Penn State is seen as a team on the rise in 2016-17, mostly due to last year’s surprising amount of conference victories and this year’s very talented crop of incoming freshmen. However, it’s not a given that Pat Chambers’s team will improve on the .500 overall record and seven Big Ten wins from 2015-16. For that to happen, someone has got to fill the production hole left by departing senior Brandon Taylor.
A major reason for Penn State going 4-3 last February with wins over Indiana and Iowa was Taylor evolving into a star player who led his team in scoring, rebounding, and usage rate.