No matter how ugly the win was on Wednesday at No. 18 Illinois, Penn State got itself yet another quality win against a top 25 opponent. That makes for three wins over top 25 teams in the RPI (Purdue, at Michigan State, at Illinois), as well as two more wins over top 50 teams (Minnesota, Michigan).
The Nittany Lions appeared to be almost assuredly headed to the NIT after the three-game Michigan-Wisconsin-Purdue losing streak, but back-to-back wins over Minnesota and Illinois have them back in various NCAA tournament projections.
Here's a rundown of where a few outlets have the Lions after the Illinois game:
-In Joe Lunardi's latest Bracketology, Penn State is an 11-seed playing against 6-seed West Virginia in Minneapolis. Amazingly, eight Big Ten teams get the nod in this one.
-Jerry Palm's CollegeRPI.com puts Penn State as a 12-seed against 5-seed Syracuse in Portland.
-The Bracket Project has Penn State as the third team in the "First Four Out", meaning the Lions are the third bubble team not in the tournament.
-CollegeHoops.net puts Penn State in the tournament as a 12-seed. No specific matchups are listed, but the opponent would be either UCLA, Arizona State, Gonzaga or Xavier.
The Lions have the weekend off and can sit back and watch Illinois visit Ohio State at 1 p.m. Sunday. The Buckeyes have a very quick turnaround to the ESPN Super Tuesday contest with Penn State -- which Matt, Nate and I will be making the trip for and bringing you coverage from Columbus.
Right now, Penn State holds a 19-8 (8-6 Big Ten) record with games at Ohio State, vs. Indiana, vs. Illinois and at Iowa left before the Big Ten tournament in Indianapolis. It should be an exciting few weeks for Penn State basketball as the Lions try to make their first Big Dance since 2001's Sweet 16 run.
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