The Penn State Basketball season has come to a close, after the Nittany Lions‘ second round loss to Texas in the NCAA tournament.

However, the questions surrounding the future of the basketball program remain a hot topic.

Penn State head coach Micah Shrewsberry’s future is unknown, but all efforts will be made to keep him in State College. Some of those efforts are going to fall outside of the program. The main one that needs some serious attention is the NIL support for men’s basketball. 

Shrewsberry mentioned NIL over this past season, and the bottom line for Penn State is NIL needs to be better. A lot better.

Ranking near the bottom of the Big Ten conference in NIL for basketball, a school with the alumni base and fan base as big as the Nittany Lions’ must work to change that if they want to keep Shrewsberry in Happy Valley for the foreseeable future.

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What a major NIL Effort for Penn State Basketball would look like

People enjoy winning, and this past season was one of the most successful in the Nittany Lions history of the basketball program.

NIL collectives need to jump on this momentum.

Taking advantage seems like the wrong term to use, but that is exactly what the collectives need to do. Take advantage. 

To my knowledge, Success with Honor is the only NIL collective at Penn State that allows fans, alumni, students, to donate specifically to the basketball program. Penn State needs more.

Similar to the other collectives we have seen pop up for specifically football, it would be nice to see collectives be formed that are devoted solely to basketball. Promoting shirts, player attire, connecting with local businesses to support future and current basketball players. 

Each current basketball player has links to player merchandise on their individual social media accounts. Penn State needs to promote those social media links more. More exposure for current and future players will go a long way in getting the NIL support it’s going to need to maintain this past years success. Similar to how football links current player social media accounts on player intros in Beaver Stadium, basketball should make similar efforts. 

The will for NIL support is there in the Penn State fanbase.

Football is a good example of that, with players getting deals with businesses, some players even receiving brand new Tesla’s to drive around thanks to a business in York PA. It is probably an unfair comparison to compare football NIL to basketball, but the bigger point of if you continue to put a winning basketball team on the floor, with an extremely like-able head coach, fans and alumni are more than willing to open their wallets to help keep the success. 

So what can be done?

More from the Success with Honor collective all ready established. Involvement of past basketball lettermen to possibly help form other collectives. Similar to how Micheal Mauti joined up with partners to form a collective solely devoted to football. Get Lamar Stevens on the phone. This of course isn’t to say Penn State and Pat Kraft aren’t already working to make these things happen, it is probably naive to think they are not.

But, Shrewsberry’s future will rely on what the backing is from the bigger Penn State community. He pleaded for fans to come support this team mid season. While BJC isn’t the greatest college basketball environment. It can be an electric environment when it’s full. Just ask the wrestling program. More seats filled with fans next season should be expected. 

This past season was the most memorable fans have experienced who follow basketball, and if we want to continue enjoying runs to the Big Ten tournament final and upsets over higher seeds in the big dance like we saw this year. It is going to take an effort with all of us. Not just from Pat Kraft and the athletic department. 

If you are interested in donating to Success With Honor and the Penn State basketball program please visit https://success-with-honor.com/subscribe/ 

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