NCAA Tournament is the expectation now for Penn State men’s basketball. How do they get there?

Penn State men’s basketball has only made the NCAA Tournament twice since the turn of the century, but the expectations have begun to change around Happy Valley.

Gone are the days when the program paid its coaches a salary near the bottom of the Big Ten and had hopes to match that compensation. Mike Rhoades now makes a salary commensurate with most Power-5 head coaches — he’ll make $3.5 million this year — and has the expectations that comes with it.

Athletic director Pat Kraft is excited about this year’s roster, the second under Rhoades, and said he believes in what the head coach is doing. But he also didn’t mince words when it came to what he wants to see from the program moving forward.

“I thought this year Mike did a great job,” Kraft said. “... I’m excited about this team, I thought they did a remarkable job in the offseason in the portal. ... I think we’re positioned very well. I think we got a shot. Every year we’re going in to make the NCAA Tournament. That’s the expectation, right?”

He’s aligned with his head coach on that front. Rhoades has said he’s an impatient person in the past and said as much on July 25, prior to one of his team’s summer workouts.

Rhoades, who was made available to the media three times before summer workouts, wants that success too but is currently building the foundation of what the program will look like as long as he’s in charge.

“There’s so many little parts of that that is behind the scenes stuff,” Rhoades said on July 25. “...To me, the returning guys are better leaders, and they’re better workers. And they’re more disciplined than they were a year ago. The new guys (are catching) on quicker than guys did last year or the year before, that, to me, is how you build it.”

Ace’s growth

One of the most obvious areas for growth heading into the 2024-2025 season is the team’s leadership. The program dismissed its leading scorer in the middle of last season and its best player, Ace Baldwin Jr., came off the bench at times, with Rhoades calling the choice a coach’s decision .

Now, Baldwin is taking a step forward as the head of the snake for the Nittany Lions.

“This is the best Ace Baldwin I’ve ever seen, on and off the court,” Rhoades said on July 18. “I’m super proud of him. He’s been in the gym more than any player on our team this offseason. He’s done a great job of leading by example on the court, but also helping the young guys. ... I just think his maturity and the way he’s interacting with his teammates and his approach has been really, really good.”

It’s not just the head coach who has noticed Baldwin’s efforts either. His teammates have seen him mature and do the types of things a leader does, whether it’s organizing ways for them to spend time together or setting the example by doing more work after workouts are over.

It’s set the tone for the program as a whole and has pushed his teammates to beyond what they would usually do.

“He’s helped me a lot,” Freddie Dilione V, who transferred to the program this spring from Tennessee, said. “Always talking to me, demonstrating stuff to me, and just always explaining the details of it to me. Ace is a great guy, great leader and he’s going to be a great teammate to play with.”

Baldwin’s motivations are simple. He’s matured and knows what it takes to win. He wants to be the leader of the group and the one who sets the tone with how much he wants to get those wins.

Last season was the first of his college career that his team didn’t win at least two thirds of its games. They fell well short of that mark — winning less than half of their 33 games.

This year, it’s about reversing that and doing what Baldwin and his team’s have done best in the past — win.

“I’ve seen what the Big Ten is like,” Baldwin said. “I just want to win a championship — win a conference and win a championship.”

Versatile big men

Baldwin’s mentality shift should help the program, but so should the moves to bring in bigs who can play multiple roles. Last year the Nittany Lions relied primarily on Qudus Wahab at center, with Demetrius Lilley as his backup along with the occasional small ball look with Puff Johnson at the position.

Wahab helped in some ways — he was a quality rebounder who was more than willing to try and bully defenders in the post — but also had enough deficiencies that it limited what the team could do.

Now with transfer additions Yanic Konan Niederhauser from Northern Illinois and Kachi Nzeh from Xavier, along with freshman Miles Goodman, Penn State has much more versatility at the position.

“We have some guys step away from the basket, space the floor for their teammates and for themselves,” Rhoades said on Aug. 1. “And I think we have some big guys that can shoot the ball as well and put the ball on the floor. So it just gives a different dynamic, a different way to score sometimes.”

It’s not just about the offensive end, either. Niederhauser, Nzeh and Goodman all have the skillset to be impactful defensively and make a difference in Rhoades’ high ball pressure scheme.

“I love big guys that can really move,” he said. “You can press with them and play differently on defense.”

Those bigs are going to play important role on both ends of the court, but they will all have to make an adjustment. Niederhauser is coming from a lower conference, Nzeh is coming from a program that used him much differently and Goodman is coming from a prep academy.

Niederhauser and Nzeh both expressed excitement at how Rhoades wants to utilize them. Niederhauser — who is from Switzerland — is used to playing more team-centric basketball with his passing ability being a focal point when he played overseas as a teenager. As is Nzeh, who is ready to take on more of a role that isn’t as focused on posting up in the paint, and can allow him to demonstrate how the group can play as a unit.

“I think in terms of my IQ and passing ability, I’m pretty confident in my abilities,” Nzeh said. “We have shooters all over the court this year, so getting assists will be pretty easy this year. ... I’m very confident in my passing and everybody’s passing.”

Quick hitters

• Penn State does not have its conference schedule yet — nor has it released its non-conference schedule — but Rhoades said they’ve done some of the necessary legwork on how to plan for trips to the West Coast to play UCLA and USC.
• Goodman was the only player not made available over the team’s three availabilities. He wore a sling on his right arm when present and did not participate in practice.

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