After a 75-73 loss to Washington at the Bryce Jordan Center on Saturday afternoon, Penn State alone in last place in the Big Ten with a 3-12 conference record. Mike Rhoades’s team has lost 10 of its last 11 games, and in previous years the Nittany Lions would at least have the hope of an improbable run through the Big Ten Tournament to salvage the season, but that’s not the case in the expanded 18-team conference.
As the Big Ten grew to include UCLA, USC, Oregon, and Washington, its conference tournament tried not to. The conference opted for a 15-team tournament to decide its champion, eliminating the bottom three teams at the end of the regular season, and that’s currently where Penn State resides just behind Northwestern and Washington.
As of February 17, Rutgers holds the final spot in the Big Ten Tournament with a 5-10 conference record, two games better than the Nittany Lions. The two teams split in their season series.
The new 15-team format awards double-byes to the top four seeds, which begin their tournament run in the third round. Seeds 5-9 are awarded a first-round bye, beginning play in the second round while three first-round games between seeds No. 10 and 15, 11 and 14, and 12 and 13 are decided.
A year ago, Penn State earned the 11th seed in the tournament with a 9-11 conference record and managed to advance to the second round with a win over Michigan, this year’s current top seed. Two years ago, in the program’s final season under Micah Shrewsberry, the Nittany Lions Penn State claimed the final first-round bye as the No. 10 seed and advanced all the way to the conference title game against Purdue. The effort was enough to claim an at-large bid into the NCAA Tournament.
March Madness dreams have long faded away for this year’s Nittany Lions men’s basketball squad, and with a few more losses, so will a trip to Indianapolis for the conference tournament. This week, Penn State will face Nebraska and Minnesota, two must-win games against teams with under .500 records in conference play. Then, the schedule wraps up against Indiana, Maryland, and Wisconsin. As it currently stands, three more losses will ensure that Penn State misses the tournament, and that number could easily drop to two or even one if Rutgers, Washington, or Northwestern do any more winning.