Tag: Penn State basketball recruiting

Penn State basketball lands elite 2025 guard Kayden Mingo

Penn State landed the highest-ranked recruiting in the history of their basketball program!

It has been an incredible start for Penn State basketball this season in the second year under head coach [autotag]Mike Rhoades[/autotag]. He admitted that things didn’t quite go as expected or planned in the 2023-24 campaign, but after attacking the transfer portal again and bringing in a solid freshman class, the Nittany Lions are rolling.

They scored 100 points in back-to-back games for the first time in program history, signaling that Rhoades might be bringing the exciting brand of basketball to Happy Valley that he promised when he was named head coach.

How the rest of the season goes will be seen, but there is no reason to believe they will slow down when the holiday tournaments get underway and they get into conference play.

As for the future of the program, one things Rhoades has always done no matter where he’s been is recruit at a high level.

Penn State brought in four players as part of the 2024 class, landing them outside the top 65 when it comes to national rankings, but the 2025 cycle has seen them take it to the next level.

First, they earned a commitment from 6-foot-11 in-state big man Justin Houser back in June. That was followed up by landing four-star win Mason Blackwood from the state of New York.

Now, Penn State has landed the highest-ranked recruit in the history of the program with four-star guard [autotag]Kayden Mingo[/autotag] announcing he has committed to the program.

“The energy at Penn State is second to none. The program is great, I really enjoyed watching their practice. The facilities were beautiful and they really impressed me also. The coaches told me they plan on me coming in and they want me to be their point guard and run the show,” he told Nate Bauer of BlueWhiteIllustrated.

This is a major get for Rhoades and the program.

With star guard [autotag]Ace Baldwin[/autotag] expected to depart after this season, Penn State needs another dynamic player who can run this offense and be the point of attack on defense and with the ball in his hands.

That’s the type of player Mingo is.

Ranked No. 43 in the 2025 class by On3’s Industry Ranking, the New York native could be the future star of this program going forward as Penn State tries to build up their basketball program in a loaded Big 10 Conference.

Penn State in top four list of elite guard Kayden Mingo

Penn State basketball lands in the top four for a key recruiting target.

While there is a lot of attention being placed on how Penn State finishes their 2025 recruiting cycle on the football side of things, the basketball program is looking to get things rolling under [autotag]Mike Rhoades[/autotag] now that he’s had a full year in Happy Valley.

The former VCU head coach was able to build a solid pipeline at that mid-major level, and the hope is he can do the same thing for the Nittany Lions.

So far, Rhoades and his staff were already able to make one splash in the 2025 class when they landed four-star recruit Mason Blackwood from New Hampshire. The 6-foot-7 wing is the first major get that Penn State has secured in his tenure.

But, the Nittany Lions are still searching for another high-profile commitment.

Recently, four-star guard [autotag]Kayden Mingo[/autotag] trimmed his list of schools to four, and Penn State was included.

https://www.instagram.com/_kaydenmingo/p/DBEzOpgSmAn/?hl=en

Ranked as the No. 44 overall player in the 2025 cycle by On3’s Industry Ranking, this would easily be the biggest win Rhoades has made on the recruiting trail.

“The energy at Penn State is second to none. The program is great, I really enjoyed watching their practice. The facilities were beautiful and they really impressed me also. The coaches told me they plan on me coming in and they want me to be their point guard and run the show,” Mingo said to On3.

He visited Penn State back in September, and even though that was one of his first official visits of the fall, that trip clearly left a lasting impression on him, describing it as “excellent.”

On3’s Recruiting Prediction Machine has the Nittany Lions as the favorite to earn a commitment from him with 21.6%, ahead of the other three on his list Virginia Tech, Georgia, and Wake Forest.

“My interactions with the staff were great. We have all been building for a while now so getting to know more about each coach and meeting their families was excellent. I loved the fit and really enjoyed how Coach (Mike) Rhoades explained to me the vision he has in place for me,” Mingo added.

There is still work to do before this is finalized, but Penn State is in a good position to land their most high-profile recruit of the Rhoades era.

Penn State basketball gets commitment from four-star wing Mason Blackwood

Penn State basketball picked up a big recruiting victory this week.

Because it’s football season, naturally a lot of the attention is on Penn State’s football program and what is taking place on the field. That trickles down to the recruiting trail as well, especially with the Nittany Lions looking to secure another top class in the 2025 cycle.

But with the calendar getting further and further into fall, that also means basketball is about to start up.

There are some more expectations centered around this program and what can be accomplished in Year 2 of the [autotag]Mike Rhoades[/autotag] era after going 16-17 overall, but did win nine games in Big 10 play that gives some confidence he can have this team competing at some point during his tenure.

