Penn State Guard Sam Sessoms Granted Immediate Eligibility By NCAA

Penn State basketball received some good news Friday night as Jon Rothstein reported that former Binghamton guard Sam Sessoms received a waiver from the NCAA allowing him to be immediately eligible for the 2020-2021 season.

Sessoms, a 6-foot-0, 188-pound guard, played for Binghamton for two seasons, averaging 18.6 PPG, 4.1 APG, 4.1 RPG, 1.3 SPG, and shooting 43.2% from the field and 34% from three on 6.4 attempts per game.

This is a big boost for a Penn State program that is tasked with replacing Lamar Stevens, who carried a large offensive load last season. The Nittany Lions return their second-leading scorer Myreon Jones (13.3 PPG), fourth-leading scorer Myles Dread (8.6 PPG), and fifth-leading scorer Izaiah Brockington (8.1 PPG), so the added scoring (and shooting) from Sessoms is a much needed addition.

It will be interesting to see what direction Penn State goes with when it comes to Sessoms role — is he a starter? Is he someone who comes off the bench? Here was Penn State’s projected lineup prior to Sessoms becoming eligible.

1: Jamari Wheeler
2: Myreon Jones
3: Myles Dread
4: Seth Lundy
5: John Harrar

One could argue that Brockington could start as a well, so the addition of Sessoms gives Penn State a pretty-well-set top *seven, it’s just a matter of finding he best grouping. They’ll be small — do we see a Wheeler-Sessoms-Jones-Dread-Harrar lineup — but the offensive potency is there.

*Obviously, one of Trent Buttrick or Adbou Tsimbila will see minutes as the backup 5.