Where Penn State basketball stands in Joe Lunardi’s bracket with one week remaining
Penn State’s recent back-to-back wins against two of the bottom feeders in the Big Ten standings was enough to regain some momentum for the Nittany Lions and their hopes of returning to the NCAA Tournament. But ESPN bracketologist has Penn State sitting just on the outside of the tournament as the final week of the regular season gets underway.
Lunardi’s most recent update to his bracketology outlook occurred after Penn State’s road win at Ohio State, with the most recent update to his bracketology being posted Friday morning before this weekend’s scheduled games. The next time Lunardi updates his bracket will be after Penn State’s home game against Rutgers, and the stakes continue to be high with every game played by the Nittany Lions. Lunardi currently has Penn State as his first team out of the NCAA Tournament, so a strong finish to the regular season could be enough to get Penn State into the big dance regardless of what happens in the Big Ten tournament, however, it would certainly help to win a couple of games in the Big Ten tournament too.
For those looking to see how Penn State is doing compared to other teams on the bubble, Lunardi’s last four teams in include Wisconsin, USC, Oklahoma State, and Mississippi State. Penn State went 0-2 against the Badgers this season, so that obviously does not help Penn State’s case if a spot in the tournament comes down to the Nittany Lions and Badgers.
The next three teams out according to Lunardi behind Penn State are Utah State, North Carolina, and Charleston. It is hard to ignore the possibility that UNC could get in just based on the basketball brand compared to Penn State if it comes down to those two schools. Penn State didn’t get to face Charleston in this season’s Charleston Classic at the beginning of the season. Utah State is a bit of a threat as well, but Jalen Pickett could prove to be a difference maker to help Penn State keep an edge over the other schools just missing the cut too.
Lunardi’s last four teams in getting a bye from the opening round include Pittsburgh, Nevada, Memphis, and West Virginia.
Penn State will have an opportunity to improve its bracket outlook this week. Penn State hosts Rutgers on Sunday evening, visits Northwestern on Wednesday, and hosts Maryland for the regular-season finale next Sunday, March 5. All three opponents are currently single-seeded teams in Lunardi’s bracketology. If Penn State goes 2-1 against these three schools before the Big Ten tournament, that would be a nice boost to the tournament profile for the Nittany Lions. Going 1-2 would likely dig a deeper hole to climb out of in the Big Ten tournament.
Going 3-0 though, well that would probably make Penn State a near lock for a spot in the tournament.
But first, Rutgers.
