Bracketology: Will Penn State Basketball Hold on to Tournament Hopes?

Originally posted on Nittany Sports Now
By Brennan Valladares | Last updated Jan 7, 2025 1:58 PM ET

In ESPN’s Joe Lunardi’s most recent bracket update, Penn State remained on the Bubble but would have to play its way into the tournament. PSU is a projected 11th seed and is listed as one of the last four teams to make it in by way of the “First Four”.

Lunardi’s change follows the Nittany Lions’ third loss of the season to Indiana on Sunday.

Penn State Basketball Takeaways: Sputtering Nittany Lions Seem to be Consistently Inconsistent

Penn State is now 2-2 in the Big Ten, with a difficult stretch of games coming up against No. 13 Illinois, No. 15 Oregon and No. 16 Michigan State. Two of those games will be on the road, where PSU is 1-1.

Penn State has one Quad 1 win (1-1 Q1 record) against then No. 8 Purdue, the Nittany Lions’ signature win of the season so far. That victory was PSU’s first win against an AP top 10 opponent since 2019 and the third win against a top 15 opponent in the Mike Rhoades era.

Statistically, the Nittany Lions still rank in the top 10 in points per game, but against Big Ten opponents, that number drops from 86.8 to 78. One of the reasons for this dropoff has been the team’s struggles from 3, as its season average of 34 percent plummets to 29 percent in conference play, the fifth-worst mark in the league.

The SEC (13) and the Big Ten (11) are still projected to earn the most bids, combining for 24. Here are the updated seedings for the Big Ten: