There are a lot of people out there who don’t follow Penn State basketball closely who are wondering how the Nittany Lions can still be considered an NCAA Tournament contender with a 4-7 record in the Big Ten and 7-8 record overall.
Your Nittany Lions' 2020-21 schedule is currently the toughest MBB schedule recorded in https://t.co/FUjEXrI6gQ history, dating back to the 2001-02 season. 🔵🦁⚪ pic.twitter.com/ggXjTiGK1F
— Penn State Men’s Basketball (@PennStateMBB) February 8, 2021
The Nittany Lions haven’t just played a tough schedule, they have several wins over highly rated KenPom.com teams, including:
No. 11 Wisconsin
No. 24 Rutgers
No. 36 Virginia Tech
No. 44 Maryland
The Lions also have wins over No. 57 VCU and No. 72 Northwestern. And their Big Ten losses have come against Michigan (No. 3), Illinois (No. 4), Ohio State (No. 8), Wisconsin (No. 11), Purdue (No. 22) and Indiana (No. 25). They also have a non-con loss to Seton Hall (No. 32), a game the Lions led by 8 inside of 2 minutes but lost, which has turned out to be a crucial defeat.
Add all that up, and it’s the biggest reason why Penn State is No. 30 in the KenPom rankings and No. 28 in the NCAA NET rankings.
As of now, Penn State is the first team out in Joe Lunardi’s bracketology on ESPN.
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