The college basketball offseason is here, and we decided to have some fun over the next few months, ranking ALL 364 teams in D1. Number 184 is Penn State basketball.
Before you say we’re crazy – or that all of this is up for debate, let’s go over the very intricate process of how we came to this conclusion. We took a very statistical approach – with the help of Chat GPT – taking into consideration everything from March Madness wins and finishes, to AP Poll appearances, to conference players of the year. And then, a good friend of ours, Scott Blanchard, took our approach to the MAX.
Click here to visit the FIRST article, which explains how the formula works!
Here’s the breakdown of Penn State basketball!
NCAA Tournament Success
- Championships: 0
- Finals appearances: 0
- Final Fours: 1
- Elite Eights: 2
- Sweet 16s: 4
- NCAA wins: 10
- Bids: 10
Consistency Over Time
- Wins per season: 12.2
- Bids per season: 0.08
- AP Polls: 25
Player Quality & Talent
- All-Americans: 1
- NBA players drafted & played: 7
- Conference Players of the Year: 0
Conference & Other Success
- Conference regular season titles: 1
- Conference tournament titles: 1
- NIT titles: 2
- Other tournament titles: 0
Overall scoop on Penn State basketball
The first Big Ten school in our rankings is Penn State, at No. 184!
The Nittany Lions have struggled more recently, but did get their first-ever Consensus All-American in 2023 after an outstanding senior year by Jalen Pickett. That was a special season for the program, going 23-14 and to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
Penn State basketball had a really good program from the jump, and was one of the best teams in the country in the 1910s and 1920s. Old-time head coach Dutch Hermann had a 148-73 record with the program, including six seasons where Penn State finished with two losses or fewer. Of course, back then, they would only play about 15 games in a season.
In 1942, Penn State basketball would play in one of the first-ever NCAA Tournaments, going 18-3 on the season, but losing to Dartmouth in the Elite 8. But they would have some more great teams in the 1950s, going back to the big dance in ’52, ’54, and ’55. The 1954 squad was the most special, as the Nittany Lions knocked off Toledo, LSU, and Notre Dame, making their only Final Four in program history. They would lose to La Salle but beat USC in the third-place game. Jesse Arnelle was the star, averaging 21.1 points and 11.9 rebounds per game. It was the last season with Elmer Gross as head coach, who was 80-40 during his time leading Penn State. He would retire and become a full-time professor. Apparently, a Final Four wasn’t good enough!
Penn State would still have some successful seasons, making it back to the big dance under first-year head coach John Egli the very next season. He’d take them there again in 1965, and his 187 wins with the program is the most in school history.
But after Egli, former Fordham coach John Bach didn’t do as well at his next stop. While he went 122-121 with Penn State, they never reached the NCAA Tournament in 10 seasons.
Penn State wouldn’t make March Madness again until 1991, at that point, playing in the Atlantic 10. They got the automatic bid, and it still remains the only time in school history that the Nittany Lions have won a conference tournament. And as a 13-seed, they would upset 4-seed UCLA in the round of 64. However, Parkhill would move on from the program in 1995.
Penn State would have some good seasons under Jerry Dunn, who led them dancing in his first season in 1996 and again in 2001. The ’96 team was upset by 12-seed Arkansas in the round of 64, with the ’01 team taking down 10-seed Providence and 2-seed UNC for a Sweet 16 run.
But since then, there have been very few great moments for Penn State. Since the 2001-02 season, they’ve only made the big dance twice – under Ed DeChellis in 2011 and Micah Shrewsberry in 2023. And in 25 seasons, it has only amounted to seven winning seasons. They did go 27-11 in 2008-09, but the record might look skewed because they won the NIT Title, something Penn State also took home in 2018.
The first century or so of Penn State hoops had some very good moments with NCAA Tournament appearances every so often. But the last quarter of a century has really been a rough one for the school, and it’s something Mike Rhoades is still trying to fix.