What Penn State Basketball must do to keep flickering NIT hopes alive

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Michigan Wolverines guard DeVante’ Jones (12) and Penn State Nittany Lions forward John Harrar (Mandatory Credit: Rich Barnes-USA TODAY Sports) /

The Nittany Lions’ NIT roadmap

There’s an elephant in the room when it comes to the NIT.

For years, it was assumed a .500 record was required for consideration. Then, just a few years ago, reports surfaced that the .500 record requirement was to be removed and the NIT would solely focus on taking the most deserving teams. However, nothing official was ever released by the NIT.

Yeah, it’s technically not mandatory, but also seems like a tough bridge to cross
— John Templon (@nybuckets) February 7, 2022

Let’s look at the worst record of each team over the past few years:

2021 — Mississippi State (15-14)

2020 — no tournament (COVID-19 pandemic)

2019 — Texas and Butler (16-16)

2018 — Temple (17-15)

2017 — Clemson (17-15)

All of this is to say Penn State Basketball has to find a way to get to .500, regardless of how strong their metrics are.

Last year, Penn State Basketball finished 7-12, well under .500, but was the 35th ranked team in the nation according to KenPom and 42 int the NET Rankings. In 2018/2019, Penn State was 14-18 but was 43 in KenPom. Neither team was selected to the NIT. While metrics aren’t bad this year (82 in KenPom and 90 in the NET), they’re nowhere near the strength of previous teams not selected to the NIT.

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