Penn State Brings More Tournament Experience to the Table than You Might Realize

It may have been over a decade since the last time Penn State men’s basketball made the NCAA Tournament, but that doesn’t mean the Nittany Lions are without NCAA Tournament experience heading into a Thursday night meeting against Texas A&M.

In total, nine Penn State players and coaches have experienced the big dance, headlined by head coach Micah Shrewsberry but flanked by a host of staff members and two current players who know what the NCAA Tournament is all about. In spite of the experience, Shrewsberry says that the biggest thing to finding success is not making too big of a deal about the moment. Fortunately for this particular group of Nittany Lions, the last few weeks have been more than pressure packed enough to get them ready for what lies ahead.

“We really just talk about our experiences and what it takes, but you don’t want to make it any bigger than it is,” Shrewsberry said on Monday. “There’s a lot of excitement to it. We’re excited that we’re playing a really, really good team. But we probably just played six NCAA Tournament games in a row. How those games were, how close they were, each possession. That’s what an NCAA Tournament game is, so we’re prepared for it I believe. We got to prepare for Texas A&M. A really good opponent, but I think our guys are gonna be okay. If they need any help we’ve got a lot of guys who have been around it, who have played in it, who have coached in it.”

Assistant coaches Aki Collins, Adam Fisher and Mike Farrelly have all been to the tournament at least once. Collins went multiple times with Marquette and now-Texas A&M coach Buzz Williams, in addition to trips while an assistant at Memphis. Fisher went regularly while at Miami and Farrelly helped guide Hofstra to a tournament bid as an assistant not long ago.

On the player front, Director of Player Development Mike Green made the tournament as a player at Butler, Video Coordinator Grady Eifert multiple times with Purdue as a player and graduate assistant and former Nittany Lion and current Chief of Staff Nick Colella was part of the last Penn State team to make the NCAA Tournament. Current Penn State players Cam Wynter and Michael Henn also both played in the big dance prior to their eventual transfers to Penn State — Henn while at UC Davis and Wynter while at Drexel.

In the long run Penn State’s success on Thursday will have a lot more to do with keeping the Aggies off the free throw line than anything else, but it certainly doesn’t hurt matters any that the Nittany Lions’ first NCAA Tournament appearance in ages also comes with a healthy dose of been-there-done-that.

Penn State’s NCAA Tournament Experience Resume:

• Head Coach Micah Shrewsberry – multiple times with Purdue and Butler
• Assistant Coach Aki Collins –  multiple times with Marquette and Memphis 
• Assistant Coach Adam Fisher – multiple times with Miami
• Assistant Coach Mike Farrelly – once while at Hofstra 
• Chief of Staff Nick Colella – as a player at Penn State
• Director fo Player Development Mike Green – as a player at Butler
• Video Coordinator Grady Eifert – multiple times with Purdue as a player and graduate assistant.
• Cam Wynter – as a player at Drexel
• Michael Henn – UC Davis