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The Portal gives me life.
Penn State was four minutes away from upending 2-seed Texas and clinching its spot in the Sweet Sixteen. Alas, their offense went cold and the small frontcourt of Seth Lundy and Myles Dread — despite their fight and energy — just didn’t have the length to match Dylan Disu from inside 15 feet.
But when one chapter ends, another begins. That’s especially true for Penn State basketball, as Micah Shrewsberry and his staff will look to do something that hasn’t been done in Happy Valley since the 1950s: take the basketball program to the NCAA tournament in back-to-back seasons. One major piece in making sure that happens? Hit the transfer portal. Hard. The Nittany Lions will be losing a lot of production with the departures of Jalen Pickett, Andrew Funk, Cam Wynter, Myles Dread, Mikey Henn, and more than likely Seth Lundy too. So it’s safe to say that Penn State will once again be an active participant in the transfer portal cycle.
It goes without saying given who is leaving, but Penn State could basically use a little bit of everything. Yes, there’s a strong freshman class waiting in the wings, while Carey Booth leads a solid 2023 recruiting class, but the Nittany Lions should be in the market for anyone who checks the “good basketball player” square. Ideally though, I think this would be Penn State’s wishlist in no particular order:
- Point guard
- Shooter
- Wing that can create their own shot
- Big
So like I said before: a little bit of everything.
So let’s get into some specific names that Penn State is after. All the names below have been linked to Penn State in one way or another — either by a tweet confirming contact or a Twitter follow from someone on the coaching staff. Like I said last year and will say again this year: there are so many names in the portal, and that will continue to grow. These are just eight names to know right now, but I’d expect multiple iterations the next couple of days and weeks.
POINT GUARDS
NOAH FERNANDES
School/Hometown: UMass (Mattapoisett, MA)
Eligibility Remaining: 1 year
Height/Weight: 5-foot-11, 175 pounds
Perhaps Penn State fans will remember Noah Fernandes from when he scored 13 points against the Nittany Lions back in November 2021, but if not, Fernandes is your prototypical college point guard in a lot of ways. He’s patient when running the offense, takes care of the ball, and does a nice job of balancing the role of “scorer” and “distributor.” He lacks elite size and is just an average athlete, but would be a nice steadying force at the point in place of Jalen Pickett.
JAVON SMALL
School/Hometown: East Carolina (South Bend, IN)
Eligibility Remaining: 2 years
Height/Weight: 6-foot-2, 180 pounds
On the other end of the point guard spectrum is Javon Small, who offers you a bit more size and intriguing athleticism, but is still coming along as far as being efficient. I think the hope for Small, should he make a move to a “Power Five” school, is that he’ll have less of a load to carry which should help improve the assist/turnover ratio and shooting percentages. As far as the shooting percentages go, I think a good bit of that hope comes in his 85.4% free throw. You don’t shoot that well from the line if you don’t have a nice stroke, so it’ll really be about improving shot selection — you know, quality not quantity.
JACKSON PAVELETZKE
School/Hometown: Wofford (Kimberly, WI)
Eligibility Remaining: 3 years
Height/Weight: 6-foot-3, 175 pounds
Speaking of efficiency, look no further than Jackson Paveletzke’s game. Shoot just under a 50/40/85 split as a true freshman is quite impressive. He’s more of a two-guard than a point right now, but the passing chops are there for him to develop into a lead man. Not a top-tier athlete, but sound ball handling and good vision will help him stay in an on-ball role.
GREG DOLAN
School/Hometown: Cornell (Williamsville, NY)
Eligibility Remaining: 1 year
Height/Weight: 6-foot-3, 175 pounds
Leading scorer for a solid Cornell squad, Dolan should transition to a high-major program where he’ll be playing off the ball as a shooter. Of course, it isn’t a perfect comparison since I don’t think Dolan has the shooting-off-movement skill that Funk does, but that shouldn’t take away from the fact that Dolan’s potential gravity as a shooter will help any offense. Wish he was a tad bigger/longer, though. Underrated part of Funk’s game was that he was 6-foot-5, 200 pounds.
JAYDEN TAYLOR
School/Hometown: Butler (Indianapolis, IN)
Eligibility Remaining: 2 years
Height/Weight: 6-foot-4, 195 pounds
One of my personal favorites in the portal. He has all the tools you look for in a two-guard — athletic, nice handle, and the ability to score in every which was possible. Like he flashes legitimate NBA-level talent. Like we talked about with Small though, he needs to play smarter. I think that’s a major thing Shrewsberry can point to — players like Seth Lundy and Jalen Pickett became incredibly more efficient after two seasons with Shrews. Hopefully, the same can be the case for Taylor, because if he puts it together, he can be the leading scorer on a good college team.
NICOLAS TIMBERLAKE
School/Hometown: Towson (Braintree, MA)
Eligibility Remaining: 1 year
Height/Weight: 6-foot-4, 205 pounds
As the numbers show, Nicolas Timberlake has turned into a super elite shooter the last two seasons, as evidenced by 41.2% three-point shooting percentage the last 413 attempts. Again, it’s a lazy comparison, but Timberlake isn’t too dissimilar to Funk. Unlike Dolan, shows a bit more as someone who can catch and shoot off movement, not just a stationary shooter.
DAMIAN DUNN
School/Hometown: Temple (Kingston, NC)
Eligibility Remaining: 2 years
Height/Weight: 6-foot-5, 195 pounds
Nice pull-up game, whether it’s from three or rising in the lane for a soft jumper. Slightly limited as mostly a straight line driver, though like Dolan, I think he would be aided by playing off the ball more. Nice shot, especially when set. Does a good job relocating to open space without the ball.
JOSH COHEN
School/Hometown: St. Francis (Lincroft, NJ)
Eligibility Remaining: 2 years
Height/Weight: 6-foot-10, 220 pounds
Talked about Cohen here with him visiting Penn State yesterday. Think it’s interesting that he visited as soon as the Nittany Lions returned from Des Moines and that Penn State hasn’t been mentioned with any other bigs. Hmm. Interesting.
Hmm.
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By: Patrick Koerbler
Title: Probing The Portal: Penn State Already Working The Portal
Sourced From: www.blackshoediaries.com/2023/3/21/23647387/probing-the-portal-penn-state-basketball0already-working-the-portal-josh-cohen-jayden-taylor-bsd
Published Date: Tue, 21 Mar 2023 14:00:00 +0000
