NCAA Basketball: Duke, Arizona, Texas rise in latest top 25 power ranking
By Joey Loose
25. Penn State (22-12)
It might not be possible to find a team that had a better and more productive week than Penn State, a team that was recently an afterthought on the bubble and should now be firmly in the field of 68. The Nittany Lions have really responded to second-year coach Micah Shrewsberry and are getting awesome play from multiple spots in this rotation.
On Sunday, their regular season ended with a 65-64 win over a then-ranked Maryland squad, getting a 16-point, 7-assist, 7-rebound effort from star Jalen Pickett. Then, the Nittany Lions got to work as the 10-seed in the Big Ten Tournament. They earned a 79-76 win over Illinois on Thursday, their third victory against the Fighting Illini, getting 20 points (6 3-pointers) from Andrew Funk. In the quarterfinals, they upended 2-seed Northwestern for the second time in two weeks, this time in a 67-65 overtime thriller; Seth Lundy led the way with 16 points. Finally, Penn State’s Saturday ended just as thrilling with a 77-73 semifinals win against a tough Indiana team. Pickett had 28 points and 8 rebounds and stole the show.
Four very impressive wins (by a total margin of 10 points) equals a fantastic week for Penn State, both in resume and in their momentum. Somehow, this 10-seed is going to play Purdue in the title game of the Big Ten Tournament and they don’t even need to win to guarantee their spot in the Big Dance. Penn State’s week has gone so well that they’ve moved from unsafe to avoiding the First Four in Dayton.