The first NET rankings of the season were released this past Sunday, and while it’s early, Penn State Basketball is in the mix for an NCAA Tournament berth.
While AP polls are nice for the media to talk about, and it props up big time matchups, the NET rankings are ultimately deciding who gets into the NCAA Tournament. Penn State Basketball enters these first rankings at No. 51, putting the Nittany Lions on the back half of the bubble to make the NCAA tournament and most likely in the NIT.
How do NET Rankings work?
There are 353 teams in Division 1 basketball, and they are ranked 1 through 353 once a week in the rankings. The rankings use a quadrant system which evaluates the quality of wins and losses. This quality is determined based on the game location and opponent’s NET ranking.
Quadrant 1: Home 1-30, Neutral 1-50, Away 1-75
Quadrant 2: Home 31-75, Neutral 51-100, Away 76-135
Quadrant 3: Home 76-160, Neutral 101-200, Away 135-240
Quadrant 4: Home 161-353, Neutral 201-353, Away 241-353
The key parts to focus on are Quadrant 1 wins and Quadrant 3 & 4 losses as they carry the most weight when the NCAA tournament committee makes selections and determines seeding.
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Evaluating Penn State’s Resumé
With a relatively weak non-conference schedule the No. 51 ranking is not surprising for the Nittany Lions.
Penn State Basketball’s toughest opponent and only quad one game was the 2-point loss to Virginia Tech (41) in the Charleston Classic.
Meanwhile, The Nittany Lions are 2-1 against Quad 2 teams with wins against Butler (63) and Colorado State (93) and a loss against Clemson (88).
What has helped the Nittany Lions is that they are 1-0 against Quad 3 teams and 3-0 against Quad 4. Penn State secured wins over Furman (125), Winthrop (272), Loyola MD (285), and Lafayette (301).
Shrewsberry’s squad is currently ranked No. 8 in the Big Ten and will have plenty of opportunity to earn Quad 1 wins with conference play starting soon.
The Nittany Lions next game is against Michigan State (92) on Wednesday at the Bryce Jordan Center 6:30pm BTN.
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