On Friday, Penn State basketball offered Alier Maluk, a Pittsburgh native who is a five-star in the 2025 cycle. This is a significant offer for the Nittany Lions, as Maluk is a top-20 overall recruit in the class of 2025. The offer comes as head coach Mike Rhoades looks to build out his traditional recruiting apparatus at Penn State, with five offers across the 2024 and 2025 classes coming this week.

Lions offer budding prospect Alier Maluk

Alier Maluk is a five-star prospect with a 99 overall rating in the 247Sports Composite rankings. The 6-10, 180-pound forward is the second-ranked player in Pennsylvania and a top-20 recruit in the 2025 class. 247Sports’ own rankings list Maluk as the second-best center in the country for the 2025 cycle.

As a sophomore at Pittsburgh’s Imani Christian Academy, Maluk recorded 15 points, eight rebounds, and three blocks per game. He helped lead Imani Christian to the Pennsylvania Class A state championship in March. Maluk has become somewhat of an internet sensation for his length and athleticism. He has even been dubbed by some as the “Baby Bol Bol,” in reference to the former Denver Nuggets and current Orlando Magic center.

Announcing the offer via Instagram on Friday, Mike Rhoades and Penn State now join a long list of earlier suitors for Maluk. On3 currently has Pitt and West Virginia as the early frontrunners in Maluk’s recruitment, with Ohio State and Penn State coming in third and fourth, respectively. Auburn, LSU, and Texas A&M are some of the other programs that have offered Maluk to date.

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A post shared by Alier Pach Maluk (@alier_maluk12)

Penn State basketball building traditional recruiting structure

Two months into the job, Mike Rhoades has heavily utilized the transfer portal to build his first roster at Penn State. The Nittany Lions have brought in some of the top players from Rhoades’s VCU squad, including Ace Baldwin and Nick Kern. In addition, Penn State has targeted transfers with ties to the Keystone State, such as Puff Johnson, Zach Hicks, and Leo O’Boyle.

Now, Rhoades is also starting to build out his program’s traditional recruiting base. Maluk is the fifth offer the Nittany Lions have made to high school recruits this week. Other offers include Austin Swartz, Darrion Sutton, and Dellquan Warren in the 2024 cycle and Jordan Scott in the class of 2025.

In his first few months at Penn State, Rhoades’s actions echo his sentiments from his introductory press conference in March. The Nittany Lions have been aggressive in the portal but are now balancing that aggressiveness with traditional recruiting. “We got to go build a roster,” Rhoades said when speaking of the long-term success of the Penn State basketball program. “But I assure you this — we’re going to do it right, and we’re going to do it to last.”

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It’s been a busy offseason for Penn State basketball. From a coaching search to a roster rebuild, the Nittany Lions look a lot different in May than they did after their NCAA Tournament appearance in March. But after hitting the transfer portal hard after taking over as head coach, Mike Rhoades has started to settle into the job. As a result, we’ve started to see more news on the conventional recruiting front in recent weeks. This includes a recent offer made to lengthy 2025 guard Jordan Scott.

Turbulent offseason for Penn State basketball

Penn State basketball was in shambles this offseason. Head coach Micah Shrewsberry, who had just taken his team to the Round of 32, left for Notre Dame. All of Penn State’s 2023 commitments followed Shrewsberry out of State College. One of those commitments was Carey Booth, son of Penn State legend and Denver Nuggets general manager Calvin Booth. 

Penn State’s best players graduated. Others transferred elsewhere. Penn State was down to just two scholarship players. This was not what the Nittany Lions had in mind after going to March Madness for the first time since 2011.

Everything was going wrong for the Nittany Lions. That was until they hired VCU’s Mike Rhoades to replace Shrewsberry. Rhoades and his new staff have been very busy since his hiring in March. Penn State has rebuilt the roster with eight transfers, one high school recruit, and two players from last year’s team. 

Penn State looked like it had no chance to get back to March Madness. Now they have a coach who took his team to the NCAA Tournament three of the last four years with a transformative roster in place. The sky could be the limit for Penn State basketball under Rhoades. But, to continue this upward trajectory, Rhoades and his staff must look towards the future. 

What does Penn State’s future look like?

