Penn State's Schedule Is Better, But Still Lacking Big Name Teams

After its most successful season since making it to the Final Four in 1955, the Penn State basketball program is ready to build on its NIT championship by trying to earn its third NCAA tournament berth in the last 14 years. But one problem remains for the Nittany Lions, one that perhaps costed them a chance for a NCAA bid last season. The non-conference schedule is still loaded with cupcakes and does not have a marquee matchup against a perennial contender. Penn State added a few decent teams in the schedule with a home game against Virginia Tech and a trip to Philly to face Temple. According to the RPI rankings from last year, only one of the Lions’ non-conference foes were in the top 30, with the Owls at No. 30. You would think head coach Ed DeChellis would have learned his lesson from last season, when PSU’s non-conference schedule was the mitigating factor putting his team on the bubble and watching it burst on Selection Sunday. For what it’s worth, the schedul...