Fourth-year Penn State head coach Mike Rhoades had his preseason media availability in Happy Valley on Wednesday, five days before the Nittany Lions kick off the 2026-27 season at the Bryce Jordan Center against Canisius.
The big news of the day is that veteran forward Josh Reed has been deemed eligible for a fifth year. Reed, who averaged 11.5 points last year and is one of three returners on this year’s roster, was ruled eligible by the Ohio Supreme Court’s stay against the decision of the Fifth District Court of Appeals.
Rhoades’s announcement of Reed’s eligibility is likely the end of a convoluted legal process for just one of many Class of 2022 athletes seeking a fifth year after they were not grandfathered into the NCAA’s new five-in-five eligibility rule this offseason.
However, it wasn’t all good news for the team picked to finish 18th in the 18-team Big Ten by the preseason media poll. While Reed is currently eligible, Roko Prkacin, a 23-year-old 6-foot-9 Croatian forward who spent the last two seasons with Nanterre 92 in the top tier of French professional basketball, is still currently ineligible.
Penn State forward Josh Reed, who returned to the Nittany Lions for a fifth season, is eligible, Mike Rhoades said.
— Daniel Gallen (@danieljtgallen) October 28, 2026
as for forward Roko Prkačin: "We’re just honoring the process of the eligibility office at the NCAA."
As important as it is to get a 6-foot-8 wing who shot the three at 37% last year back, for Penn State to have any chance to surprise the Big Ten and play its way into the expanded 76-team NCAA Tournament this season, it will need Prkacin on the floor alongside him.
Penn State’s upside hinges on Roko Prkacin’s eligibility case
Without much of an NIL budget, which Rhoades claimed was the smallest in the Big Ten this offseason and, according to CBS Sports’ reporting, is clearly in the bottom three of the league, Penn State pivoted its roster-building strategy. After handing the keys to the highest-rated recruit in program history, Kayden Mingo, last year and struggling to handle the size and physicality of the Big Ten and falling off defensively, Rhoades assembled one of the oldest and toughest teams in the league.
These Nittany Lions might not beat you, but they might be able to beat you up
Getting older wasn’t just bringing back Reed and adding a sixth-year point guard in Jay Rodgers; it was also adding European players like Prkacin, 21-year-old forward Francois Wibaut, and 20-year-old big man Aleksander Zecevic from Serbia.
While those players all largely fall under the same eligibility umbrella, Prkacin, who has played professionally overseas since 2018, both developmentally and in top-tier leagues, is seemingly having a difficult time being ruled eligible under the NCAA’s new guidelines, which are aimed at making it more difficult for former pros, both Europeans and Americans.
Prkacin could unlock a real identity for this team
It’s hard to know what type of impact Prkacin would have as a 23-year-old playing in the NCAA for the first time, but he averaged 6.2 points and 4.5 rebounds while shooting 59% from the field for Nanterre 92 last season.
Of the incoming transfers, Prkacin probably has the highest upside. He’s an athletic big who, despite his lack of outside shooting, could pair with Ivan Juric in the front court because of his relative comfort playing away from the basket and his ability to both create his own shot off the dribble and pass out of the short roll.
Will he be an All-Big Ten First Team player if he’s ruled eligible? Almost certainly not. But he could be Penn State’s best player and open the door for the big, physical, and athletic identity Rhoades wants this team to have.
Rhoades and Penn State are honoring the NCAA’s process, and eligibility concerns were always a risk when building a team this way. But if Rhoades strikes out and can’t get Prkacin on the floor, what slim optimism there is around this roster will quickly fade away.
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