Coming off a year with an appearance in the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament and an appearance in the Big Ten men’s basketball tournament championship game, Penn State men’s basketball is back to square one in a sense. A new coach and a new roster means the Nittany Lions will have to earn respect in the national polls. On Monday, the preseason USA TODAY Sports Men’s Basketball Coaches Poll was released (So was the preseason AP Top 25). Penn State received zero points.
This is hardly a surprise, of course. Penn State basketball rarely receives any preseason hype in the national polls, and Penn State is seemingly in a bit of a rebuild situation after an eventful sequence of events with the program. But Penn State will look to come together quickly and start turning some heads from the voters.
Penn State may not be ranked, but they will likely have some ranked opponents on the regular season schedule. Here is a quick look at where Penn State’s scheduled opponents for the 2023-24 regular season appear on the preseason coaches poll.