This offseason, Penn State men’s basketball saw nine of their thirteen players transfer out of the program and only two landed in big time conferences. Why?
Is this simply because no big time schools from big time conferences showed much interest in them?
Was Penn State competing in the best conference in college basketball with mostly above average, mid-conference talent?
It’s one thing for veteran, mid-conference players to transfer to power five conferences later in their college basketball careers, because they’ve worked their butts off to improve their craft and to be highly effective in conferences like the Big Ten later down the road.
But for any competitive athlete to go from a big time conference like the Big Ten with a lot of national attention on them to playing for much smaller mid-conference schools, one would question why they wouldn’t just stay in State College and keep developing. Isn’t it an athlete’s dream to play in a big time conference in a big time arena?
Melih Tunca went back to his home country of Turkey to compete.
Mason Blackwood is now at St. Bonaventure (Atlantic 10 Conference).
Eli Rice – Middle Tennessee State (Conference USA).
Dominick Stewart – Richmond (Atlantic 10 Conference).
Justin Houser – Florida Gulf Coast (Atlantic Sun Conference).
Sasa Ciani – Sacramento State (Big Sky Conference).
Tibor Mirtic – Undecided.
Josh Reed – Graduated, but a pending NCAA lawsuit may give him one more year of eligibility.
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.The only players from the 2025-2026 squad who landed in Power Five Conferences are Kayden Mingo and Freddie Dilione V.
Mingo, a sophomore, is now at Baylor reuniting with his younger brother Dylan, who is an incoming freshman with the Bears. Baylor competes in the Big 12 Conference.
Mingo averaged 13.7 points, 4.3 assists and 3.5 rebounds per game last year for the Nittany Lions.
He said he chose Baylor because the program is well-known for its ability to develop guards and to help them advance to the professional level. Mingo also said head coach Scott Drew heavily recruited him out of high school, and made him a top priority for the program early on. He also specifically highlighted Baylor’s identity as a Christian institution as a major factor for him and his family.
Dilione, a redshirt senior, is now in the Southeastern Conference with the Georgia Bulldogs.
He was considered the No. 7 shooting guard and the No. 66 overall transfer in this year’s portal.
He led the Nittany Lions with 14.0 points per game in 2025-26 while shooting 47.3% from the field and 31.8% from 3-point range. He averaged 3.2 rebounds and 27.4 minutes per game and also chipped in 71 assists and 39 steals.
Georgia’s head basketball coach Mike White has praised Dilione V. as a “talented kid” from a “really good program”, who highlighted Dilione’s proven ability to play at a “high, high level” and views him as a key offensive contributor this upcoming season.
So all-in-all, maybe it’s a blessing in disguise there has been a complete overhaul on the Penn State roster with 11 new faces on the 2026-2027 squad.
PSU head coach Mike Rhoades did tell Nittany Sports Now back in May that he does feel they are already a better team than they were last season just because they are now an older, bigger, more mature team.
Stay with NSN for all of your Penn State basketball coverage.
