Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1499919
3 6 J U N E / J U L Y 2 0 2 3 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M I n the aftermath of a lost recruiting cycle, the second of the past three years at Penn State, new head coach Mike Rhoades salvaged a true freshman class with his most recent pickup on the recruiting trail. Bragi Gudmundsson, a 6-foot-5 point guard from Iceland, made the decision to play for the Nittany Lions following an official visit to campus May 10-12. He will have freshman eligibility for the Nit- tany Lions during the 2023-24 season. Gudmundsson became the team's 11th scholarship player, continuing a warp- speed rebuild made necessary by the ex- odus that followed coach Micah Shrews- berry's departure for Notre Dame in late March. Looking to replenish a scholar- ship roster that had been whittled down to just three returning players, Rhoades went to work in April. His dogged pursuit of new players yielded steady results, and as of May 19, Penn State had only two scholarships still available. The Nittany Lions have emphasized the transfer portal in their search for players, while also working to retain as many members of the team's rising sophomore class as possible. The result has been a scholarship chart with play- ers in every eligibility class and without a heavy skew toward any particular group. Here is a look at where the Nittany Lions stood heading into the summer months, how they got there, and what's next for the Rhoades' team as it works to complete its roster for next season. Graduates (6) The majority of Penn State's top scor- ers from last season were leaving with or without a coaching change. The only one of Penn State's five leading scorers with eligibility remaining in 2023-24 was senior forward Seth Lundy. He decided to go pro immediately after the season. Second-team All-American Jalen Pickett is the most prominent of the losses. The star point guard finished his final college season averaging 17.7 points, 7.4 rebounds and 6.6 assists per game. His exit was expected and unavoidable, as were the departures of guards Andrew Funk, Camren Wynter and Myles Dread, and forward Mikey Henn. In Pickett, Lundy, Funk, Wynter and Dread, Penn State is losing a quintet of players who combined for 58.8 points per game. Those five players also accounted for 75 percent of the team's minutes played this past season (152.4 of 203.4 minutes per game on average). Outgoing Transfers (4) Even before Rhoades took over the program, two juniors from the 2022-23 season were heading out the door. For- ward Caleb Dorsey and guard Dallion Johnson announced their portal entries before Shrewsberry officially left for South Bend. Dorsey recently announced that he plans to continue his career at William & Mary, while Johnson opted to reunite with former Penn State coach Patrick Chambers at Florida Gulf Coast. However, five weeks passed before the rest of Penn State's roster found resolu- tion. While three members of last year's five-man freshman class — guards Kanye Clary and Jameel Brown and forward De- metrius Lilley — chose to return, two of the primary contributors from the class needed more time to make their deci- sions. In the end, those two players — guard Evan Mahaffey and forward Kebba Njie — both opted to continue their col- legiate careers elsewhere. After visits to Ohio State and Dayton, MEN'S BASKETBALL COMINGS AND GOINGS Since taking over Penn State's program in March, head coach Mike Rhoades has restocked a mostly empty roster NAT E BAU E R | NAT E . B AU E R @ O N 3 . C O M Forward Leo O'Boyle made an appearance at the Bryce Jordan Center last November when Lafayette visited Penn State. He finished with a game-high 19 points and added 3 steals, but the Leopards fell to the Nittany Lions 70-57. In early May, O'Boyle announced he was transferring to PSU for his super senior season. PHOTO BY DANIEL ALTHOUSE