Big Ten Basketball: Preseason power rankings for 2019-20 season

By Adam Childs | Sep 5, 2019

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - MARCH 17: Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany presents head coach Tom Izzo the championship trophy after the Michigan State Spartans beat the Michigan Wolverines 65-60 in the championship game of the Big Ten Basketball Tournament at the United Center on March 17, 2019 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images) /

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ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN – JANUARY 03: Lamar Stevens #11 of the Penn State Nittany Lions reacts in the second half while playing the Michigan Wolverines at Crisler Arena on January 03, 2019 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Michigan won the game 68-55. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images) /

8. Penn State

Penn State is a good pick to be a sleeper team this year. They have one of the best players in the conference in Lamar Stevens returning and they played a lot of teams tough last year. They beat a tough Virginia Tech team in the Big Ten/ACC challenge and then they were able to beat Michigan and Maryland during Big Ten play.

The problem for the Nittany Lions is they just haven’t been able to put a long stretch of good games together. Couple that with long stretches of bad play and it puts them behind the eight ball. They suffered an eight-game losing streak that basically put a halt to anything they hoped they could accomplish but won five of six heading into the Big Ten tournament and looked like a team capable of beating a lot of Big Ten teams.

Pat Chambers is still at Penn State leading the way, and many are wondering why. He seems to have had talent but comes up short. They did win the NIT two years ago, but they have to be shooting higher than that.

Will this be the year he gets them into the upper half of the Big Ten and into the NCAA tournament? That remains to be seen, but he has the star in Stevens that can help him get there.

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