Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1518105
4 0 A P R I L 2 0 2 4 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M A familiar refrain from Mike Rhoades' debut season as coach of the Penn State men's basketball team was that the past could serve as his guide. Rhoades understood the messiness of the first year at any program, having made previous head coaching stops at Ran- dolph-Macon College, Rice and Virginia Commonwealth before landing with the Nittany Lions in March 2023. Because of those experiences, he knew that everyone would be in for a roller-coaster ride. Penn State had retained only three players from Micah Shrewsberry's NCAA Tournament roster the year prior, and Rhoades had brought in 10 newcomers in a 59-day period. The result of that re- build was a campaign full of twists and turns, highs and lows, and everything in between. Deeply disappointing stretches were offset by unexpected achievements, including a pair of victories over oppo- nents ranked 12th nationally at the time, as well as an unlikely nine Big Ten wins. In every sense, then, Rhoades' expecta- tions were on point. "Nobody thought we would win," he told reporters recently. "You guys didn't think we would win. [KenPom] thought we were going to lose 17 in a row. "I didn't think that. Our guys didn't think that. When everyone is betting against you, when everybody thinks you stink and can't win in the Big Ten, but when the guys putting on the uniforms and the coaches that are working with those guys every day think they can, that's house money. "If I'm going to bet on anyone, I'm go- ing to bet on us. That's the fun of it. The pressure is on everybody else then. So, let's just go out and play. I think we've had that mentality a lot this year, and I think it's helped us." Nick Kern Jr. played for Mike Rhoades at VCU and joined him at Penn State last summer. The junior guard went on to receive honorable mention All-Big Ten recognition, one of four Nittany Lions to be saluted by the conference this season. PHOTO BY STEVE MANUEL Benefit Of Benefit Of The Doubt The Doubt Eager to prove their skeptics wrong, the Nittany Lions deliver a promising season in coach Mike Rhoades' first year NAT E BAU E R | N AT E . B A U E R @ O N 3 . C O M MEN'S BASKETBALL