There is renewed optimism in State College — and for good reason.

A 22-year drought between NCAA Tournament wins for Penn State ended last season with a triumph in its opening game of March Madness. This marked a significant program-building milestone for a team that often found itself stuck between neutral or moving backward between those two victories.

Now, fresh off breaking that hex to go with a 23-win season and having two players selected in the same NBA Draft for the first time, Penn State has a new challenge: do it without many of the same players and personnel who got you to that point.

Ended summer on a high note 📈🦁#WeAre

— Penn State Men’s Basketball (@PennStateMBB) August 10, 2023

That’s much easier said than done when you’re playing in one of the most elite college basketball conferences in America, but after getting a glimpse of where they can go, the Nittany Lions — with a new coach in town — are doing all they can to ensure they can keep raising their ceiling on the hardwood.

Here’s a look at some of the notable takeaways from Penn State’s two-game trek to the tropics and what there is to gauge about the team ahead of the 2023-2024 season:

All Rhoades Lead to Gold

Acting quickly and wasting little time after Micah Shrewsberry — who had a brief (two seasons) but impressive stint with the Nittany Lions — was named the head coach at Notre Dame, Penn State had its new leader.

Following Mike Brey’s retirement, Penn State’s brass picked Mike Rhoades, who had been with VCU and had been leading the baseline at Rice before that, for the job less than a week after Shrewsberry’s departure was made official by Notre Dame. 

"I had a blast with these guys all summer. We have a really good group of guys, not just basketball players, but a good group of guys. You can tell they care about each other." @CoachRhoades on tonight's win & this summer with the 2023-24 Nittany Lions🗣️⤵️#WeAre pic.twitter.com/8l0ye4YeXJ

— Penn State Men’s Basketball (@PennStateMBB) August 10, 2023

Ultimately, we won’t know the full picture about Rhoades and how he meshes with PSU and the Big Ten until regular-season games get underway later this year, but the Bahamas trip, in which the Nittany Lions went 2-0, was at least a nice little preview of what’s partly to come. 

Despite lacking Qudus Wahab and Favour Aire, who did not accompany the team due to offseason transfers from Georgetown and Miami (Florida), Penn State convincingly defeated the Bahamas Pirates (113-65) and Canada's University of Victoria (103-77). 

Defense 🔄 Offense @PuffJohnson14 #WeAre pic.twitter.com/9uCwVcSIKS

— Penn State Men’s Basketball (@PennStateMBB) August 10, 2023

It was a good sign after the Nittany Lions had a mass exodus of returning talent (losing all six of their top scorers) in the offseason following its first NCAA Tournament appearance in 12 years, leaving them having to replace numerous players from last year’s roster who departed due to graduation, the pros (such as Jalen Pickett and Seth Lundy, both of whom were second-round NBA Draft picks) or the transfer portal. 

But, as Penn State is not just trying to have a good men’s basketball coach, but also have him stay there, all that turnover means Rhoades has a unique coaching challenge on his hands. 

As his predecessor proved, however, it’s certainly possible to make Penn State a tough opponent to tame every night, even in the brutal Big Ten Conference.

The New Kanye

The departure of so much talent from the program means new names need to step up if Rhoades and PSU want any chance of keeping up with the rest of the powers in the Big Ten. 

Enter incoming sophomore guard Kanye Clary, who made waves in the Bahamas with two great performances. 

Averaging 3.7 points, 0.9 rebounds and 0.7 assists per game for the Nittany Lions in his true freshman season in 2022-2023, Clary’s single-game high a year ago was 17 points in a February game against Maryland. 

Across Penn State’s pair of games in the Caribbean, Clary averaged more than that 17.5 points per contest and played much bigger than his 5-foot-11 frame — something PSU needed from its backcourt with few options to turn to in the frontcourt beyond sophomore forward Demetrius Lilley, who only played in five games last season. 

The opening win against the Pirates saw Clary drop 13 points as one of five players to reach double-figure scoring numbers, making solid pairings at the guard slots with the likes of transfers Nick Kern Jr. (who led the way with 17 points on 8-for-9 shooting) and D’Marco Dunn (16 points), plus returner Jameel Brown (12 points). 

Yea Ye‼️ 22 points (10-13 FG), 5 rebounds & 5 assists for @Kanyeclary tonight 👀#WeAre pic.twitter.com/cVj3UUH99O

— Penn State Men’s Basketball (@PennStateMBB) August 10, 2023

But against Victoria, Clary was spectacular as the ringleader of what was an efficient offense that shot 43-for-73 (58.9%) from the field and saw Clary go 10-for-13 by with 22 points, five rebounds and five assists. 

You usually don’t replace a high-level scorer at the caliber of what Pickett — a consensus second-team All-American — was in college overnight, but there were some flashes of dynamic and lively offense out of Clary, as he appears set for an increased role and maybe even a potential breakout campaign this season.

Ramming Onto The Court

Just as Shrewsberry earlier this offseason managed to do by snagging the transfer of ex-PSU starter Kebba Njie to Notre Dame, Rhoades brought some reinforcements from VCU to Penn State, and both ex-Rams on the Nittany Lions’ roster for 2023-2024 — guards Kern and Ace Baldwin Jr. — made great first impressions in their new uniforms in the Bahamas. 

A 27-8 team that made the NCAA Tournament, VCU had some dudes a year ago, the most noted of which was the Atlantic 10 Conference Player of the Year in Baldwin, making him one of the portal’s most coveted names when he decided to transfer. 

17 points (8-9 FG) & 7 rebounds for @TheBigTickettt tonight 👀🔥#WeAre pic.twitter.com/6Tkpw8T4MG

— Penn State Men’s Basketball (@PennStateMBB) August 9, 2023

Baldwin shooed away the many other suitors who wanted him and gave his coach at VCU a big win early in his tenure, and in the Caribbean — when he most notably dished 10 assists, while garnering four steals in the Victoria victory — he helped the Nittany Lions get two actual wins, too. 

The VCU-to-PSU transfer who arguably made the biggest impact in the Bahamas, however, was Kern, who featured more as a role player or complimentary piece with the Rams last year, as he started 19 games and averaged 5.3 points and 2.7 rebounds in 17.6 minutes per game. 

But lo and behold, Kern was the Nittany Lions’ leading scorer against the Pirates, then reached double digits in points once again in the trip’s finale, as he managed 16 points and six rebounds as one of five players to score at least 10. 

Whether those stat lines are significant enough to indicate future potential, usage and/or roles is anyone’s guess, but Kern and Baldwin each have major advantages in their favor as they adjust to life in State College — they already know how their coach operates, and they’re proven winners (VCU won the A-10 regular-season and tournament titles last year) joining a program that has tasted success recently, but is still working out how to sustain it.