Busting Brackets
Fansided

Big Ten Basketball: Ranking each team’s league schedule for 2021-22 season

By Trevor Sinodhinos

Feb 13, 2021; East Lansing, Michigan, USA; Michigan State Spartans head coach Tom Izzo during the first half against the Iowa Hawkeyes at Jack Breslin Student Events Center. Mandatory Credit: Tim Fuller-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 13, 2021; East Lansing, Michigan, USA; Michigan State Spartans head coach Tom Izzo during the first half against the Iowa Hawkeyes at Jack Breslin Student Events Center. Mandatory Credit: Tim Fuller-USA TODAY Sports /
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Big Ten Basketball Penn State Nittany Lions John Harrar Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports
Big Ten Basketball Penn State Nittany Lions John Harrar Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports /

11. Penn State Nittany Lions

Home & Away – Indiana, Iowa, Michigan State, Minnesota, Northwestern, Ohio State, Rutgers
Home Only – Michigan, Nebraska, Purdue
Away Only – Illinois, Maryland, Wisconsin

Prior to harping on the teams that first-year head coach Micah Shrewsberry and the Nittany Lions will play twice this season, the teams they play once might be the bigger indication of how unlucky Penn State was. This schedule would be closer to the winning half if their home and away games were flipped.

Having to play Michigan and Purdue at home in front of your fans should be exciting for about a half of basketball until the top two teams in the Big Ten put the Nittany Lions away. This article has made the obvious abundantly clear in that Dickinson and Williams are big and effective on the court, add that Penn State’s starting center John Harrar has a similar skillset, just not as effective.

The home game versus Nebraska is important as a win could be the deciding factor in the standings, but trading those three home games for Illinois, Maryland and Wisconsin would be much better.

Maryland and Wisconsin are games against projected better teams that home court could make the difference.  Wisconsin is particularly vulnerable as they will have four new starters in their line-up. The two games they play versus Iowa, Michigan State, and Rutgers are games where Harrar’s size and effort could be effective, especially if Western Michigan transfers 6’9 Greg Lee plays on the court with him, instead of coming off the bench for him.

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