There are a lot of things on paper that are pointing to a bad weekend for the Penn State wrestling team at the Big Ten Tournament, March 3-4 in Evanston, Ill.

Going into the most powerful tournament in the country, the Nittany Lions have no ranked wrestlers. Many of the Lions will fail to be seeded in the top eight, and most will not be expected to qualify for the NCAA tournament March 15-17 in Iowa City, Ia., which takes the top seven finishers in each weight class in the Big Ten.

Luckily for Penn State wrestling coach Troy Sunderland, the Lions will still get a chance to prove the rankings and seedings wrong on the mat.

"Our guys are just going to have to wrestle above what the rankings say they will," he said.

The Nittany Lions will mostly be relying on their heavier weights, all with season records of .500 or above, to keep this from being the worst Big Ten tournament in Penn State history. The Nittany Lions have never failed to qualify fewer than four wrestlers, and have also never failed to have at least one wrestler in the finals.

Redshirt junior 184 pounder Jeff Knupp and 174 pounder Mark Becks have both wrestled in the tournament before. Knupp placed fourth last year, which was the best finish of any returning Nittany Lion. His dual meet season has not shown much promise, and he will have to wrestle better than his 2-4 mark in Big Ten dual meets to duplicate last season's performance. The Big Ten has four of its 184 pounders ranked in the top six, including No. 2 ranked Nate Patrick from Illinois.

Knupp will be forced to wrestle through the abdominal strain that sidelined him last weekend.

Becks will have to wrestle better than his 0-2 performance last season. He finished 18-10 overall this year with a 3-3 Big Ten record, and an impressive upset over No. 14 ranked Ben King from Illinois. He also hung tough with No. 2 ranked Otto Olson in the Michigan match. With only two wrestlers in the top ten and five in the top 20 at his weight class, Becks will actually have one of the easier roads to qualifying.

"I've definitely had an up and down season," Becks said. "But I feel like I've hung with all of the tough wrestlers I've faced. I think I can beat anyone as long as I believe I can."

Redshirt junior Pete Mielnik is wrestling in his first Big Ten tournament at 197 pounds, and it may also be his last. Mielnik, who finished 21-13 this season with six falls, has suffered a number of injuries in his college career, and is considering not returning next year because of them. He doesn't want to leave the sport with anything left on the mat.

"The last three years I haven't been able to wrestle in this tournament," Mielnik said. "And I don't know if I'm going to wrestle next year."

"I'm going out to try to win the whole thing. If I don't do that, I'll be very disappointed."

There will be six ranked wrestlers, and two in the top ten at 197 pounds standing in his way.

The most inexperienced wrestler will be at heavyweight, but that wrestler might be one of the Nittany Lions best hopes for a NCAA qualifier. Junior Bob Jones, who needed permission from football coach Joe Paterno to join the team in January, will be wrestling in his first individual tournament since high school at Big Tens.

Jones has been put through the grinder in his first collegiate season, wrestling the top three heavyweights in the nation, but he put together a 9-9 record and led the Lions in points, and gained valuable experience for this tournament. Those top three wrestlers will all be in the field, as well as two more in the top 20, and two more wrestlers that were previously ranked.

"This is my first tournament since high school," Jones said. "I'm just looking forward to getting back in the tournament atmosphere. Just being here is a great opportunity. I feel like the luckiest guy in the world right now being able to play two college sports. I'm just going to come out and wrestle my hardest."