Penn State Basketball: Next Four Out! The Climb lives!
By Evan Smith
As expected, Penn State Basketball is back, yo!
Penn State Basketball was listed back in Joe Lunardi’s “Next Four Out” released on Monday.
Hard to believe? Not really … the metrics LOVE Penn State Basketball (KenPom: 46, NET: 38). Even at 5-6 (2-5 in conference), Penn State would be a No. 2 seed in the NIT if it started today.
If the committee will take a team under .500, and if there even is a National Invitational Tournament this year (COVID-19), the Nittany Lions are very much in the mix.
— Joe Lunardi (@ESPNLunardi) January 25, 2021
Either way, Penn State has nothing but opportunity in front of it.
The Nittany Lions travel to No.13 Ohio State on Wednesday, and then No.14 Wisconsin visits Penn State on Saturday (3:00 pm) in the first leg of a home and home (at Wisconsin on Tuesday February 2nd at 7:00 pm).
One win and two losses will probably just drop Penn State Basketball out of the “Next Four Out,” but then three winnable games are on the horizon.
Fellow bubble team Maryland visits Friday February 5th. Then, Penn State travels to the “last team in” Michigan State Spartans on February 9th and last place Nebraska comes here on February 14th. A 3-3 stretch over the next six games is possible if we can steal one of the next two. And that same 3-3 stretch would likely keep Penn State right on the bubble.
The climb continues…
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