Big Ten Network college basketball analyst Andy Katz released his top 10 players in the Big Ten on his podcast “March Madness 365 with Andy Katz” earlier this week. Katz had Penn State forward Lamar Stevens ranked second, only behind Cassius Winston of Michigan State. The reporter had some high praise for Stevens.

“He has a legitimate shot to be a first-team All-American and Big Ten Player of the Year,” Katz said. “Double-double guy, came back to school. He told me he wants to make sure he could leave a legacy and that means get Penn State into the NCAA tournament, and I believe he can.”

The goal for the Nittany Lions is to make it to the NCAA tournament, somewhere they haven’t been since the 2010-11 season.

Stevens is going to need to be the player to lead Penn State to that NCAA tournament berth that it so desperately wants. Last season, Stevens averaged 19.9 points per game, 7.7 rebounds, and 2.1 assists. He also played 36.9 minutes a night, which led the Big Ten. He was selected to the 2019 All-Big Ten Conference first team by media members and was named to the All-Big Ten Conference second team by the league’s coaches. Additionally, he was named to the Associated Press All-Big Ten second team.

Stevens is already top-five on the Penn State all-time scoring list with 1,660 points, and he’s certainly not done moving up yet. If he were to have another scoring season like he did last year, he would move into first place by the end of the season.