Penn State Basketball’s NIT bubble rooting interests

Who Penn State Basketball must root for, to help NIT chances

Figuring out to root against the NIT Bubble is difficult under normal circumstances but significantly harder this year.  And, because most teams under NIT consideration have already been eliminated from their conference tournament, there’s not as much to root for or against.  But we gotta do everything we can to make #PSUforNIT happen, so here’s who to root against (current seeds in Barking Crow and D Ratings):

Mississippi (8, 1) — vs LSU tonight at 9:30 on the SECN

UC Santa Barbara* (9, NR) — vs UC Davis tonight at 9:00 pm on ESPN 3

Wenstern Kentucky* (13, NR) — vs UAB today at 12:00 pm on CBSS

– UAB Is also just outside the NIT looking in

Utah State (3, 4) — vs Colorado State today at 11:00 pm on CBSS

Memphis (6, 6) — vs UCF today at 10:00 pm ON ESPNU

Seton Hall (10, 5) — vs Georgetown today at 6:00 pm on FS1

– Georgetown is also just outside the NIT looking in; probably better if Seton Hall just wins

Lousiana Tech* (15, 13) — vs North Texas tody at 3:00 pm on CBSS

Toledo* — vs Ohio today at 5:00 pm on CBSS

Buffalo — vs Akron today at 7:30 pm on CBSS

SMU — vs Cincinnati today at 3:00 pm on ESPN2

*of note, these teams are 1 seeds in their conference, meaning if they lose one NCAA Tournament bubble team will fall to the NIT, reducing the amount of NIT teams by one.*

There’s also the COVID-19 situation.

Duke, who likely would have been headed to the NIT, may not be eligible to play in the NIT now.  This could happen to any team, of course.  Virginia just announced a positive test today.  If they can’t play in the NCAA Tournament, that’s an NIT team moving up in the NCAA Tournament, potentially opening up another NIT spot.  We are not rooting for this, just noting this added complexity when projecting the NIT.

So, go cheer against these teams.  Because #theclimb ain’t quite over yet.  As long as the NIT doesn’t make any annoucement about a record requirement, we may have some more basketball ahead of us.  And keep tweeting #PSUforNIT!