2025-26 PSU MBB Thread
- Thread starter Tom McAndrew
- Start date
Feel like we’re still working thru figuring out our best lineup, roles, etc. Not often that you see a player start, but only play 3 minutes in the first half (Stewart).
I think our best 5 right now is Mingo, Tunca, Stewart/Rice/Dilione (take your pick), Mirtic, Juric. It’s a patchwork roster though…I think Rhoades identity is pressure defense, running in transition, athleticism, etc. But that’s not really what we’ve got.
Interesting stretch ahead. New Haven isn’t looking too bad against UConn and going in there will be a tough environment…but we’ve got enough size and talent that we should be ok. Then three games that could provide a challenge in Navy, LaSalle in Philly, and Harvard. Need to play better if we’re to go 5-0.
Watching our game at the same time as Florida/Arizona, I feel like I’m watching two different sports.
I think our best 5 right now is Mingo, Tunca, Stewart/Rice/Dilione (take your pick), Mirtic, Juric. It’s a patchwork roster though…I think Rhoades identity is pressure defense, running in transition, athleticism, etc. But that’s not really what we’ve got.
Interesting stretch ahead. New Haven isn’t looking too bad against UConn and going in there will be a tough environment…but we’ve got enough size and talent that we should be ok. Then three games that could provide a challenge in Navy, LaSalle in Philly, and Harvard. Need to play better if we’re to go 5-0.
Watching our game at the same time as Florida/Arizona, I feel like I’m watching two different sports.
I saw we were trailing the mighty Fairfield Stags by 13 at one point and were trailing by 3 with 2:17 to go. OUCH!
We were on the ropes and survived. I’ll take the win and move along.
As if today wasn’t frustrating enough, you’re going to bring up Penn St basketball??? Haven’t we suffered enough?
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As of today wasn’t frustrating enough, you’re going to bring up Penn St basketball??? Haven’t we suffered enough?
Basketball won. Football lost. PSU is a basketball school.
.New Haven is in their first year of D1 basketball and wanted a marquee opponent at home. Rumor is that this is something like a 3 for 1, so we'll get them to visit us 3 times and not have to pay other non-conference opponents.
Solid effort today in a game that was a bit of a landmine (albeit against a much weaker team). Hard to take a whole lot away from it, but we really kept our foot on the gas and never let them get comfortable. Some better measuring sticks on the horizon.
Do you understand the gap between a low level NEC team and the Big Ten? Today’s game showed it.
I do, but there should also be a gap between a Big Ten team and Fairfield…and there wasn’t.
That’s basically the same gap that exists between PSU and probably two thirds of the other Big 10 teams.
Contract should have been 13 for 1. Given PSU’s splendid history of paying attention to basketball, it would not surprise me if our representatives thought they were scheduling Yale.
I mean, do you think that Hawaii Pacific has passed Boise St as a program because of what happened on the floor over 40 minutes?
Fairfield is about the 250th best team in the country. We're about 100th. Fairfield is also very unlikely to pass us as a program in our lifetimes...but they chances of it happening are an order of magnitude better than New Haven. The MAAC, while being a low level conference, is much, much better than the NEC (and Fairfield will do much better in the MAAC than New Haven will do in the NEC).
Well, my guess is that there are going to be several Big 10 losses this season by more than 20 and possibly 30 points.
I certainly didn’t mean it would happen this year or next, but it’s always possible it could happen in the future. It’s not as hard for a mid major to pass a P4 team when the P4 team is at the bottom.
A "mid major"? Sure. Schools in the Mountain West, Missouri Valley, Conference USA etc take basketball pretty seriously, and top schools there can compete year and in and year out with a bottom P4 team.
New Haven isn't anything approaching that. They are in arguably the worst conference in college basketball (the NEC has likely passed the SWAC and MEAC), play in a 1,000 seat gym, etc. They aren't a Grand Canyon throwing a bunch of $ out there trying to make a big splash...they are a team hoping to get invited to something like the America East or MAAC in the next 10-15 years if everything good really well.
As I stated originally, New Haven is extremely unlikely to pass us in men's hoops in our lifetimes. We are in a totally different stratosphere right now. It's like The Rick trying to claim that our non-conf football opponents were all D3 schools.
Interesting matchup against Navy tonight (6:30pm on BTN). DeChellis retired in the offseason and former PSU assistant Jon Perry took over. They are #1 in the country in Pomeroy's "Continuity" stat, meaning that they basically have the most returning minutes in the country. They brought back their starting 5 from last season (pretty much unheard of in college hoops these days), along with their 6th, 8th, and 9th guys. The Patriot League coaches picked them to win the league, and have Austin Benigni as the Preseason Conference Player of the Year. Hopes were pretty high for them this year, although Yale blew them out in Annapolis the other night.
Should be a good test for our inexperienced group against an experienced Navy squad. Pomeroy has us winning by 13, and Torvik by 12. I also made it 12. The line opened a little higher and has dropped to 10.5 (makes sense with this matchup).
Should be a good test for our inexperienced group against an experienced Navy squad. Pomeroy has us winning by 13, and Torvik by 12. I also made it 12. The line opened a little higher and has dropped to 10.5 (makes sense with this matchup).
I missed this the first time I skimmed this post, but will re-up: game is on BTN at 6:30 tonight.
SHould be a double digit win for sure. I live hear Naptown and see these guys every once in a while. Not a lot of size that plays though I like their big guy #99. Poor mans Harrar but he's all they have inside. #21 is scrappy wing, not a scorer but plays hard and goes to the glass for putbacks.
Good match up for Mingo, #1, crafty old white PG for Navy can play but he's small. Not a great outside shooter and turns the ball over a fair amount but he gets to the FT line.
#21 is basically their spot up 3 pt threat and the #10 is the asian kid that Ed was super high on when he committed a few years ago. Tore up his knee I think, so not the same athlete and doesnt have any impressive skill, just plays hard and scraps.
AFfer that there is not much, the PSU bench should have a field day once Navy gets past guy #6.
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Benigni is fun to watch..."crafty" is the perfect word for him. Great FT shooter, and great at getting to the line (looking for contact, selling it, etc). Not a real good 3 point shooter or an efficient scorer for that matter, but really has a knack for getting a bucket when they need it. Small but a pest defensively. His game will transition very well to the YMCA when he's done.