After its eighth loss in its last ten games, Penn State remained off Joe Lunardi’s “Bracketology” on Friday.
PSU continues to drop winnable games, so its NCAA Tournament hopes seem beyond reasonable. An at-large bid would be a gift in a loaded Big Ten conference, and earning the league’s automatic qualifier would be just as miraculous. However, with the bottom teams so bunched together, is there a path for Penn State to make it to the national tournament?
PENN STATE BASKETBALL IS ON THE VERGE OF TOTAL ELIMINATION, BUT …
With eight games left in conference play, Penn State remains only 1 game behind No. 15 seed Northwestern. Additionally, the three teams right above the Nittany Lions in the standings — Minnesota (4-8), Northwestern (4-8) and Iowa (4-7) — are rated as having harder remaining schedules. No. 12 seed Indiana — which also has a tougher close to the season — has been trending downwards since its win at the Palestra and is only two games above Penn State.
Penn State’s win against Purdue could become more important than a resume builder for Mike Rhoades, as that victory could be the tiebreaker against Minnesota and Indiana. Now, PSU would have to beat both teams down the stretch, but that isn’t unfathomable seeing as the first two meetings were competitive (at least on the scoreboard). The Nittany Lions already own the tiebreaker against Northwestern, but Iowa would get the nod in the case of mirroring records.
According to ESPN, Penn State’s projected conference win-loss record (6.4-13.6) places it just outside of the 15 teams to make it to the league tournament. Even then, No. 12 and 16 are predicted to be separated by less than two games.
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.All hope might not be lost for Penn State to make it to the Big Ten postseason, but its chances of winning the conference (not even listed on DraftKings Sportsbook) are improbable, to say the least. But, hey, they don’t call it “March Madness” for nothing.
UPDATED CONFERENCE BIDS
The SEC continues to project to be the big earner come selection “Selection Sunday” with 13 bids. The Big Ten trails with 10:
- No. 2 seed Purdue
- No. 4 seed Michigan State
- No. 4 seed Wisconsin
- No. 5 seed UCLA
- No. 6 seed Illinois
- No. 6 seed Maryland
- No. 6 seed Michigan
- No. 7 seed Oregon
- No. 9 seed Ohio State
- No. 11 seed Nebraska
Lunardi’s next update will come Tuesday.
