UNIVERSITY PARK — It may be a bit early to be talking about the Penn State basketball team under new head coach Mike Rhoades, but for Rhoades and his staff, basketball is never out of season.
After Rhoades was named to replace Micah Shrewsberry following the 2022-23 season, there has been a flurry of activity surrounding the program.
Players entered the transfer portal, recruits changed their minds, Jalen Pickett and Seth Lundy were drafted into the NBA, and Rhoades and his staff were busy putting the finishing touches on their 2023-24 roster.
That process was recently completed and the roster now has 15 players — recruits, transfers and holdovers — led by Atlantic 10 Player of the Year Ace Baldwin.
Baldwin, from Baltimore, played for Rhoades at VCU, and he is joined by another VCU transfer, junior Nick Kern Jr.
In all, the roster includes seven seniors or graduates, three juniors, four sophomores and freshman Bragi Gudmundsson from Iceland.
The new staff includes assistant head coach Jamal Brunt, assistant coaches Brent Scott and Jimmy Martelli (son of Phil Martelli, associate head coach at Michigan) and former Penn State star Joe Crispin.
“It’s been about 103 days that we’ve been on the job,” Rhoades said at a press conference held Tuesday at the Bryce Jordan Center, “and it is still as exciting as the first day that I got here.
“Awesome journey so far. It’s been a lot of fun, and we put this group together and we’ve been working hard for a couple weeks. We are building the foundation of our program with a lot of hard work, a lot of time spent with each other, and working on the things that will show up during basketball season time.
“There is a lot of effort on and off the court with our staff to build this the right way.”
After the press conference, the team held an open practice with all the new team members present, including Baldwin, Kern, 6-foot-9 North Carolina transfer Puff Johnson, 6-8 Zach Hicks from Temple, 6-11 Qudus Wahab from Georgetown, 6-11 Favour Aire from Miami, 6-5 D’Marco Dunn from North Carolina and 6-5 Rayquawndis Mitchell from Idaho.
The workout was an up-tempo, full-court affair that hinted at the aggressive, defense-heavy style the new Nittany Lions will put on the court in November.
“We have everybody now,” Rhoades said about his roster. “I always say when you’re taking over a new job the No. 1 thing with the coaching staff is to build trust with the players. That takes time and communication. It’s our job as a coaching staff to take the time and communicate with our players at a high level. And allow our players to communicate with each other.
“And I think they’ve done a great job with it, and our staff has done a great job with it.”
