Buzzworthy: Penn State basketball returns to work
A full 192 days after Penn State basketball’s season came to a close, a new one began this past week. Returning to the Bryce Jordan Center hardwood for the first preseason practice, the Nittany Lions are back.
And, they’re radically different.
A chain of events that led Micah Shrewsberry to Notre Dame, three Penn State players to the NBA, three more to graduation, and assistant Adam Fisher to Temple’s head coaching position, “new” is the right word for the Nittany Lions this year. Now at the helm, Mike Rhoades and his staff from VCU pulled off a whirlwind of moves, retaining three players from last year’s club while bringing in 10 new faces to the scholarship roster.
With an eight-week summer practice session, an August exhibition trip to the Bahamas, and a first week of practices in the books, here is a look at some of the early buzz coming out of the Nittany Lions’ preseason camp:
On the mend
Bad news first, but in a good news way. The bad news is that Penn State is missing a couple of its expected contributors from the start of camp. Puff Johnson and Leo O’Boyle are dealing with what we’ll describe as some precautionary health concerns. But, they are being dealt with for a specific slant.
That being, a front-end sacrifice of practice time is being made to have both players fully available sooner rather than later. With an alternative of practicing while banged up a little, and risking further injury, the safer route is being employed.
As older, experienced players, their ability to pick up where they left off isn’t much of a concern. But, given the nature of this completely new team melding together, the sooner they’re back, the better.
The timeframe for a return has been categorized as days or weeks. So, this doesn’t appear to be cause for over-concern. Still, a situation we’ll be keeping an eye on.
An offseason standout
Stepping into unfamiliarity for every player on the roster outside of Ace Baldwin and Nick Kern, Penn State’s staff doesn’t know what it doesn’t know for the overwhelming majority of the team. With every day, week, and month, though, they’re learning the ins and outs of the players that they’ll be directing more intimately this season.
Among them, that has created the conditions for Kanye Clary to very pleasantly surprise.
Sticking with Rhoades and his staff for his sophomore season, Clary has taken significant strides in his game. The sentiment expressed here in the summer, that Clary would pair with Baldwin in the backcourt, remains in place. But, what’s added to the equation is that Clary has settled into Rhoades’ system. He is seeing the game in a way that is creating avenues for success.
Defense (more on this in the future) is going to be a work in progress throughout the program. What Rhoades and his staff want is a standard that is difficult to meet. It’s also demanded of everyone on the floor. So, the expectations for Clary are the same for every other player on the roster, that the strides made thus far defensively will continue leading into the season and take the same trajectory as games begin in November.
The Penn State early preseason vibe
This team was meticulously crafted, despite the heavy lifting of welcoming so many new faces. But, that painstaking effort on the front end is now paying dividends in the culture that’s being built around them.
Good players who are investing in themselves and each other, are creating an on-court demeanor that is reflective of the head coach and his staff. They play hard, they compete, and they share the ball. To have those characteristics has allowed Rhoades to push a fiercely competitive practice environment. That, internally, is believed to be one of the integral keys to building a winner.
That isn’t a green light to start making return-trip NCAA Tournament predictions. Exhibiting the quality depth to compete nightly with consistency is to be determined. But it’s also something Penn State has the opportunity to give itself thanks to the competitiveness that has been established internally.
Much, much more from the Nittany Lion hoops program next week.
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