It came as no surprise that Penn State was nowhere to be found on Joe Lunardi’s “Bracketology” Friday morning. Following its third straight loss, the Nittany Lions finished January 2-7 and are now 3-8 in conference play.
PSU sits 17th in the Big Ten standings as of Friday and has nine games left to fight for the last spot in the conference tournament. With a plummeting record and mounting injury concerns, the sense of urgency has never been higher if Mike Rhoades and his team want to be playing into March.
Penn State Basketball Injury Report: Puff Johnson’s Leadership Has Been Missed
PENN STATE BASKETBALL’S TOURNAMENT HOPES
The Nittany Lions’ recent play will most likely prevent them from earning an at-large bid come Selection Sunday. In key tournament evaluation metrics, both resume and analytical, here is where PSU stands:
- 3-9 in Quad 1 and 2 games
- 2-6 against top 50 ESPN BPI opponents
- 77th in Wins Above Bubble (-1.195)
- 53rd in NET
- 50th in KenPom
- 67th in Bart Torvik’s T-Rankings
Over the final nine games, Penn State will have multiple opportunities to improve its resume, with six games against Quad 2 or better competition. Even with those opportunities, PSU’s remaining strength of schedule is the easiest in the Big Ten. If it can capitalize on that fact — which may come down to winning a few close games — Penn State could give itself a chance at making the NCAA Tournament with an at-large bid. The most likely path, though, will be to earn the conference crown, to which PSU stands as a distant favorite at +50000 to do so.
UPDATED CONFERENCE BIDS
The SEC continues to project strong in Joe Lunardiโs updated bracket, holding 13 potential bids. The Big Ten trails with nine:
- No. 3 seed Michigan State
- No. 3 seed Purdue
- No. 4 seed Oregon
- No. 4 seed Wisconsin
- No. 5 seed Illinois
- No. 6 seed Maryland
- No. 6 seed Michigan
- No. 7 seed UCLA
- No. 10 seed Ohio State
Lunardi will update his bracket again Tuesday.
