The Associated Press PSU coach Micah Shrewsberry walks off the court with guard Myles Dread.

DES MOINES, Iowa — Over the summer, Myles Dread began to think the Penn State men’s basketball team could accomplish something rare.

The senior was entering his fifth year with the program. He was there when the COVID-19 pandemic ripped away the chance at an NCAA Tournament in 2020.

He played for three coaches in three years. He had seen a lot.

But as Penn State began its preparations for the 2022-23 season, Dread began to see the team take shape in its second year under coach Micah Shrewsberry.

Guard Jalen Pickett and forward Seth Lundy were back.

Guards Andrew Funk and Camren Wynter joined through the transfer portal.

And there were five freshmen joining the fold.

So while a run that ended Saturday night with a 71-66 loss to Texas in the second round of the NCAA Tournament might have seemed like a surprise to those on the outside, Dread and company weren’t necessarily surprised by the Nittany Lions’ success.

They believed it was what they were capable of accomplishing.

“I have an extreme appreciation for the season,” Dread said in the aftermath of the defeat. “Just sitting back, taking it all in. My goal coming to Penn State was to leave it better than I (found) it, and I feel like we did that, we accomplished that, for sure. At this point, we’re not going to stop, and I know Coach Shrewsberry is not going to stop, and the sky’s the limit.”

Penn State finished 23-14, which marked the 12th 20-win season in the program’s 127-year history. The Nittany Lions made their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2011 and won their first tournament game since 2001.

Penn State advanced to its first Big Ten Tournament title game since 2011, too.

Pickett finished the season averaging 17.7 points, 7.4 rebounds and 6.6 assists per game, and he is only the third player in the last 30 years to average 17 points, seven rebounds and six assists.

On the postseason honors circuit, Pickett became Penn State’s first All-American in nearly 70 years, and he made the All-Big Ten first team.

Despite playing only two seasons at Penn State after transferring following three years at Siena, Pickett became a program great for the Nittany Lions.

“He chose to come here, and I had never coached a game before,” Shrewsberry said. “He repaid that by letting me sit and watch the season that he’s had, and what he’s done this year, how he’s helped us. These guys have all been fantastic.”

Coming off a successful campaign, Penn State enters the offseason with question marks — and Shrewsberry is the headliner.

During the Big Ten Tournament, Stadium and ESPN reported Shrewsberry was a candidate for job openings at Georgetown and Notre Dame. On Friday, CBS Sports reported the university was prepared to make “a significant, long-term financial commitment” to Shrewsberry.

For his part, Shrewsberry didn’t offer concrete answers or whether he’s had conversations with athletic director Pat Kraft about his future.

“When the season ends, I have time to think about things like that,” he said.

Penn State also faces the task of replacing Pickett, Funk (12.5 points per game), Wynter (8.9 points per game), Dread (5.5 points per game) and forward Michael Henn (2.4 points per game). Those five players have exhausted their eligibility and will be moving on.

Lundy, though, has to decide whether he’ll return for his fifth and final season of eligibility, thanks to the NCAA waiver granting extra eligibility to athletes because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The 6-foot-6 Lundy has improved greatly over the course of his career and averaged 14.2 points per game while shooting 40% from three-point range.

That turns the spotlight onto the five rising sophomores and the three incoming freshmen.

Forward Kebba Njie, guard Kanye Clary and forward Evan Mahaffey all gained valuable experience this season, while guard Jameel Brown and forward Demetrius Lilley spent the year developing on the bench.

They’ll be joined by the three-man class of guard Braeden Shrewsberry, the son of Micah; forward Carey Booth, the son of former Nittany Lions star Calvin Booth; and guard Logan Imes, a sharpshooting ballhandler from Indiana.

With rising seniors Caleb Dorsey and Dallion Johnson still on the roster, Penn State is slated to enter the offseason with up to three scholarships to use in the transfer portal, depending on Lundy’s decision. There’s always the chance for attrition at this time of year, too.

The 2023-24 Penn State men’s basketball team will look vastly different than the 2022-23 edition of the Nittany Lions. That’s true every year in college athletics, and it’s doubly true in the transfer portal era. Changes are coming.

But late Saturday night, Shrewsberry focused on what this team, especially the senior class, accomplished in a historic season.

“They were special,” he said. “I didn’t want to stop. I want to practice again, I want to play again because this group is, like, they deserve it. They deserve it for all the work that they put in that nobody sees, nobody recognizes. It looks easy. It looks easy, but when you put the time, when you put the work in, when you put the right group of people together you can do special things and all credit to these guys for doing something special this year.”

PENN ST. (23-14): Njie 0-1 0-0 0, Funk 5-14 0-0 12, Pickett 5-13 1-3 11, Wynter 5-9 6-6 16, Lundy 4-8 1-1 11, Dread 4-9 0-1 12, Mahaffey 1-2 0-0 2, Clary 1-2 0-0 2, Henn 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 25-60 8-11 66.

TEXAS (28-8): Allen 4-9 1-2 9, Disu 14-20 0-0 28, Mitchell 1-1 0-0 2, Carr 4-11 2-3 10, Hunter 3-5 0-0 6, Rice 4-11 4-4 13, Bishop 1-3 1-2 3, Cunningham 0-1 0-0 0, Morris 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 31-61 8-11 71.

Halftime–Texas 31-23. 3-Point Goals–Penn St. 8-28 (Dread 4-7, Lundy 2-6, Funk 2-10, Henn 0-1, Mahaffey 0-1, Pickett 0-1, Wynter 0-2), Texas 1-13 (Rice 1-6, Cunningham 0-1, Disu 0-1, Hunter 0-2, Carr 0-3). Rebounds–Penn St. 30 (Pickett 10), Texas 37 (Allen 12). Assists–Penn St. 6 (Funk 3), Texas 10 (Allen, Carr 3). Total Fouls–Penn St. 12, Texas 13. A–16,796 (16,110).

Daniel Gallen covers Penn State for Lions247 with Fight On State.