In what has to be considered a surprise, Penn State was not selected for the postseason NIT on Sunday night.
The Nittany Lions have just an 11-14 record, and they went just 7-12 in the Big Ten (8-13 when considering two Big Ten Tournament games). But that wasn’t good enough to be selected for the 16-team NIT field.
Not only was PSU not among the 16 teams invited, the Lions were not listed as one of the “first four” teams out in the selection show on ESPNU. Those teams will be on standbye, in case another team cannot participate. The first four teams on standbye are Belmont, Furman, Marshall and UAB.
RELATED: The full NIT bracket can be found here
There are only 16 teams in this year’s NIT field, down from the usual 32. All games will be played in the Dallas/Fort Worth area.
Teams did not need to have a winning record in order to be selected for NIT. However, no team in the field has a record below .500.
Penn State is No. 42 in the NCAA NET rankings, which were used to help select teams for the NCAA Tournament. Because of that, and the Lions’ good wins this season, many believed PSU would make the NIT.
But the school is looking for a new head coach, after interim coach Jim Ferry led the squad this season. Athletic director Sandy Barbour has said that she wants to name the next head coach immediately after the season.
Given where the program is, and the decision that looms with a new head coach, is it possible that Penn State might have been selected but chose to opt out of the NIT? Hopefully we can find out the answer to that in the coming days. Other teams such as Xavier, Seton Hall and St. John’s reportedly opted out of the NIT.
Update: Barbour tweeted this out late Sunday, so it does appear that PSU was ready to accept an NIT bid if it had received one.
So appreciative&proud of these young men&their hearts&minds, along w/ @CoachJimFerry and our entire staff! They gave @penn_state everything they had, every night! The NIT not selecting them is a big miss, but they will persevere. They are #Resilient! #WeAre #BetterTogether🦁 pic.twitter.com/glmEfyTPcm
— Sandy Barbour (@SandyB_PSUAD) March 15, 2021
Ferry said after a loss to Wisconsin in the Big Ten Tournament that the Lions would accept an NIT bid if invited.
“We will absolutely play in the NIT, and we are all on the same page — school, the players, we all want to keep this thing going. So, if we get invited, we’d be more than happy. We’d be excited to play in the NIT, absolutely.”
These tweets from Jamari Wheeler and Myles Dread would seem to indicate that Penn State did want to be invited.
😳🤬🤦🏽♂️
— Jamari Wheeler (@Jamariwheeler5) March 15, 2021
💔
— Myles Dread (@mylesd12_) March 15, 2021
Giger’s take
Penn State’s season is over, and to be honest, that’s a good thing. It would have been fun to see if the Lions could have made a run in the NIT, and they certainly could have done just that. PSU has won the tournament the last two times it appeared (2009, 2018).
But it’s time to move on.
The program needs to hire a new coach, and frankly, getting that process completed as quickly as possible is more important than seeing what the team might be able to do in the NIT over the next couple of weeks.
Going to the NIT this year would have been different.
First, it probably would have cost the school money to do so, and as I’ve written about extensively, finances with men’s basketball are a very precarious thing. What’s the point of losing ANY money if you can spend that toward the next head coach or his staff?
Second, what if Penn State went on a great run and actually won the NIT? That may only add more pressure to AD Sandy Barbour about perhaps having to retain Ferry as head coach, and at this point, that simply would not be a good move.
The season is over.
It’s time for Penn State to start preparing for the future, whatever that may hold.
Fan reaction
Penn State gets robbed of March Madness last year. Gets robbed of the NIT this year. This is just OUTRAGEOUS
pic.twitter.com/6MLUwgH4Az— Barstool Penn State (@PSUBarstool) March 15, 2021
PSU has the toughest strength of schedule in the country and probably more quad 1 and 2 wins than a lot of teams in the NCAA Tournament. Unless the NIT has a .500 requirement this is total disrespect.
— Joe Del Bene (@JoeDelBene18) March 15, 2021
Penn State had a better KenPom rating than every single team included in the NIT field.
— David Eckert (@davideckert98) March 15, 2021
Even with their record, based on their NET ranking, it's ridiculous that this team will not be playing postseason ball.
— Tony Chiavaroli (@Tonystormwx) March 15, 2021
They deserved and earned a bid, clearly the NIT decided not to select below .500 teams. They weren't even a first four out team so they were never truly considered.
— FKAnthony2 (@anthony2_fk) March 15, 2021
Ya can't take under .500 teams—-Cory—it just looks like shit on the docket? Where is Duke?
— John Furgele (@Furgele228) March 15, 2021
So we're cheated of more bad basketball? Sounds like a win to me.
— DyZ (@DyZ_B) March 15, 2021
Either they decided against or Jim Ferry was relieved of his duties
— Ben Stroup (@stroup_ben) March 15, 2021
Pretty surprising. No IU either
— Faze (@dfaze) March 15, 2021
Probably just as well in the long run.
— Steve Tuttle (@SteveTu73357179) March 15, 2021
Definitely more than a bit surprising!! Despite the losing record they played a very difficult schedule and had quality wins this season (Rutgers, Wisconsin, VT, VCU). They should’ve gotten a bid for the NIT.
— ThatDamnFox (@DoctorFox007) March 15, 2021
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