Mike Rhoades had a vision when he arrived on campus. He believed that with the right culture and necessary resources, Penn State could build a successful college basketball program on par with Big Ten powerhouses such as Purdue and Michigan State. On Thursday, the Nittany Lions beat the then-No. 8 Boilermakers 81-70. Pieces of his vision have already become reality.
Rhoades, like any other coach in the country, is always recruiting. But when he hit the trail after Penn State’s win over Purdue, he noticed a change in the way people talked about his program. Rhoades had high school coaches, recruits and their parents oozing over the way he coached and his team’s play style. There’s an increasing excitement surrounding his program.
“There is a buzz about Penn State and our basketball program because people are seeing the proof in what we’re saying, and seeing it in live action, and seeing it on national television, on the biggest stage in the Big Ten,” Rhoades said Monday.
Rhoades has developed two previously underutilized transfers, center Yanic Konan Niederhauser and guard Freddie Dilione V, into starters and key playmakers this season. And in November, he inked the highest-ranked recruiting class in program history, signing one of the nation’s top guards, Kayden Mingo, as well as four-star forward Mason Blackwood and center Justin Houser.
The best has yet to arrive for a team ranked just outside the AP Top 25 poll and is days removed from claiming its first top-10 win since 2019. Ace Baldwin Jr. has defined himself as a legitimate Naismith Award contender by playing team-first basketball for a unit that ranks No. 3 nationally with 90.1 points per game. That’s pretty good for a defensive-minded system.
“It’s a fun style to play in. I’m going to give our guys great freedom and the green light,” Rhoades said. “All I ask you to do is play really, really hard and be a great teammate, and then let’s be about getting better all the time. Who wouldn’t want to play in that program?”
It’s likely Rhoades was asking himself the same question when he met with transfers such as Konan Niederhauser this past offseason. It was in those meetings that Rhoades emphasized a “family” atmosphere, that if the team is “strong together, we win,” Konan Niederhauser said. That was all the former Northern Illinois center needed to hear.
It appears more recruits and high school coaches are also buying into that same message. Why? Because Rhoades isn’t just saying it. He’s acted on it. The Nittany Lions are 8-1 with a blowout win against one of the most dominant programs in the country. They’re a high-powered offensive group that also ranks No. 2 nationally in turnovers forced per game.
Penn State has, so far, exceeded its expectations this season. But now comes the tricky part: consistency. A trip on Tuesday to face Rutgers, led by two former five-stars in Dylan Harper and Ace Bailey, will be the next litmus test in determining whether Rhoades’ program is ready to define itself as a consistent threat in the Big Ten and, potentially, nationally.
“When it comes to what you say about how you want to play and what you say about how you’re running a program, and then people see it and the proof is in the style of play and the body language and the fun and the competitiveness of our players, it’s not it’s just hot air from the coaches at Penn State,” Rhoades said. “We are playing fast. We are playing with great freedom. We are super competitive. We are playing with an edge. We are pressing. We are turning people over. And we’re doing it against anybody we play.”
