How Penn State men’s basketball can make the NCAA Tournament next season
Penn State men’s basketball walked off the floor of the NCAA Tournament on March 17, 2011, and hasn’t returned since. The Nittany Lions haven’t played in the biggest postseason tournament in men’s college basketball in just over a decade and is now on its second coach who is trying to break the streak.
The caveat to that, of course, is that the streak would have been broken if not for the cancellation of the 2020 postseason due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Penn State was ranked in the top 10 at one point that season and was a lock to be in the field and end the run before it reached a decade.
Alas, that didn’t happen and now head coach Micah Shrewsberry is tasked with getting the program over what has been a nearly insurmountable step.
He led the team to a 14-17 record this year, with competitive games against many of the best teams in the Big Ten — and the country — and a few of those going in the other direction to being on the bubble for the big dance.
He’ll have to build off that to break the streak in his second year at the helm of the program.
Here are the three things the Nittany Lions need to focus on in order to reach the NCAA Tournament in the 2022-2023 season.
1. Find a replacement for John Harrar
Shrewsberry’s first task is going to be replacing his team’s most important player off the court and its most irreplaceable on it. Senior center John Harrar may not have been the team’s best player but he was its heart and soul as a leader while also providing a skillset that wasn’t present anywhere else on the roster.
Harrar was one of the best rebounders in the conference and played with physicality on the interior on both ends of the court. Not only did no other Nittany Lion have those attributes at his size, they also didn’t have his size, period. The senior was the only center who played at a high enough level consistently to get minutes by the end of the season. Fellow senior Greg Lee played minutes at the position but was best suited at power forward, where he wouldn’t have to handle the opponent’s most physical players.
Finding a player in the transfer portal who can start at center, play a heavy workload of minutes and contribute at both ends of the court will be of the utmost importance.
2. Find more perimeter help
One of the biggest flaws in Penn State’s offense this season was the number of ball handlers at its disposal. Senior guards Sam Sessoms and Jalen Pickett were at the controls of the offense for nearly 40 minutes every game, putting any potential success on that end of the court on their shoulders.
The bright side for the Nittany Lions is that both have eligibility remaining. Pickett has already said he’ll return next season, while Sessoms’ status remains up in the air. Even if Sessoms makes the call to return, the team will need another player to step in — or step up — to give Pickett and Sessoms some relief at times.
The transfer portal is the best place for Penn State to look, but the type of player the Lions will want is the type of player programs across the country will have on their wish list. They’ll be looking for players who can handle the ball and shoot off the catch to play off Pickett and potentially Sessoms while also being able to shoot off the dribble and create for their teammates. Finding that player is much easier said than done, but Shrewsberry should put an offensive creator near the top of his offseason to-do list in the coming months.
3. Get key contributions from freshmen
This is going to be the most important — and most difficult — piece of the puzzle next season for Penn State. Five of the program’s players are going to be true freshmen, and could be relied upon to contribute early and often.
Three perimeter players are coming in — guards Jameel Brown and Kanye Clary and wing Evan Mahaffey — who could help aid the second problem on this list. All three are capable of handling the ball and running the offense on some level, with Clary as a primary creator and the other two as secondary creators. If any of the three can be major contributors on offense, it could work wonders for the Penn State offense.
The other two signees are both centers and one of them will likely have to play early. Kebba Njie presents more upside, but Demetrius Lilley has the size and strength to play earlier in his career. He’s well-positioned to come into a backup role early in his career.
That being said, 2022-2023 might not be the year the streak is broken thanks to the Nittany Lions’ youth. However, the five freshmen are likely to be the foundation of the group that does break it, whether it’s in one year or three years.
This story was originally published March 16, 2022 at 12:26 PM.
