Skip to main content

Black Shoe Diaries

https://www.blackshoediaries.com/ | 612 entries published

DOMINATE THE STATE

Latest Entries

Nittany Lions in the NFL: Early March Mock Draft Round-Up

Draft sites used: ESPN, NFL Network, CBS Sports, Yahoo, PFF Previous mock draft projections in italics Drew Allar: PFF: 93rd to Rams (Chadwick’s March 9th mock) Dani Dennis-Sutton: PFF: 84th to Packers (Wasserman’s February 23rd mock) Olaivavega Ioane: ESPN: 14th to Ravens* (Jordan Reid’s March 5th mock), 22nd to Chargers (Kiper’s February 24th mock. He […]

about 2 hours ago | 0 reads

MMPG – You Got to Know When to Hold Em

Penn State men’s basketball is likely headed for an early end to their season, though honestly, not much earlier than in previous years. The team is last place in the conference, having gone just 3-17 in the B1G, and are 12-19 overall. A decent 9-2 start to the year in the non-conference quickly turned into […]

1 day ago | 0 reads

2026 Wrestling Big Ten Tourney: Session III Recap & Session IV Preview

Session III Results Consolation Semifinals 285 – (4) Cole Mirasola, Penn State vs (10) Ben Kueter, Iowa The wrestlers tied up for most of the first period, with each wrestler making a few attempts. Cole was able to get in on a single, switching to a double and dropping Kueter to his hips. Kueter fought […]

1 day ago | 0 reads

Men’s Basketball: Rutgers 74, Penn State 62

A week ago, Penn State showed some life in a home victory against likely NCAA tournament selection Iowa. There seemed to be some life around the program and maybe a bit of a late season rally of entertaining play for the conference’s youngest team. Well, last Wednesday, Penn State was flattened at home by Ohio […]

2 days ago | 1 read

2026 Wrestling Big Ten Tourney: Session II Recap & Session III Preview

Session II Results Consolation Rd. of 12 141 (6) Braeden Davis, Penn State vs (12) Danny Pucino, Illinois Davis came out aggressive, looking to work an Russian tie that he transitioned into a single. Pucino attempted to hit an elevator but Davis was able to keep Pucino planted on his back. Pucino tried turning off […]

2 days ago | 0 reads

2026 Wrestling Big Ten Tourney: Session I Recap & Session II Preview

Session I Recap Rankings/Seed Note: For the wrestler headings below, I’m showing Intermat Rankings denoted with the “#”, and then for the individual bouts, I show the tournament seeds in parentheses. 125 lbs – #1 Luke Lilledahl Quarterfinals (1) Luke Lilledahl, Penn State vs (8) Dean Peterson, Iowa Luke stepped laterally to start, peppering quick […]

3 days ago | 0 reads

2026 Wrestling Big Ten Tourney: Session I Preview & Open Thread

Schedule Upcoming Penn State Bouts Helpful Resources Bubbaland.net aka the “BubbaPage” BSDWrestle’s play-by-play maestro Bubba graciously provide timely and play-by-play updates. There’s a ton of great stuff on his site; some features: Penn State Wrestling Club Running Team Score Homepage BSDWrestle’s Big Ten Tourney Hub Housekeeping Here’s the rough BSDWrestle posting schedule we’ve mapped out […]

3 days ago | 0 reads

2026 Wrestling Big Ten Tourney Brackets Released

The 2026 Big Ten Wrestling Tournament is scheduled for this weekend in State College, Pennsylvania. This past Monday, the Big Ten released a laugher of a data set, rolled out as “pre-seeds.” As BSDWrestle’s JiC put it to us afterward: The B1G threw us a twist this year and parted with the old “coaches vote” […]

3 days ago | 2 reads

No. 11 Wisconsin 5, No. 6 Penn State 2: A Sinking Ship

Penn State lost its third straight game, an embarrassing 5-2 loss to Wisconsin at Pegula Ice Arena. Charlie Cerrato finally returned to the lineup, but his presence was not enough to wake up the team. The Nittany Lions fell behind 4-0 under siege from the Badgers’ attack early in the second period, and outside of […]

NHL

3 days ago | 0 reads

Winter/Spring Sports Update: Women’s Hockey Advances to AHA Title Game

Women’s Hockey (31-5) The women’s hockey team swept Syracuse with 7-0 and 2-1 wins to advance to their fourth straight AHA title game. Tessa Janecke recorded a hat trick in Game 1 to pace the Lions to an easy 7-0 win. Katie DeSa held the line with 15 saves in Game 2 to gain the […]

