In case you didn’t realize, Penn State wasn’t playing in Monday night’s NCAA Tournament finale.
It’s not a jarring statement, but coach Micah Shrewsberry has a lot of work to do to even get in position for a tournament run let alone a championship run.
Bringing Jalen Pickett and Myles Dread back for a fifth season is going to help immensely, but the Nittany Lions may be in a more difficult position to win in 2022-23 than they were in Shrewsberry’s first campaign this past season.
There’s a lack of veterans, an influx of young talent and the only position group that feels solid top to bottom is at the wing spot. All in all, there’s some excitement to look forward to, but there’s still a lot to get done for Penn State this offseason.
Let’s take a look at three top needs for Shrewsberry and company this offseason.
FRONTCOURT FRONTCOURT FRONTCOURT
There’s a huge, John-Harrar sized hole on Penn State’s roster for the 2022-23 campaign. Despite Shrewsberry’s best effort to petition for the stalwart big man to miraculously get a sixth year, it’s not happening.
Harrar led the Big Ten in total rebounds and placed second in rebounds per game, solely behind Illinois 7-footer Kofi Cockburn. The “King of DelCo'' averaged a double-double on the year and played 27 minutes per game, not to mention him being the undoubted rock of Shrewsberry’s roster.
In short, Penn State will miss Harrar, and that’s a major understatement. Beyond Harrar, though, the blue and white also loses reserve forwards Greg Lee and Jalanni White.
Lee was strong on the glass and offensively, but he struggled with injuries throughout the year and revealed via Instagram after the season that he was set to undergo surgery. White never exactly found his rhythm, but he was another body and had some nice high-flying alley-oops and highlight moments.
As of now, the 2022-23 frontcourt consists of Jevonnie Scott, Caleb Dorsey and two true freshmen in Kebba Njie and Demetrius Lilley.
Scott is the oldest as a senior, but he has just one year of high-major experience after transferring in from South Plains College. He barely has a full year, too, after dealing with eligibility issues at the beginning of the year and never carving out a consistent role.
Dorsey has appeared in 17 total games in two year thus far, but he won’t be the answer down low. He’s played more as a stretch-4 than anything else.
Njie and Lilley are undoubtedly promising prospects, but you’re never going to count on significant minutes from true-freshman bigs in the Big Ten unless you’re blessed with a Cockburn or Hunter Dickinson.
Njie and Lilley stand at 6-foot-8 and 6-foot-10, respectively, but Scott and Dorsey are each 6-foot-7. Penn State is in dire need of size, veterans and Day-1 starters in the frontcourt.
Today’s transfer portal dynamic certainly makes filling that hole easier than years past, but it’s not an overly saturated market right now in terms of both size and experience. Shrewsberry and staff have been in on a few top big men, but nothing looks anywhere near solidified yet.
ANOTHER BALL HANDLER
The hole left by Sam Sessoms may not be quite as physically large as Harrar’s, but losing the former Binghamton transfer to another transfer is going to hurt.
Sessoms is confirmed to be going elsewhere in the portal, recently announcing a top six of Michigan, Minnesota, UTEP, Mississippi State, Coppin State and George Mason. He’ll make the decision official on May 1.
Now, Penn State is left without a major contributor off the bench and, more importantly, a proven ball handler. For all his flaws with forced shots and turnovers, Sessoms transformed into a much better player as the season went on.
He picked it up big time defensively and shot 42% from beyond the arc. He might get blocked here and there, but he consistently found a way to drive to the rim against all competition, and he finished acrobatically more times than not. Plus, he only turned it over more than two times on one occasion over the last eight games of the year.
Sessoms came off the bench for most of the season, but his 27.6 minutes per game finished third on the team behind just Pickett and Seth Lundy. Shrewsberry has a knack for running two or three ball handlers on the floor at once, and lineups that featured both Pickett and Sessoms typically found the most success.
Pickett is a given at the point guard spot. He averaged a whopping 37.2 minutes per game this year, going the full 40 on eight different occasions and 49 minutes in double overtime against Iowa. He runs the offense, doesn’t turn it over and evolved into a legitimate scorer at the end of the year.
Behind Pickett, though, there isn’t much. Myles Dread is a two guard/small forward combination, especially after gaining a few pounds. Dallion Johnson is more of a true shooting guard, but he could become a second option in his third year at Penn State.
Signee Kanye Clary is shaping up to be the best option to spell Pickett at the one spot in 2022-23. But again, you have to temper your expectations for true freshmen. Clary has been impressive as a distributor and scorer in high school, though, and should contribute sooner than later.
Penn State will surely be in play for a Sessoms replacement in the portal, especially in the form of an experienced veteran. The likes of former Purdue guard (and someone who played under Shrewsberry) Isaiah Thompson almost make too much sense.
VETERANS
Positionally, Penn State’s biggest holes are at the point guard and forward spots. On the wing, the Nittany Lions are set. Lundy, Dread and Dorsey fill out the three and four spots well, and Evan Mahaffey and Jameel Brown are on the way in, too.
The final piece of the puzzle is simply experience. That plays hand in hand with the needs listed above, but overall, there’s little to no experienced depth on the roster.
Out of the current lineup, you might make a starting lineup of Pickett, Johnson, Dread, Lundy and Scott. While that lineup alone is shaky at best, there’s nothing but Dorsey, true freshmen and walk-ons.
Shrewsberry will have to lean on his freshmen in some capacity, that’s a given. But with the remaining two scholarship slots Penn State has open (a point guard and a center), the Nittany Lions better target some juniors and seniors.
In adding Lee, White, Pickett, Jaheam Cornwall and others, Shrewsberry bridged the gap between an older wave and his first recruiting class. The shift is starting toward his homegrown guys, but Penn State still needs a couple of veterans to help make that transition smoother.
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