I mentioned yesterday in a post that this has been a year of stepping stones for the PSU program. Along with breaking the 20-win mark (a huge feat), the Nittany Lions have cleared a lot of hurdles that were deemed impassable in the past. The Lions have finally won in Assembly Hall, finally finished in the top half of the Big Ten, and finally removed the dusty black curtains from the upper deck of the BJC.
Beginning this evening, the Lions will try to hurdle yet another obstacle. The Big Ten Tournament has been a frustrating stick in the spokes of the Penn State basketball program since its commencement - 12 years ago. With just one tournament win in the past seven years, the Lions season has often come to an end with the first round of tournament play. Penn State has only twice reached the semifinals (2000 and 2001), and will hope to add to that number tonight when they face Indiana.
Entering the tournament with their highest seed ever (6), the Lions are playing a team they've only seen once in Big Ten post-season play. In the first round of the 2003 Big Ten Tournament, the Lions were handed their worst tourney loss ever, 77-49. Hopefully using that as motivation, the Lions will try to clear one more hurdle this season as their hopes of an NCAA tournament berth live and die with this evening's contest. Unfortunately, they're playing a team that has nothing to lose only 30-miles from their campus.
Talor Battle has told the Centre Daily Times, "we’re going to go out and really try to throw the knockout punch early. They’re a feel-good team; they start hitting some shots, they start to believe they can beat you.”
I hope Battle proves to be true to his word, because tonight's contest is clearly the Lions moment of truth.
DVR - Don't fail me now.
Showing posts with label Tournament Hopes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tournament Hopes. Show all posts
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
SO FAR, SO GOOD
After the first few conference post-season tournaments, things have pretty much gone Penn State's way. Since the Lions are squarely on the bubble, it would be best for their tourney hopes if no at-large bid worthy team lost in its conference tournament. When squads like Gonzaga and Siena took their conference hardware on Monday night, it meant that the full complement of at-large bids were still up for grabs. Teams like Davidson and Creighton could potentially get an at-large bid after getting bounced from their respective conference brackets, but I think both of those teams are behind Penn State anyway.
The real threat to Penn State's chances will come later this week when the other major conference's tournaments begin. Should a team other than LSU or Auburn win the SEC, or a team like Cincinnati, Notre Dame or Georgetown cut down the nets in the Big East tournament, they could potentially take a spot away from Penn State. But all this speculating about other conference tournaments is a bit premature, the Lions really only have one thing to worry about, the Indiana Hoosiers.
If there were one team I didn't want Penn State to play in the conference tournament besides Michigan State, it would be Indiana. The Hoosiers not only came within three points of ruining the Lions' senior day at the Bryce Jordan Center earlier this season, but they have home court advantage and absolutely nothing to lose. Still, if the Lions can't beat Indiana with their tournament hopes on the line, they probably don't deserve an at-large bid after all.
Drawing the Hoosiers could be the one silver lining of the Lions' precipitous fall from a potential #2 seed in the Big Ten tournament down to #6. Yes, the Lions lost out on a first-round bye, but they also earned a chance to pick up an important win against the last-place team in the conference and landed in the opposite half of the bracket from top-seeded Michigan State and Wisconsin, a team we just can't seem to solve.
Should Penn State pad its tournament resume with another victory, it will make it that much tougher for the committee to exclude them on selection sunday. On the other end of the coin, should the Lions end their season with back-to-back losses to the conferences two worst teams, Iowa and Indiana, I'll remind you that you can't spell Nittany without N.I.T.
The real threat to Penn State's chances will come later this week when the other major conference's tournaments begin. Should a team other than LSU or Auburn win the SEC, or a team like Cincinnati, Notre Dame or Georgetown cut down the nets in the Big East tournament, they could potentially take a spot away from Penn State. But all this speculating about other conference tournaments is a bit premature, the Lions really only have one thing to worry about, the Indiana Hoosiers.
If there were one team I didn't want Penn State to play in the conference tournament besides Michigan State, it would be Indiana. The Hoosiers not only came within three points of ruining the Lions' senior day at the Bryce Jordan Center earlier this season, but they have home court advantage and absolutely nothing to lose. Still, if the Lions can't beat Indiana with their tournament hopes on the line, they probably don't deserve an at-large bid after all.
Drawing the Hoosiers could be the one silver lining of the Lions' precipitous fall from a potential #2 seed in the Big Ten tournament down to #6. Yes, the Lions lost out on a first-round bye, but they also earned a chance to pick up an important win against the last-place team in the conference and landed in the opposite half of the bracket from top-seeded Michigan State and Wisconsin, a team we just can't seem to solve.
Should Penn State pad its tournament resume with another victory, it will make it that much tougher for the committee to exclude them on selection sunday. On the other end of the coin, should the Lions end their season with back-to-back losses to the conferences two worst teams, Iowa and Indiana, I'll remind you that you can't spell Nittany without N.I.T.
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