Penn State men’s basketball coach Mike Rhoades didn’t offer up much insight regarding the futures of Ace Baldwin Jr. and Puff Johnson on Thursday as both players were featured on a graphic ahead of Sunday’s Senior Day despite having one year of eligibility remaining.
“Anytime you could stay older, that always helps, no matter what it is, and on any team,” Rhoades told reporters over a Zoom call. “We have some discussion. But the focus is more on finishing strong here and going into the conference tournament. We’ll have those discussions when they need to be had, for sure. I think our focus is on the team. The focus is on right now. We’ve had some great moments to get everyone excited, let’s see if we can have a couple more of them.”
Johnson and Baldwin could both return to Penn State next season, thanks to an NCAA ruling which gave student-athletes impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic an additional year of eligibility. The duo joined Leo O’Boyle RayQuawndis Mitchell and Qudus Wahab on a Senior Day graphic tweeted out by the program on Thursday, the latter three all having completely exhausted their eligibility. They were also joined by walk-ons Andy Christos and Dan Conlan.
Baldwin who joined Rhoades from VCU, has been a staple of Penn State’s season on both ends of the court, turning into a dark horse candidate for All-Big Ten honors and potentially the conference’s defensive player of the year. As for Johnson, his up-and-down season hit a high last Saturday as he scored a season-high 19 points in Penn State’s eventual loss to Minnesota. Much like Baldwin, Johnson would be welcomed back with open arms by Rhoades and his staff as they look to maintain some continuity on a roster that was almost entirely revamped following the departure of former head coach Micah Shrewsberry last offseason.
No matter the decisions by Baldwin and Johnson, Penn State will be an active participant in the transfer portal yet again. But with Sunday’s regular season finale against Maryland and the Big Ten Tournament incoming — not to mention the potential for one of many different non-NCAA Tournament postseasons —Rhoades isn’t focused on that just yet.
“Every coach is. You have to be aware of it,” Rhoades said of the portal. “Number one is you got to re-recruit your roster all the time because it is how it is. I’d be naive to say ‘Oh, it’s not a concern, or I’m not worried about it until the end of the season.’ That’s not true. I mean, every coach and every assistant coach, this is part of recruiting now. This is part of roster management now. And it’s so, like it or not, it’s here. So you got to have awareness of all that.
“Does it consume me right now? No. What consumes me is, can we make our team a little bit better to win on Sunday night? And win games in the conference tournament? That’s what’s consuming me. But, two of our coaches were on the road recruiting yesterday at high school playoff games. You’re still recruiting. And part of the recruiting is the transfer portal. Roster management in today’s college athletics, it is what it is. And if you have your head in the sand, then you’re not ready to do the next thing.”
