It was a bit of a tough week to be a Nittany Lion on the basketball court. A loss on the road at Clemson in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge has damaged Penn State’s bracketro9logy outlook just enough to keep them home during tourney time. This, of course, is according to the updated bracketology by ESPN’s Joe Lunardi.
Lunardi has Penn State currently being listed as his first team out of the NCAA tournament in March. The good news is there is plenty of time to help boost Penn State’s tournament profile, and the weekly bracketology changes from week to week. But this is never a spot you want to be in as you are about to head into conference play for the majority of the remainder of the season.
Last week, Lunardi had Penn State among the last four teams in not having to play in one of the opening-round games. The other three schools not having to play an opening-round game included Michigan, Kansas State, and TCU. Arizona State, LSU, NC State, and Ole Miss were the last four teams that would have to play in the opening round games according to Lunardi.
This week will see Penn State play two Big Ten games with a chance to dramatically change Penn State’s tournament profile. Penn State will host Michigan State on Wednesday evening and visit Illinois on Saturday before getting a week off and a few more non-conference games to close out 2022. Michigan State is among Lunardi’s last four in as the week begins.
Lunardi’s updated bracketology has the Big Ten with nine teams in the tournament at this point in time. Penn State is hoping to make it 10.
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