Penn State Basketball: 2018-19 Season Preview
By Dylan Burd
Depth
The most overlooked part of the 2018-19 Penn State basketball team is the freshman class. The 2018 recruiting class consisted of three three-star prospects in Myles Dread, Myreon Jones, and Rasir Bolton, as well as a two-star, Daniil Kasatkin.
According to 247sports composite rankings, Dread ranked 164th in the 2018 recruiting class, Jones ranked 180th, Bolton ranked 206th, and Kasatkin ranked 510th. From an outsider’s perspective, you could see why one who hasn’t done their research would think the backcourt is trouble with all these low-ranked freshman coming in and getting significant minutes.
However, Dread, Bolton, and Jones are all 100 percent ready to play big minutes right away. Myles Dread, a shooting guard/small forward, is set to start next to to Jamari Wheeler and Josh Reaves to open up the season. This would leave Rasir Bolton as the sixth man, and Myreon Jones as a role player.
It’s worth noting that in Penn State’s exhibition game vs. West Virginia in Morgantown, Myles Dread led Penn State in scoring with 23 points, including five three pointers. This also included three steals. That’s impressive to do against a West Virginia team ranked No. 13 to start the season.
Point guard Rasir Bolton played 31 minutes off the bench in this game, and had 15 points and four assists with no turnovers. This is against a West Virginia team that’s known for their defense under head coach Bob Huggins. The Mountaineers press for all 40 minutes of the game.
Bolton alone is already more scoring off the bench than Penn State had all of last season. Throughout 2017-18, Penn State was missing Josh Reaves for a chunk of games, Mike Watkins for some games, and Tony Carr for a game, and they had no players to replace them with.
In a particular game vs. Minnesota, Nazeer Bostick played 31 minutes to compensate for Reaves being out, and in another vs. Northwestern, Bostick played 20. Bostick only averaged 4.7 points per game last season. He’s no longer with the team, as he transferred to St. Peter’s.
Even when Reaves played, Bostick was one of the only players brought off the Penn State bench. The others were Jamari Wheeler, a true freshman point guard who thrived on defense but only averaged two points per game, and Julian Moore, a senior center who averaged 2.2 points per game.
You can’t be a NCAA Tournament team with no scoring off the bench, and no depth. It’s nearly impossible. Rasir Bolton and Myreon Jones will significantly change that. Let’s also not forget about sophomore forward John Harrar, who will start while Mike Watkins is out, but will come off the bench whenever Watkins comes back.
Harrar was a key piece in the NIT, as he started in place of Mike Watkins for the entire tournament after being out of the rotation most of the regular season. He averaged 3.8 points and 7.4 rebounds in the NIT. On Saturday, against one of the best bigs in the country, Sagaba Konate of West Virginia, Harrar had eight points and six rebounds in only 18 minutes played.
Overall, expect a lot more scoring off the bench this season from the Nittany Lions, as well as reliability when a starter is out for a game or two. This freshman class is well beyond their rank, and well beyond their years.