DVE-News/TV interviews Penn State coach, players

DVE-News/TV reporters set out to Penn State. We were met by Pat Dorney, director of Operations. He led us into the Bryce Jordan Center where we got to watch the Nittany Lions practice. We also got a tour of the facilities and a behind the scenes look of the Center. We met Steve Jones, the play caller and play-by-play announcer. He has a fantastic memory for players and their statistics, even from years ago!

After practice we interviewed Head Coach Mike Rhoades. Coach Rhoades’ favorite part of coaching is the rival games. He believes that the Lions’ hardest opponent is Florida. His least favorite part is when the players are late. He enjoys celebrating wins with the team. He believes that his best shooters are Zach Hicks and Ace Baldwin Jr.

Coach Rhoades said that he enjoys being a good example and mentor to Ace Baldwin Jr. It’s an honor to coach him. He’s very proud of Ace’s leadership skills on the court and he’s a lot of fun. When asked about coaching previous players Larry Sanders, Troy Daniels, Briante Weber, Treveon Graham and Mo Alie-Cox, he said it’s great to be a part of their journey and that they all moved on to play in the NBA. When asked about motivating and encouraging players after bad games, he said he needs to show confidence in them and to keep working with them. He needs to believe in them as he chose them for a reason. In order to keep players in good head space when losing, [you have to] keep up a relationship with the players beyond the basketball court. You need to know what clicks for them and then you can motivate them. The players’ special routine before a game is to do warmups 90 minutes before each game. Warming up their bodies and skills, and teamwork drills work well for them.

It was a dream come true for Coach Rhoades to be a Division 1 coach in his home state. It’s a great honor. His best memory so far with the Lions is their win against Illinois. The Lions were down 18 and then came back to win it. He has high expectations for his team this year to be one of the best teams in the Big 10. When asked about the transfer portal, he feels it is okay to have options but if a player makes a commitment and then breaks that commitment, the player should face consequences. Goal number one is to graduate with a great education. He feels that the portal affects him in that he recruits from the portal in the spring, and he gets more players.

The coach gives a highly motivated pep talk before a game to get the players excited. When he is recruiting players, he looks for high, long, tall, fast people who are toughminded and super competitive with high character. When he was asked what he says to players to get them to want to go to Penn State, he tells them that they will receive a great education, Penn State is a fun place and that they can play at the highest level of college athletics. He mentioned that he played college basketball for Lebanon Valley College. He learned his coaching style from his high school coaches. Rhoades said that he was a fifth-grade teacher for a bit, but he really always just wanted to be in the gym, so he made the change to coaching.

When asked what the difference is in coaching now from the previous 18 years, he said they are in a different conference, they play in the Big 10, and have a different schedule. He mentioned that the team needs to work on getting better defensively and do a better job offensively in not turning the ball over. He has watched his former players play in the NBA. He feels it is great to see them playing and their dreams coming true.

When asked if he ever crossed any challenges in getting to where he is today, he said yes, but you need to keep persevering. He’s been a coach for 29 years. The hardest part about being a coach is being away from your family. When he was younger, he played football, baseball and track, but nothing was better in his mind than basketball. Coach Rhoades loves rivalry games like Ohio State, Michigan, or Rutgers. It’s a lot of fun to watch. In his opinion, the greatest basketball player of all time is Michael Jordan. He said that the biggest jump from playing high school basketball to D1 basketball is strength, physicality, and being faster. He always liked being in the gym as a player. When he couldn’t play anymore, he went into coaching.

He was asked about the hardest opponents in the schedule. He answered Clemson and Virginia Tech in the non-conference. San Francisco and Fort Wayne are very good. In the Big 10, everyone is excellent, especially Perdue, Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin. Coach Rhoades spoke about his dad being his greatest role model his entire life. He plans on improving being a coach by learning all he can, reading a lot, watching videos, listening to podcasts, and talking with other coaches. You need a hunger to learn all the time. The greatest challenge he faces as a coach is getting young people to understand to put the hard work in every day and being honest in their efforts, so they then can grow and take off in anything they do.

Player interviews

After our interview with Coach Rhoades, we interviewed a few players. First up was Ace Baldwin Jr., guard for the Nittany Lions. During the summer he worked on his jump shot skills and was looking forward to winning and March Madness. He did say that if he didn’t play basketball, he’d be playing football. He’s been playing basketball since he was four years old. When asked, he said that the biggest loss in his life was when his dad passed. The advice he’d give children is to be confident and true to yourself. His favorite memories are when fans rush the court. He said that the transfer portal can be bad as some athletes might not get picked up but it’s good if you find your happy home. He also said that he stands out in everything he does and that he is goofy. He majors in criminal justice.

Next up was Freddie DiLione, another guard with the Nittany Lions. He just started with the team. He loves everything about the people involved in the program, including the coach and staff. Over the summer he worked on his catching and shooting skills. If he didn’t play basketball, he’d play baseball. He started playing basketball when he was 3 years old. His best advice for children is to listen to your parents and stay in school. His future expectations is to win every game possible and to have fun. The traits that stand out for him are his happiness and poise. He majors in communications.

The next player we interviewed was D’Marco Dunn, guard for the Nittany Lions. He says that he enjoys the fighting to win. The biggest challenge he faces is self doubt. He really enjoys working with his teammates. His goal in college is to stay healthy. His biggest role models are his parents and coach.

The last player we interviewed was Jahvin Carter, combo guard of the Nittany Lions. He believes the best NBA player of all time is LeBron James. He feels the biggest change between high school and D1 basketball is the players’ size and height. His parents inspired him. Most of the players said that their big dream after Penn State is to be an NBA star. It was a trip we’ll never forget.