For the Nittany Lions' men's basketball team this season, it was abysmal. They were one of the Big Ten's worst teams all year round and could never seem to find their footing. It all came to a head in a very telling first round exit of the Big Ten tournament at the hands of Northwestern. Now, as the Nittany Lions look toward the future, head coach Mike Rhoades made several comments about where the team could go from here.
"It was a really hard year for me," Rhoades told reporters at Chicago's United Center on Tuesday night, according to Sports Illustrated. "It was really hard. The world we live in now, you want to give yourself a chance. You want to give your team a chance to be successful. So it's hard. The reality, is when you're really young in Power 4 basketball, you're at a disadvantage. So we need to address that."
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For a team with a huge lack of experience, that could mean keeping together a core that could coalesce over time. Still, that young core, despite having a standout player in freshman Kayden Mingo, didn't even make a dent in the end of year teams for the Big Ten.
There have also been signs of failure in terms of recruitment, as Mingo's younger brother Dylan chose to go to UNC rather than play with his brother and help improve Penn State's roster. For a team that had its first 20 loss season since 2013, you know it's dire when you can't find ways to recruit new players to your team.
For Rhoades, time is running out on being able to fix this team. He only has four years left on his current contract, but it feels like less considering the path forward. For now though, it will be all about finding the players from this year who he believes can make a difference and the potentially tapping into the ample NIL resources Penn State has at their disposal.
"You've got to be old," Rhoades said in Chicago. "You've got to be old, because everybody else is. The best teams in our league and the best teams in the country are old and experienced. We've got to address some of that".
While it sounds simple on paper, it will be easier said than done for a team that doesn't look to have many exciting prospects for the future.
This article originally appeared on Nittany Lions Wire: Penn State basketball coach on fixing 'hard year'