Penn State is targeting reigning A-10 Player of the Year Ace Baldwin, a source tells Nittany Sports Now.
Baldwin, who entered the transfer portal Thursday afternoon, played at VCU for three seasons under Mike Rhoades, who’s now the head coach at Penn State
Over those three seasons, Baldwin scored 829 points and added 419 assists, averaging more than 10 points and more than five assists over the last two seasons.
This past year was Baldwin’s best. He posted 12.7 points and 5.8 assists per game, earning conference Player of the Year and helping VCU to the A-10 regular-season and tournament championships. VCU was a 12 seed in the NCAA Tournament and fell to No. 5 St. Mary’s in the first round.
Penn State also made the tournament this season, its first since 2011. Coach Micah Shrewsberry’s team, a No. 10 seed, beat seventh-seeded Texas A&M in the first-round for its first tournament win since 2001. Days after losing to Texas in the Round of 32, Shrewsberry took the head-coaching job at Notre Dame, and Penn State had to look for his replacement.
Rhodes is that guy, and he just might be taking some of his VCU players with him.
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.Along with Baldwin, four other VCU players entered the portal; Jalen DeLoach (9.7 PPG) Jamir Watkins (9.5 PPG), Jayden Nunn (9.3 PPG) and Nick Kern (5.3 PPG).
Baldwin will have two years of eligibility remaining in his collegiate career.
If Baldwin does end up coming to Penn State, there’s a chance he plays his old team next season. As Rothstein himself reported in December, PSU and VCU are two of the six programs that are part of the 2023 ESPN Invitational in Orlando, along with schools such as Butler, Iowa State, Virginia Tech and Texas A&M.
Rothstein also reported Wednesday night that Penn State and VCU will have a home-and-home series as part of Rhoades’s buyout agreement.
