The expectations for Penn State men’s basketball weren’t high ahead of Mike Rhoades’ first season in charge of the program.

The Nittany Lions were picked to finish at or near the bottom of the Big Ten by a majority of experts during the preseason. Rhoades and his team didn’t outperform most of those projections but finishing the season below .500 while winning nine conference games including multiple ranked victories showed this year was far from a failure.

The regular season had its low points with bad losses to Bucknell and ugly squanderings to Minnesota. Luck wasn’t in the Nittany Lions’ favor in Madison Square Garden when they lost to Georgia Tech on a last-second questionable call, but those negative moments never accumulated into anything more than a bad week here and there, and Penn State always rebounded from it.

With the Big Ten Tournament looming and a first-round date with No. 14 Michigan on Wednesday, Penn State still has an opportunity to build on this season’s successes.

“I think our approach with our guys is they think they can win, and that’s playing with house money. The pressure is on everybody else, not us, and that makes it fun to go out and play,” Rhoades said Monday.

The only way Penn State can earn a bid into the NCAA Tournament is by winning the Big Ten Tournament. For that to happen, the Nittany Lions would need to win five games in five days; a feat that has never happened.

However, with two or three wins in the tournament, the Nittany Lions could find themselves with an NIT invitation. Making the NIT would be a great success and a building block for Rhoades in his first season in Happy Valley.

“The one good thing going about the conference tournament even though you play back-to-back days, you have played these teams before, and you’re familiar with them. You might have played them just a week or two earlier,” Rhoades said.

If Penn State takes care of business against Michigan on Wednesday, it will take on Indiana next, who the Nittany Lions have beaten twice already this season. Nebraska, which defeated the blue and white earlier this season, would be the matchup on Friday if the team makes it that far.

After concluding a solid rebuilding year paired with a strong recruiting class, there is a lot to like about what’s going on in State College. Rhoades could also retain a good portion of the production from this season’s team.

Underclassmen Nick Kern Jr., D’Marco Dunn, Zach Hicks, and Jameel Brown each saw plenty of meaningful minutes on the court and can return next season. Seniors Puff Johnson and Ace Baldwin Jr. can both return, too, if they choose to opt into their COVID-19 year eligibility.

Neither Johnson nor Baldwin have made their intentions known as both are still focusing on the Big Ten Tournament and possibly more games down the line.

Johnson recognized this hadn’t been the easiest year of his college career but noticed the culture building inside the Bryce Jordan Center.

“We knew that people weren’t going to think highly of us just because there are so many new players and new coaches, and it’s a whole new situation,” Johnson said. “Coach always says play with house money because no one is going to believe in us except for the people in the locker room and the people within this facility.”

The season could be over come Wednesday for the Nittany Lions or they could continue playing for a few more weeks. With a cloudy remainder of March approaching for Penn State basketball, the only clear objective is there’s still plenty to play for.

“I will always say this when you’re in a conference tournament no matter where you’re at — you win a game, you have momentum, and you build on it,” Rhoades said.