Bracketology 2023: Penn State, Marquette and Utah State among biggest winners
By Joey Loose
Penn State
The last two days have taught us that Penn State has secured its place in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2011, a testament to the fantastic work that Micah Shrewsberry has done in his first two seasons leading the Nittany Lions. An up-and-down regular season saw them settle for the 10-seed in the Big Ten Tournament despite a hot streak to end the season, and that hot streak has fortuitously continued.
Friday saw the Nittany Lions secure a 67-65 overtime win in the Big Ten quarterfinals over 2-seed Northwestern, their second straight impressive close win in the tournament. Seth Lundy had 16 points and 7 rebounds, Jalen Pickett had 15 points and 9 rebounds, and Andrew Funk added 14 points and 7 rebounds. The usual suspects did enough damage for Penn State, who dance their way into the semifinals.
Back-to-back Quad 1 wins certainly helps the resume and there’s a chance for more in the days to come. At the start of play, their NET was just 54, but it’s hard to ignore a team that now has 7 Quad 1 wins, with three of them coming against a solid Illinois team. Holding on for that victory against Northwestern was probably enough to lock the Nittany Lions into the field of 68; it might even have pushed them far enough where they avoid the First Four in Dayton.