn State is kind of good and people are wondering why there are all these photos from I Think You Should Leave, you dedicated readers can let them in on the joke. Seriously, just look.