It ended up being an odd week for Penn State in more ways than one. Not only did the Nittany Lions have a weekend off, but they won a game 38-33 at Illinois.

No matter how ugly the score was though, it gave them a boost in the RPI. Last week, they sat at No. 70. As of Sunday morning, RealTimeRPI had bumped the Lions up to No. 61. That may be at the tail end of NCAA tournament bubble range, but quality wins at Michigan State, at Illinois and at home vs. Purdue give Penn State a legitimate shot at dancing in March. Tuesday's contest at Ohio State will be huge, and the three of us will be in Columbus to bring you coverage.

With two more weeks left in the regular season, here's one of the final looks at Penn State's opponents (Feb. 16-22):

Non-Conference Opponents
-William & Mary... W 76-54 at Towson, L 53-39 vs. Manhattan
-NJIT... L 70-46 at Bryant, L 70-51 at Houston Baptist
-Hartford... L 62-44 vs. Binghamton, L 57-35 at Marist
-New Hampshire... W 63-54 vs. Maine, L 70-69 at Binghamton
-Penn... W 62-55 at Princeton, L 69-59 vs. Dartmouth, L 66-60 vs. Harvard
-Rhode Island... W 71-59 vs. Massachusetts, W 77-58 at Fordham
-Towson... L 76-54 vs. William & Mary, L 80-64 vs. Morgan State
-Georgia Tech... L 87-69 at Wake Forest, L 81-73 vs. Clemson
-Temple... W 72-45 vs. Fordham, W 70-56 vs. St. Bonaventure
-Army... L 58-36 vs. American, L 59-54 at Navy
-Mount St. Mary's...L 70-65 at Wagner, W 93-63 vs. St. Francis (Pa.)
-Lafayette... W 71-68 vs. Bucknell, W 68-66 at Lehigh
-Sacred Heart... W 101-67 at Central Conn. State, W 83-61 vs. Monmouth

Big Ten Standings
1. Michigan State 11-3 (21-5)
2. Purdue 10-4 (21-6)
3. Illinois 10-5 (22-6)
4. Penn State 8-6 (19-8)
5. Minnesota 8-7 (20-7)
5. Wisconsin 8-7 (17-10)
7. Ohio State 7-7 (17-8)
8. Michigan 7-8 (17-11)
9. Northwestern 5-9 (14-11)
10. Iowa 4-10 (14-13)
11. Indiana 1-13 (6-20)

Non-Conference Opponents' Record:139-212
Big Ten Opponents' Record: 169-97
Total Opponents' Record: 308-309

Not much to report this week, outside of Georgia Tech's total collapse against Clemson on Sunday. The Yellow Jackets led by as many as 15, but the Tigers ended up knocking down 12 3-pointers to really and win. Georgia Tech also suffered an ugly defeat at the hands of Wake Forest on Wednesday. The Jackets had beaten the Demon Deacons earlier in the year, but this time Wake put up 50 in the first half on its way to a victory. The first win over Wake remains Georgia Tech's lone ACC victory.

Penn State's two non-conferences losses continue to look OK at least, as Rhode Island and Temple both went 2-0 and find themselves right in the mix in the Atlantic 10. Temple is one game back of Xavier in the win column, while Rhode Island is one game back in both columns.

Meanwhile, NJIT had another matchup with Bryant -- the one team it beat this seasons. But the Bulldogs got their revenge for ending up on SportsCenter as the team that lost to NJIT and cruised to a 70-46 win. NJIT scored just 19 first-half points, which means they might be cut out for the Big Ten in the future.

Speaking of the Big Ten, Michigan State held Wisconsin to 19 second-half points Sunday and finished the game on a 32-9 run at the Breslin Center to win 61-50 and keep a hold on first place in the conference.

Also, Illinois recovered from its 33-point performance versus Penn State to more than double that at Ohio State. The Fighting Illini got 22 points on 11-for-14 shooting from Mike Davis and dealt the Buckeyes their third consecutive loss before they welcome Penn State to town Tuesday. I don't know if that's good or bad for the Lions.

Games to watch this week:
-Dayton at Rhode Island, 7 p.m. Wednesday
-Minnesota at Illinois, 7 p.m. Thursday
-Purdue at Michigan, 9 p.m. Thursday
-Georgia Tech at North Carolina, noon Saturday
-Ohio State at Purdue, 4 p.m. Saturday
-Temple at Dayton, 4 p.m. Saturday
-Michigan State at Illinois, 4 p.m. Sunday

-Brown