To do that, he and his staff will have to start recruiting at a high level, getting talented prospects into this program who fit the system he wants to run. Rhoades was able to do that at VCU, giving hope the same can happen in State College.

So far, Penn State was able to get one player in the 2025 class, landing three-star 6-foot-11 in-state center Justin Houser. While that is a solid get for Penn State, they were still searching for a star-caliber player who could potentially be the headliner of this cycle.

Well, they got that by the way of [autotag]Mason Blackwood[/autotag].

https://www.instagram.com/mason.blackwood24/p/DAEuN45v75b/

The 6-foot-7 wing is a rated as a four-star by 247Sports, listing him 102nd-best player in the class and the No. 4 overall player in the state of New Hampshire.

Penn State was able to earn this commitment over Rutgers, a program who was red-hot on the recruiting trail in the 2024 cycle when they put together a consensus to 10 class by landing the No. 2 and No. 3 ranked players in the class, Ace Bailey and Dylan Harper.

For the Rhoades and his staff to win this one is a huge sign.

“I chose Penn State because of the genuine love the coaches showed at Penn State to me and my family. I loved the opportunity they presented to me, and the goals they had laid out for me and I felt like I resented with them extremely well and it was a great fit,” Blackwood said per On3.

What comes next for the Nittany Lions will be seen, but they are reportedly targeting specific players they are giving the majority of their attention to so they can land a very solid group in this cycle.

Rising 2025 point guard Kayden Mingo plans to visit Penn State

Penn State basketball will get an official visit from a top 100 recruiting target.

With the [autotag]Mike Rhoades[/autotag] era at Penn State officially underway, there’s a lot of interest surrounding the product that is put on the court this season in his first year in charge and how he recruits in his first full cycle.

It’s been a struggle on the court so far as they sit with a 9-10 overall record and are 3-5 in Big Ten play.

That probably should have been expected with so many transfers coming in, but there’s still some time for the program to continue improving in the first year under Rhoades.

Known as a very good recruiter, Rhoades and his staff have been very active on the trail, handing out 37 scholarships to the 2025 class according to 247Sports.

None of these offers have result in a commitment, but it’s still very early.

One player the Nittany Lions are interested in has started to see his profile rise in the recruiting rankings.

[autotag]Kayden Mingo[/autotag], a 6’1″ 160-pound point guard from New York, recently moved into 247Sports’ Top-100 when he jumped 77 spots to being listed as the 69th best prospect in the class of 2025.

Composite rankings have him as a three-star, but his new bump with 247Sports has moved him into four-star status with their evaluators.

Penn State seems to be high on his interest list as well, telling Dushawn London that his first official visit will be to Penn State.

“The relationship with Penn State is real good … Coach Martelli and coach Rhoades are real good coaches and they keep it honest with me. They let me know what I need to work on and are really consistent with the way they stay in contact. I appreciate them a lot,” he told London.

It’s a great sign that he continues to be in contact with Penn State and is already viewing the program as the first place he wants to visit.

Other offers have come pouring in for the rising point guard and he mentioned he’s going to be patient throughout his recruiting process.

Rhoades and his staff will have to continue staying consistent with the point guard if they want to land him.

This would be a huge win for the program if they can do that.

Penn State basketball in top four of four-star 2025 guard

Penn State basketball remains in the mix for Class of 2025 guard target.

One major thing that Penn State basketball fans could look forward to when [autotag]Mike Rhoades[/autotag] took over as head coach was his prowess on the recruiting trail.

One of the major issues that the Nittany Lions have had during their tenure in the Big Ten is not having the overall level of athlete that is required to compete year in and year out.

Rhoades is hoping to change this.

A way he could do that immediately is by landing top-100 prospect, [autotag]RJ Greer[/autotag].

The 6’4″ 170 pound shooting guard is from Dayton, Ohio and has cut his choices down to three schools, Penn State included, and the National Basketball League (NBL) in Australia.

Greer reposted something on social media that indicated he will decide between college basketball at either Penn State, Cincinnati and NC State, or turn professional immediately after high school in Australia.

247Sports has Greer ranked as the 96th best player in the country and the 17th best shooting guard, although the composite rankings have him outside of the top-100.

Rhoades has built an interesting relationship with the Greer family.

While at VCU, Rhoades coached against Greer’s father who has been an assistant coach on the staff of Dayton since 2017.

The coveted shooting guard spoke with Dushawn London of 247Sports about his recruitment and where Penn State stands (subscription required).

According to Greer, he’s in constant communication with the Nittany Lions coaching staff and was planning on setting up an unofficial visit sometime over the summer, but they now plan on making it an official one.

