The Nittany Lions did not have the season they envisioned a year ago, placing second-to-last in the Big Ten standings and finishing 16-15 overall. After a disappointing season in year two of the Mike Rhoades era, 10 new faces made their way to Happy Valley this offseason.

Expectations are as low as they come for Penn State heading into the 2025-26 season. Nobody expects Rhoades’ young and inexperienced team to be successful in the Big Ten this winter. For the Nittany Lions, those expectations are just fuel on the fire to prove the doubters wrong.

If Penn State wants to have any success this season, it will need to embrace its newcomers and young players, rather than shying away from them. Ten new faces for a basketball team is almost unheard of, and it’s a daunting task in the physical, well-coached Big Ten, but for the Nittany Lions, they have the talent and skill to make some noise this year despite their lack of experience.

“When you have a lot of young guys, a lot of new guys, there’s overthinking initially, because they don’t they don’t want to do you wrong…But I do think our style of play allows our guys to play off instincts and play the way they’ve been playing their whole life. I think that’s been always one of our strengths with our style of play,” Rhoades said on Wednesday.

Rhoades recruited the highest-ranked recruiting class in program history, highlighted by the top-ranked recruit in program history, Kayden Mingo. Mingo hails from Glen Head, New York, and is a 6’3″ point guard and freshman captain for the blue and white.

“I felt like it was a day-in, day-out type of process just coming in, showing I could lead the team, and showing that I’m trustworthy of having the keys [to the offense], and it’s really a blessing that coach and all my teammates trust me with the keys,” Mingo said at Penn State media day.

Mingo has all the talent in the world to run Rhoades’ offense despite being a freshman. There will be growing pains with a first-year guy at the lead of an offense trying to compete in the Big Ten, but the reps and experience early on should be beneficial for Mingo and the rest of the team down the road.

Mason Blackwood and Justin Houser join Mingo as part of the highly touted incoming class. Both guys could see themselves thrust into game action and important minutes early on in their Penn State careers.

“For me, I would say, just like giving it our best, giving 110% effort, and just going out there to hoop with no ego, nothing,” Blackwood said, for what fans will see from him and the newcomers. “We’re just looking to win. That’s it.”

After the departure of Ace Baldwin Jr., Nick Kern Jr., D’Marco Dunn, Yanic Konan Niederhauser, and others, Rhoades went the international route, bringing in four guys from overseas to fill out his roster.

Melih Tunca is a promising young 6’5″ guard from Turkey who will have an important role in Happy Valley this season.

“Playing with other players [in FIBA], like gave us like, good experiences. And the other point is, like I learned so many things from my older brothers, because they played the game…So I wanted to learn from them. I learned from them, and I want to show what I learned here,” Tunca said on adjusting to college basketball.

With the absence of Konan Niederhauser, following his departure to the NBA, Rhoades brought in three international big men to suit up for the Nittany Lions. Saša Ciani is a 6’10” forward from Slovenia who transferred to Penn State from Xavier. Ciani was voted a captain by his peers for this year’s squad.

“I think that means a lot. First of all, I’m probably one of more quiet leaders here. I still try to help the younger guys develop, and try to help them with my experience here [in college basketball],” Ciani said at media day.

Developing the younger players will be a point of emphasis ahead of the season opener and into non-conference play before the Big Ten slate begins. There are a lot of question marks surrounding this Nittany Lion group with all of the unproven talent they possess.

Rhoades and his staff have few expectations coming from the national media after the disappointing skid of the back half of last season. But with little expectations come a lot of opportunities, and the newcomers can capitalize on that this season.