NHL

4 days ago | 3 reads

No. 12 Wisconsin 7, No. 5 Penn State 3: Mailing It In

Wisconsin turned in a dominant effort in the third period to cruise to a 7-3 win over Penn State on Thursday night. The Nittany Lions have suddenly gone cold with the postseason approaching. The game was tied entering the third period, but an ugly meltdown by Penn State allowed the game to spiral out of […]

NHL

4 days ago | 6 reads

Penn State Fires Women’s Basketball Coach Carolyn Kieger

At least one of the basketball programs will be searching for a new head coach this offseason, as Penn State announced a “change in leadership” regarding its women’s team. The announcement comes on the heels of the Lady Lions finishing 16th out of 18 Big Ten teams at 11-18 overall, and 4-14 in conference play, […]

5 days ago | 5 reads

Penn State Hockey Series Preview: No. 12 Wisconsin

No. 5 Penn State closes out its regular season with a home series against No. 12 Wisconsin. The Nittany Lions are locked into the three seed in the Big Ten Tournament and are a lock to make the NCAA Tournament. The Badgers are looking to secure their spot in the dance with at least a […]

NHL

5 days ago | 2 reads

NCAA Hockey Bracketology: March 5

As of this morning, the NCAA Tournament picture looks like this, based on NPI and conference standings. Please note that projected conference tournament winners are in italics and are based on current in-conference point percentage: Locks (11): Michigan, Michigan State, North Dakota, Western Michigan, Penn State, Providence, Quinnipiac, Denver, Cornell, Minnesota-Duluth, DartmouthBubble In (3): Wisconsin, Boston College, […]

5 days ago | 3 reads

Ohio State 94, Penn State 62: Is It Over Yet?

Ohio State beat Penn State 94-62 on Wednesday night in a pitiful effort on Josh Reed’s Senior Night. The Nittany Lions fell to 3-16 in conference play and are all but locked into the bottom spot in the Big Ten standings. Penn State shot just 4 for 22 from the floor in the first half, […]

5 days ago | 1 read

Penn State Basketball Preview: Ohio State

Penn State will host Ohio State tonight in the final home game of the regular season. It has been a nightmare of a season for the Nittany Lions, but they will have a chance to ruin the Buckeyes’ NCAA Tournament aspirations with an upset win tonight. How to Watch Who: Ohio State BuckeyesNET Ranking (PSU): […]

6 days ago | 3 reads

This Week In Happy Valley: Hockey Postseason Underway

Women’s hockey advanced to the AHA championship game with an easy sweep of Syracuse. Friday’s men’s hockey game against Wisconsin will be a White Out. Student tickets are on sale for hockey’s Big Ten quarterfinal game on March 11. Tony Rojas on rehabbing his knee and his decision to return to Penn State in 2026. […]

NHL

7 days ago | 2 reads

Wrestling Media Availability with Cael Sanderson and Mitchell Mesenbrink

Head Coach Cael Sanderson and 165 lb starter Mitchell Mesenbrink met with the media ahead of the Big Ten Tournament, which gets underway at 10 am on Saturday, March 7 at the Bryce Jordan Center Cael Sanderson – Head Coach Thoughts on the New Big Ten Pre-seeding System I can’t explain it. I was there […]

8 days ago | 3 reads

2026 Wrestling Big Ten Tourney Hub

BSDWrestle should have a preseeds post up shortly, and will post more content to this hub throughout the week. Helpful Resources Bubbaland.net aka the “BubbaPage” BSDWrestle’s play-by-play maestro Bubba has a ton of great stuff on his site; some features:

8 days ago | 1 read

B1G Wrestling Pre-seeds Released

Happy B1G Wrestling week! We start off the festivities with the highly anticipated tournament pre-seeds today. As expected, hands will be wrung, pearls will be clutched, and we will all reach the conclusion that the guys and gals in charge have no idea what they’re doing. Fortunately for us, Cael’s approach is that you wrestle […]

8 days ago | 1 read

MMQB – Way Too Early Football Record Prediction

We’re still 5 months away from Penn State football returning to Beaver Stadium, but I thought it would be a good idea to take a way too early look at the schedule and see if we can sort out what record the Nittany Lions may have in 2026. Here’s the sched: The first 3 weeks […]

8 days ago | 3 reads

Notre Dame 4, No. 5 Penn State 3 (OT): Playing With Fire

Notre Dame upset No. 5 Penn State 4-3 in overtime on Saturday night. The Nittany Lions struggled all weekend defensively and finally got burned on a horrible turnover that easily set up the game-winning goal for Notre Dame. Penn State will return home next weekend for one final regular season series before the postseason run […]

9 days ago | 3 reads