Out of the three schools, Penn State is the only place he hasn’t visited.

Greer also mentioned that even though these are his four current options right now, he wouldn’t rule out adding more schools if he and his family think it’s a good opportunity.

There is no timetable on when he might make his decision, but this will certainly be one for Penn State basketball fans to monitor.

Penn State basketball getting official visit from 2024 rising 3-star

Penn State basketball set to host rising three-star recruiting target from Texas

As the Penn State football program is preparing for its upcoming season, the basketball team is doing the same under new head coach [autotag]Mike Rhoades[/autotag].

With the roster filled out for the 2023-24 season, Rhoades and his staff are able to shift their focus to recruiting future players to Penn State. He’s known as a great recruiter and will try to get the highest level of athletes to State College that the basketball program has ever seen.

They were able to secure their first official visit of the 2024 class with rising three-star recruit [autotag]David Punch[/autotag].

Punch is a 6’7″ 190-pound forward from Texas.

He’s had a great summer on the Nike EYBL Circuit with his AAU team Drive Nation. He averaged 14.8 points and 7.9 rebounds on the circuit, causing him to get tons of offers from Division 1 schools across the nation.

According to Punch, Penn State, Xavier, TCU, NC State, VCU and Virginia Tech are recruiting him the hardest.

He recently set dates to visit multiple schools in the months of September and October.

Penn State is first on his official visit list as he heads to State College for the weekend of September 9. He’ll follow that up by visiting TCU, Virginia Tech, and Xavier in that order.

According to On3’s Recruiting Prediction Machine, instate school TCU holds the edge in his recruitment right now with a 30.8% chance. Penn State is fourth on the list with a 19.2% chance.

It’s still early in the recruitment process as Punch should continue to rise in the national rankings heading into his senior year of high school basketball.

He spoke with Jamie Shaw of On3 about Penn State saying, “All of the coaches there have a good relationship with me. They tell me they like how hard I play and my finishing ability and passing ability. When they were at VCU, they liked to get out and run and play above the rim; that’s a big part of my game.”

This is a good momentum builder for Rhoades who is already competing with high level basketball schools for a rising recruit.

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Penn State basketball offers Top 100 2025 PG

Penn State basketball is swinging for the fences with this offer for the Class of 2025.

It’s been a very successful start to new head coach [autotag]Mike Rhoades[/autotag]’ tenure at Penn State. Considering he had to put together a roster previously decimated by graduates and departing transfers, the Nittany Lions are sitting in good shape for the upcoming season.

With a complete roster full of scholarship players, Rhoades and his staff were able to focus their attention to the recruiting trail. They got their first big win in the 2024 class, getting a verbal commitment from a Tennessee prospect.

One of the major things Rhoades is known for is his high level of recruiting.

Now, he’s going after one of the bigger names in the class of 2025.

On Monday, Penn State offered point guard Jalen Reece a scholarship. Reece is a four-star prospect from Florida who is ranked in the top 100 of his class nationally. On3’s industry rankings have him listed as the number 12 point guard in the country and 10th best prospect in Florida.

Reece spoke with Jake Weingarten of Stock Risers about his current recruitment and recent offer from Penn State.

He said, “I know that Penn State has a great fan base and that their basketball program is good so I was excited. I mean, it’s just a blessing to know that I’m going to be able to compete at the highest level every time I get an offer.”

Reece is going into his junior year of high school this fall, so there is still a long way to go in his recruitment. Despite that, On3’s Recruiting Prediction Machine has Penn State with the fourth best odds to land the four-star point guard at 12.2%.

He considers himself “a true point guard that can run a team and do whatever it takes to win.”

Rhoades has had a lot of success developing guards at the college level. It looks like Reece will be a prominent target of Penn State in the class of 2025.

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Penn State hoops offers elite 2025 PA prospect

Penn State basketball extends new scholarship offer to 2025 in-state target

Recruiting season for Penn State under new head coach [autotag]Mike Rhoades[/autotag] is officially underway. Coming into his tenure at Penn State, Rhoades and his staff built a reputation that they were elite recruiters at VCU.

Penn State basketball fans know all too well that the overall quality of player that has been in the program has not been up to Big Ten standards if they truly wanted to compete at the national level. It was one of the main reasons why the NCAA Tournament took over a decade to extinguish despite double digit conference teams getting invited.

Under previous head coach Micah Shrewsberry, he had back to back recruiting years that were the best in program history.

Rhoades will look to eclipse that in his first full year of recruiting for the Nittany Lions.

While sights are set on the 2024 class at the moment, basketball recruitment is something that constantly is taking place. Therefore, there was no time wasted in extending a scholarship offer to 2025 4-star forward Alier Maluk.