Penn State’s roster for this upcoming season will feature three seniors – Qudus Wahab, Leo O’Boyle, and Rayquawndis Mitchell. There are four juniors, four sophomores, and one freshman. There will be a ton of veteran experience on the court for this year’s Nittany Lions.

But right now, Penn State doesn’t have any commitments in the class of 2024 or 2025. Rhoades and his staff are in the process of recruiting talented high school players who they think will build on the team’s success moving forward. One of these players is a newly offered recruit, lengthy 2025 guard Jordan Scott.

After an amazing talk with Coach Rhoades I’m glad to announce my Official Offer from Penn state @CoachRhoades @PennStateMBB pic.twitter.com/DObyhBHn1X

— jordan scott (@jordanscott267) May 21, 2023

Penn State offers lengthy 2025 guard Jordan Scott

Jordan Scott is a lengthy shooting guard from Reston, Virginia. The 6-5, 165-pound Scott is starting to build out his college offers list. Penn State, along with Illinois, Pitt, Iowa, Washington, and East Carolina, among others, have recently offered Scott. 

Currently, 247Sports doesn’t have the rising junior guard ranked in its database. But it’s still early in Scott’s recruitment, and he has two more seasons of high school basketball left to play and grow his prospect profile. 

It makes sense for Penn State to offer a player like Scott. Rhoades has spent most of his coaching career in Virginia and has many ties to the state. Further, Virginia is a hotbed for Penn State recruiting in sports like football. Along with Rhoades’s connections, offering Scott now should hopefully help the Nittany Lions make early inroads during this recruitment process.

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Over the past two days, Penn State basketball recruiting has received two significant commitments. Puff Johnson, who previously played for UNC, and Qudus Wahab, both former four-star recruits, have committed to Mike Rhoades’ revamped Penn State squad via the transfer portal. With these recent acquisitions, Penn State’s basketball program has gained some much-needed identity and direction since Micah Shrewsberry’s departure in March. The program has the potential to grow even further this weekend as they host a critical transfer portal target, Noah Thomasson of Niagara, for a recruiting visit.

Noah Thomasson will be visiting @PennStateMBB this weekend, Thomasson averaged 19.5 points this past season for Niagara https://t.co/TqOPFxRARa

— Andre Monroe (@DreMonroe0) April 27, 2023

Penn State basketball recruiting to host major transfer portal target on a recruiting visit

Noah Thomasson, a talented player at Niagara, is seeking to advance in the college basketball world, and Penn State Nittany Lions have recently been announced as one of the finalists. Noah Thomasson was not considered a star recruit out of Richmond, TX when he was in high school, and he initially committed as a member of the 2021 recruiting class.

In his most recent college basketball season, Thomasson emerged as a leading scorer in the MAAC Conference, averaging 19.5 points, 3.8 rebounds, and 3.5 assists per game. Regardless of where this transfer portal target ultimately lands, Thomasson desires an opportunity to compete in the NCAA Tournament.

Jeremiah 17:7-8 ⏳ 🙏🏾 pic.twitter.com/HWwROGo5UE

— NOAH M. THOMASSON (@NoahTheShow) April 24, 2023

Mike Rhoades’ roster is taking shape

When Micah Shrewsberry left the program last month, the Penn State basketball roster was in disarray. The new head coach, Mike Rhoades, inherited only two scholarship players and an unhappy fan base. Despite this, Rhoades has already begun to assemble a solid roster. With the recent commitment of four-star center Qudus Wahab, the Nittany Lions have secured five transfer additions in addition to the three returning players from last year’s squad.

While there are still a few open spots, landing Thomasson could be a significant win for Penn State basketball. There is still ample time for Rhoades to finalize his roster, and he is taking things one step at a time. With Thomasson’s commitment date scheduled for May 10th, there is still some waiting left before Penn State basketball knows its full roster for the upcoming season.

Thank you for reading Basic Blues Nation. Please follow us on Facebook and Twitter for the latest news and insights on your favorite Penn State athletics. For feedback, questions, concerns, or to apply for a writing position, please email us at basicbluesnation@gmail.com or direct message us on our social media. It’s due to your support that we can become one of the market’s fastest-growing Penn State sports outlets!