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Big Ten, NCAA Tournament Updates: How they impact Penn State Basketball

By Evan Smith

Apr 8, 2019; Minneapolis, MN, USA; Virginia Cavaliers players during the playing of "One Shining Moment" after defeating the Texas Tech Red Raiders in the championship game of the 2019 men's Final Four at US Bank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 8, 2019; Minneapolis, MN, USA; Virginia Cavaliers players during the playing of "One Shining Moment" after defeating the Texas Tech Red Raiders in the championship game of the 2019 men's Final Four at US Bank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports /
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Both the B1G Conference and the NCAA revealed some important tournament details Thursday.

Big 10 Conference — The B1G Conference annouced the times of their tournament, starting with the No.12 seed vs the No.13 seed on Wednesday March 10th at 6:30 pm on the Big Ten Network.  Thursday and Friday’s games will start at 11:30 am.  The semifinals start at 1:00 pm on Saturday March 13th at 1:00 pm on CBS and the final is at 3:30 on Sunday, also on CBS.

Effect on Penn State Basketball — currently, Penn State Basketball holds down the No. 12 seed in the conference, meaning the Nittany Lions kick-off the tournament (right now vs Northwestern). The No. 12 seed is an unusual seed, in that they’d know not just their first opponent (the No. 13 seed), but their second opponent (the No. 5 seed, now Purdue) and actually their quarterfinal opponent (the No. 4 seed, currently Iowa).

NCAA Tournament — Once the bracket is released, teams will not be reseeded.  If a team is forced to withdraw (due to COVID-19) within 48 hours of the field, a replacement team will introduced into the championship.  It’s unclear at this point, but those replacement teams could come from the NIT (National Invitational Tournament).  The committee will seed the “First Four Out” teams for priority as replacement teams.  After 48 hours of the announcement of the field, a replacement will not be named (and we can assume their scheduled opponent will simply advance to the next game).  Replacement Teams will be solely the best available teams considered for an at-large bid.

Effect on Penn State Basketball — well, the Lions have to win their last three regular season games, and then this could get interesting.

Dare I say, it’s an uphill #climb.

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