Micah Shrewsberry shares what outgoing Penn State players mean to him
Despite a great second half effort, Penn State lost a heartbreaker to Texas, 71-66 in the Round of 32 of the NCAA Tournament. Head coach Micah Shrewsberry knew then his outgoing players meant so much to him.
Seth Lundy and Myles Dread won’t suit up for the Nittany Lions anymore. Like any coach, Shrewsberry had to accept that fact in an emotional moment following the loss.
Shrewsberry explained what kind of impact Lundy and Dread made on him and the program.
“Yeah. I told those guys, you know, like Seth and Myles, they didn’t have to stay,” Shrewsberry said. “They didn’t have to stay. They chose the — they chose the hard route, right? There was two routes to take. There was the easy route and there was the hard route. They chose the hard route.
“Those guys and the way that I talk about John, I hold those two guys just in that esteemed category as I do with John, because these guys took a chance on me and they didn’t have to. Wherever they are, like, playing, whatever they’re doing, like, they know, like, they can call me in forever, right? Like, these are my guys forever, because they did; they took a chance on me, and they didn’t have to. They didn’t have to.”
Shrewsberry also opened up about star Jalen Pickett, who used his final two years of eligibility after transferring from Sienna.
“Pickett is, like — he did the same,” Shrewsberry said. “He chose to come here, and I had never coached a game before. He repaid that by letting me sit and watch the season that he’s had, and what he’s done this year, how he’s helped us. These guys have all been fantastic. This entire team — but Jalen Pickett just put together one of the most sensational seasons in Penn State history, history, like college basketball history. It’s a travesty that somebody didn’t vote him First-Team All Conference. It was one of the most moronic things I’ve seen in all my life.
“How can you watch what this dude did for 20 games and not think he’s one of the best ten players in the league, one of the ten best players in the conference, one of the ten best players in the country. They know how I feel about them.”