Maluk is a 6’10” prospect from Pittsburgh, PA.

He is currently ranked as the number 21 overall player in the country and the number two player in Pennsylvania according to On3’s industry rankings.

Maluk is a very interesting prospect. Even though he’s 6’10”, he primarily plays on the perimeter because he has a soft jump shot and can use his handles to get into the lane. Listed as 180 pounds right now, he has two more years of high school to get his body ready for the college basketball level.

On3’s Recruiting Prediction Machine currently has his hometown program of Pittsburgh listed as the favorites to land him with a 40.4% chance. West Virginia is second with 35.3% and Penn State comes in fourth with a 1.2% chance.

There is still a ways to go in Maluk’s recruitment process, even with the hometown school working hard to land him.

This will be a fantastic test to see what coach Rhoades can do in Pennsylvania, recruiting and getting commitments from top instate prospects and bringing them into the Penn State basketball program.

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Penn State offers top 100 SG in class of 2024

Penn State basketball extends offer to top 100 shooting guard in 2024.

The [autotag]Mike Rhoades[/autotag] era is officially underway in Penn State as he and his staff start hitting the recruiting trail. Rhoades is an accomplished recruiting and is looking to translate what he did at VCU to State College. While at VCU, he brought in the highest ranked recruiting classes in the history of the program and put two of his players in the NBA.

After securing their lone commitment from the 2023 class, their attention has moved to the class of 2024.

Rhoades and his staff have started to extend some scholarship offers to players who fit the profile of the program that they’re looking to build. Long, rangy guards, wing players who can shoot and big centers have typically been the type of player that fits his archetype.

On Wednesday, they offered top 100 guard in the class of 2024, Austin Swartz. The four-star prospect is a 6’5″ 180 pound shot making guard from North Carolina.

On3’s industry rankings has Swartz as the number 95 player in the country and 21st best shooting guard. The interest in Swartz has grown following his strong showing in the Nike EYBL Session 1 in late April.

He currently has 13 scholarship offers on the table. Notable schools extending an offer are Notre Dame, Tennessee, Illinois, NC State South Carolina and Georgia.

Right now, On3’s Recruiting Prediction Machine has South Carolina as the favorites to land the North Carolina prospect with a 37.5% chance. Georgia is second at 22.2% and NC State is third with 10.0%. Penn State comes in at less than one percent, but their process with Swartz is just beginning.

Getting the caliber of player like Swartz into the program in Rhoades’ first real recruiting cycle would be a huge start for his tenure in State College.

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Penn State targeting first recruit in the Mike Rhoades era

Penn State basketball is looking to get its first recruit of the Mike Rhoades era.

It has been an absolute home run during the transfer portal period for new head coach [autotag]Mike Rhoades[/autotag]. He has immediately replenished the roster after there were legitimate concerns if they could even a field a team for the upcoming season. After the absences of graduating players, transfer portal entrants and incoming freshmen who asked for their NLI release, there were three scholarship players on the roster when Rhoades took over.

There are no longer concerns about whether a team can be fielded or not. With the roster pretty much solidified for the 2023-24 season, it’s time to turn the attention to the future and start building the program to look like how Rhoades wants it to look.

Recruiting has always been a major factor in the success of Penn State basketball. When they’ve recruited at an above average level for the program, they have success. When recruiting has stalled, there have been poor seasons.

Rhoades is getting to work trying to secure his first recruiting commitment at Penn State. Matt Gilhool was previously recruited by Micah Shrewsberry, but was re-offered by the new regime.

Rhoades and his staff are no stranger to recruiting at a high level. While at VCU, they put two of their recruits in the NBA and also secured the highest rated recruiting class in program history.

Gilhool is a rising 2024 prospect who is competing on the Under Armour Next travel circuit. He’s a 6’10” 205 pound forward from Elizabethtown, PA who has a versatile skill set.

When speaking with Jamie Shaw of On3 about Penn State he said, “Coach Rhoades and the new staff re-offered me after they got the job. They want basketball to be big up at State College. They’re a football school, but they’re really trying to get their basketball program to the highest level. My conversations with the new staff and with Coach Rhoades have been great. I really like what they have going on.”

Right now, On3’s Recruiting Prediction Machine has Penn State as the massive favorites to land Gilhool with 100% chance. The only other school to offer him so far is Virginia Tech. That is expected to change as Gilhool has his senior year of high school still to play after impressing programs so far during the travel circuit.

Rhoades has his sites set on the three-star Pennsylvania prospect to be his first recruiting commitment since he’s taken over the job. We’ll see if he’s able to secure it or not.

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