Welcome to my team preview series for 2024-25. Each day between now and the start of the college basketball season, I will preview one team or conference, both on Instagram (@collegehoopsoutlet) and through an article here. The preview will go in-depth on the roster build of the team, my expectations for their upcoming season, and the state of the program under their current head coach.
Penn State (Projected: 13th in Big Ten)
Mike Rhoades’ first season at Penn State exceeded expectations, as the Nittany Lions finished 16-17 (9-11), good enough for T-9th place in the Big Ten and 77th in KenPom. Penn State returns five of their top seven scorers, losing just Kanye Clary (17 ppg, 3 apg in 23 games) and Qudus Wahab (10 ppg, 8 rpg) from the starting lineup. The returning talent and a couple of exciting transfers gives me hope for this team in 2024-25.
Headlining the Nittany Lions’ five returning players is senior guard Ace Baldwin Jr. (14 ppg, 6 apg), the team’s second leading scorer and veteran point guard, playing a leading role after following Coach Rhodes to Penn State last offseason from VCU. Guards Nick Kern Jr. (9 ppg, 4 rpg) and D’Marco Dunn (7 ppg, 2 rpg) will also be back in the Penn State backcourt, both likely slotting into the starting lineup alongside Baldwin. Kern Jr. is a bigger guard, able to defend and get to the rim, whereas Dunn has developed into a floor-spacing two-guard, upping his three-point percentage to 36% this past season as a junior after transferring in from UNC.
The two returning forwards for Penn State will be Zach Hicks (8 ppg, 4 rpg) and Puff Johnson (7 ppg, 3 rpg). Hicks was a solid complimentary big to Wahab last season, and Johnson, NBA player Cam Johnson’s brother, was another prior UNC transfer that found himself an increased role at State College.
Clary and Wahab headlined the Nittany Lions’ losses this offseason, but they also lost four other rotational players due to graduation and the transfer portal. In today’s age, it’s a necessity to use the transfer portal to replace your losses, and that’s exactly what Mike Rhoades did. Four players transferred into Penn State, my favorite of the four being Northern Illinois transfer Yanic Konan Niederhauser (7 ppg, 4 rpg at NIU).
YKN played just 20 minutes a game this past season at NIU as a sophomore out of Switzerland but looked very impressive when he saw the floor. The 6-11, 255 forward dominates the paint and glass, and can also stretch the floor when necessary. His big frame leads me to believe he can be a near-direct replacement of Qudus Wahab, and I think he adds much more offensively than Wahab while having a much higher ceiling. It’s definitely weird to be hyping a 7 ppg forward transferring into the Big Ten from the MAC, but if there’s a guy that could succeed in this position it will be YKN.
All three of the other transfers brought into the program are will-be sophomores who played their freshman season at another power conference school, now looking for a better opportunity to shine at Penn State. Tennessee transfer Freddy Dilione V (2 ppg at Tennessee) could end up being the best of the three sophomore transfers, and a year learning under Ace Baldwin will do anything but stunt the growth of a young guard. Nebraska transfer Eli Rice (4 ppg, 2 rpg) and Xavier transfer Kachi Nzeh (3 ppg, 3 rpg) should both have meaningful roles off the bench this season, filling in spots left by this past season’s departures.
Mike Rhoades also brought in some traditional recruits this offseason, most notably four-star, top-100 big man Miles Goodman. Goodman will likely be the only of the four freshmen to be in the rotation for the Nittany Lions, fighting for frontcourt minutes with Kachi Nzeh. The final three recruits are forward Hudson Ward (3*, NAT 237), guard Dominick Stewart (3*, NAT 261), and Jahvin Carter (3*, NAT 269), all of whom are probably a year or more away from impacting a Big Ten lineup.
Penn State looked better than expected in year one under Mike Rhoades, and after being able to return five key players, I have room to believe that Rhoades can build something at State College. One important thing I would like to note is that I would love to see the Nittany Lions play more games at Rec Hall in the near future, as we saw in their victory over Illinois this season, the great student atmosphere they get there is a real home court advantage.
This team will go as far as their leader, Ace Baldwin Jr., can take them. He’ll be the deciding factor and decision maker in close games, able to swing their season one way or another. Freddie Dilione V, Nick Kern Jr., and most importantly Yanic Konan Niederhauser are my breakout candidates for this team, and I truly believe in YKN’s translation to the physical setting of the Big Ten.
The Big Ten is very tight this upcoming season, and outside of my top five (Purdue, Indiana, UCLA, Ohio State, and Oregon), I think teams six through eighteen could finish in any order and I wouldn’t be surprised. As of now, I’ve got Penn State slotted at 13th out of the now 18 Big Ten teams, as I believe the consistency in their roster and bulk of returning minutes will be a key factor.