With effectively a week between Wednesday night’s victory over Michigan and next Wednesday’s game against Indiana, Penn State basketball has an opportunity to rest tired legs, practice and get ready for the final 12-game stretch that will define much of the Nittany Lions’ season.
For the rest of us it’s an opportunity to hit a collective reset button and regroup with everything we know so far about Penn State’s resume and NCAA Tournament chances just half the midway point of the regular season.
On the bracketology front, Penn State slots in fairly uniformly as a No. 7 seed by both Joe Junardi of ESPN and Mike DeCourcy of Sporting News and the Big Ten Network. The Nittany Lions could be part of a massive slate of Big Ten teams making the tournament this season with some analysts projecting as many as 12 bids from the conference making the NCAA Tournament this season.
Down in the weeds Penn State is rated the 29th best team in the NET rankings system which is one of the factors the NCAA selection committee uses to determine the field. The NET’s actual formula is not a publicly released equation, but it largely is used to define a team’s quality relative to victories, play and results.
In terms of strength of schedule, this metric (for whatever reason) appears to always be formulated differently depending on who you ask, but CBS Sports slots Penn State in with the 10th toughest schedule in America, backed largely by a Big Ten conference that is as competitive top to bottom as it has ever been. A smart out of conference slate also helps Penn State in this area as well.
Best wins so far? Outside of the conference the Nittany Lions have largely been rewarded for this victories. Syracuse currently sits at 12-7 having won eight of its last 11 games, most recently two back-to-back road victories over Virginia Tech and Notre Dame.
Alabama is 11-7 and 4-2 in the SEC having turned out three straight wins, including an upset over Auburn, and a competitive loss against Kentucky.
Georgetown is 12-8 but between an up and down season off the court and struggles on it, the Hoyas might be headed toward more good than bad. The positive news for Penn State is that the Big East will hold up the quality of a win over Georgetown on the road, even if Georgetown crashes and burns when it’s all said and done.
Lastly. Yale, at 13-4. The Ivy League favorites are projected to go 23-7 during the regular season and 11-3 in conference play. Even if the Bulldogs don’t make the NCAA Tournament that Penn State win will carry weight having beaten what is almost certainly bound to be a 20-win team.
As for Penn State itself, KenPom projects the Nittany Lions to finish 21-10 and 11-9 in Big Ten play, a figure that ought to be more than good enough for a tournament invitation and a quality seed at that.
But of course projections are not reality, and Penn State will get back to work next Wednesday at 8:30 to host Indiana, a Hoosier team fresh off an upset victory over Michigan State.
