5/9/2024 basketball Edit

Penn State Men's Basketball to see grueling Big Ten schedule

Austin Mitchell • Happy Valley Insider

Staff Writer

Penn State University’s men’s basketball team has played just two total games in its history against Oregon (0-1), UCLA (1-0), USC, and Washington. However, with conference realignment resulting in these four schools joining the Big Ten, they’ll become foes of the Nittany Lions at least once every year.

With the four West Coast programs joining an already loaded conference featuring the likes of powerhouses such as Purdue, Illinois, and Michigan State, the Big Ten is sure to once again feature one of the toughest schedules of any conference in the nation.

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Although the exact dates and times in which teams will match up in conference play have yet to be established, it is already known who Penn State will play and where those games will take place.

Using this information, BetOhio created a system to rank the projected conference strength of schedule for each Big Ten team next year. Penn State projects to have the toughest conference strength of schedule of the 18 Big Ten teams.

The "System"

The system worked by giving out “points” to each opponent based on their performance last season, their high school and transfer portal recruiting, and by home court performance.

Penn State’s home schedule includes Maryland, Nebraska, Purdue, Northwestern, Ohio State, Oregon, and Washington, while their away schedule includes Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, UCLA, USC, and Wisconsin. They will play Rutgers, Indiana, and Minnesota at both locations.

The good news for Nittany Lions fans is that projections aren’t always accurate. Some teams will underperform while others will play at a level much higher than expected. Coach Rhoades’ squad also performed exceptionally well against high quality teams at home last season. Penn State went 2-0 at home against AP top 15 teams with wins over Wisconsin and Illinois. Purdue will likely begin the season in the AP top 15, and schools such as Rutgers or Indiana could very well be there too at that point in the season.