The Nittany Lions’ 2025-26 season kicks off on Monday! Penn State hopes to improve from an abysmal 2024-25 season, where a team expected to compete for a postseason bid instead finished 17th in the conference.
Mike Rhoades lost plenty of talent to graduation, some to the portal, and one to the NBA draft, so this season we will see plenty of new faces.
Some of the players that will return are Freddie Dilione V, who figures to be the face of the team, and likely to fill the Ace Baldwin role now that the latter is gone. Eli Rice finally returns from injury, and hopes to add the sharp shooting the Lions sorely missed last season. Dominick Stewart steadily improved as the season progressed last year, and will hope to pick up where he left off…
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And that’s it. The rest of the cast is composed of freshmen, international players who are technically freshmen, and a Cincinnati transfer in Josh Reed. Sasa Ciani was a late addition who does have some college basketball experience, having played at Xavier and Illinois-Chicago. Ultimately, this is a brand new team, and should perform the way a brand new team does.
Scouting the Opposition
Unlike Penn State, Fairfield does return some production, as Braden Sparks, Matt Curtis, Noah Best, Isaac Munkadi, Michael Rogan, and Peyton Smith are all upperclassmen that were with the Stags a season ago. Then again, in this day an age, if you’re an upperclassman at a mid- or low-major and have not yet transferred out, there’s probably a reason.
What to Watch For
What kind of team do we have – The Nittany Lions, as already stated, have a brand-new roster this season. How did the pieces come together over the spring and summer? Who will be vying for the minutes? Will the true freshmen usurp the internationals?
Cohesion – Continuing from the point above, what does it all look like when you put it together?
Prediction
Unless this team has a surprise in store, expect rough times ahead. But those rough times start later. Penn State 77, Fairfield 59
