Seth Lundy, Myles Dread reflect on Penn State's turnaround

Penn State seniors Seth Lundy and Myles Dread oversaw a world of change for the Nittany Lion basketball program over their years with the team. Dread was a sophomore and Lundy was a freshman on the 2020 team that was ranked in the AP Top 10 at one point and would have made the NCAA Tournament if not for its cancellation due to COVID. Regardless, that was the best year of the Pat Chambers era and he resigned shortly afterward following some allegations of inappropriate conduct towards a player.

Jim Ferry took over as the interim in 2021 and the team went 11-14 in 2021. Heading into 2022, Penn State finally found a new head coach in Micah Shrewsberry. Through it all, Lundy and Dread remained loyal to the program while most of their teammates transferred out — including guys who went on to be solid players for other teams, like Izaiah Brockington (Iowa State), Rasir Bolton (Gonzaga), Myreon Jones (Florida) and Sam Sessoms (Coppin State).

Two years into the Shrewsberry era and Lundy and Dread were rewarded for their patience. Shrewsberry surrounded the two of them with stellar transfers Jalen Pickett and Andrew Funk to create one of the country’s most dynamite offenses — and PSU was the best three-point shooting team in the country. The program became fun to watch again, and even made a late run to secure their first NCAA Tournament berth since 2011, where they earned the school’s first tourney win since 2001.

After such a roller coaster career with Penn State that ultimately ended on a very positive season, the two veterans are just proud of how they’re leaving the program.

“I feel like we have accomplished a lot from the past history and stuff,” said Lundy. However, the early exit from the NCAA Tournament does sting. “But we wanted to go so much farther. This is not where we wanted the journey to end. We believe we could have made a better run than this, but give credit to Texas. They’re a great team and they may have a chance to win it all, honestly.”

Lundy then went on to assure folks that Penn State hoops has a very bright future after seeing what this team was able to accomplish. “You know, just wearing this jersey means so much to me and I know it means so much to Myles as well. I feel like the future is bright for Penn State.”

Dread also reflected on a long career that ended with Penn State basketball in a better position than when he arrived,.

“I mean, yeah, I have an extreme appreciation for the season. Just sitting back, taking it all in, like, you know, my goal coming to Penn State was to leave it better than I left it and I feel like we did that, we accomplished that for sure. At this point, you know, we’re not going to stop and I know Coach Shrewsberry is not going to stop and the sky is the limit.”

A couple of seniors that helped change the culture for the Nittany Lions. With Coach Shrewsberry, this program may really be taking off.