A lot can happen in the college basketball world in the span of a week. One week your tournament profile may look pretty safe, but the next you could be on the bubble through almost no fault of your own. Such may be the case for Penn State, a team that continues to float in bubble status for ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi.
Lunardi updated his weekly bracket on Tuesday and moved Penn State a tad closer to missing the tournament, but the Nittany Lions are still in the tournament according to Lunardi. A week ago Lunardi had Penn State as one of the last four teams not having to play in the opening round games. But despite not losing a game since the last bracket update, Lunardi shifted Penn State down into his last four teams in.
Penn State sits at the top of the last four in with Utah, Utah State, and Oklahoma State the other three teams in the last four in. Penn State would face Oklahoma State in a matchup of no. 11 seeds in the opening round game.
Lunardi dropping Penn State down a slight peg is largely due to Rutgers making a big push in the last 24 hours with an upset of Purdue. Rutgers handed No. 1 Purdue a 65-64 loss on Monday night, giving a major boost to Rutgers’ bracket profile. Rutgers was among Lunardi’s last four teams in a week ago, so Rutgers moved ahead of Penn State following the big win.
According to Lunardi’s updated bracket, Penn State would face North Carolina if it topped Oklahoma State in the opening round.
Penn State will be on the road Wednesday night at Michigan with hopes of adding another good win to its bracket profile for Lunardi to consider.
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