Basketball ESPN BPI projects Penn State Basketball's remaining games

[Richie O]

NittanyNation - ESPN BPI projects Penn State Basketball's remaining games

Taking a look at Penn State basketball's remaining schedule and chances in each of those Big Ten games.

pennstate.rivals.com

 

[Erial_Lion]

@Richard Schnyderite - The first sentence only applies to the Rutgers version of this article, not the PSU version.

 

[The Spin Meister]

@Richard Schnyderite - The first sentence only applies to the Rutgers version of this article, not the PSU version.

Yeah, not going for third in a row……🙁

 

[bison13]

Can't believe the OSu game is only 20%. Team has played well there in the past.

 

[Erial_Lion]

Can't believe the OSu game is only 20%. Team has played well there in the past.

Pomeroy has it at 33%...though only 11-10, Ohio State is 28th in the country in Ken's ratings, and are 363rd in the country (last in the nation) in the "Luck" rating.

 

[bison13]

Pomeroy has it at 33%...though only 11-10, Ohio State is 28th in the country in Ken's ratings, and are 363rd in the country (last in the nation) in the "Luck" rating.

Hard to believe with their shot over Rutgres to win earlier this year

 

[Online Persona]

Can't believe the OSu game is only 20%. Team has played well there in the past.

A couple of those projections seem pretty low to me. I get Purdue but it's like they know that Big 10 refs are going to screw us on the road.

 

[Erial_Lion]

Hard to believe with their shot over Rutgres to win earlier this year

True...however that's the only really close win they had all year. They beat Texas Tech by 7, and beyond that, their next closest win was by 16. On the flip side, they are 0-2 in Overtime, and have lost 3 other one-possession games. Their B1G schedule was also pretty front loaded, and they'll be favored in 6 or 7 of their last 10.

 

[Psugo823]

NIT.

 

[The Spin Meister]

I didn’t get to see the game against Michigan but from what I read here we played a couple bigger guys in Henn and Dorsey that played pretty well. And it made the whole team better to have a decent size. Perhaps they get better with experience and pick up a couple wins that aren’t projected here. If so, we get a date to the spring prom!

 

[87 Penn St8]

It is a bit concerning to me that this late in the season we haven't yet figured out how to maximize the Henn, Dorsey, Dread, Kebba 4 headed post presence.

Kebba looks the part and has great potential...kind of a poor man's hoops version of Drew Allar who just hasn't figured out how to play at the Big Ten level. This experience will pay off down the line but if we want to make NCAA this year his time should decrease as his offensive lack of production/attention needed is greater than whatever post defense gain he may add.

Dorsey and Dread are known entities who are playing out of position but are apparently our best in house veteran options. All I remember from Dorsey last year was jacking up 3s. Myles has gone from a somewhat buff #2 guard to a very round faux 4/5. Both are doing the best they can but clearly are out of their comfort zones. They are learning to play a new position at the end of their careers. That's tough sledding even without the size differentials.

Henn was a wild card who saw decent time in the early season games, got lost, and then re-emerged vs Michigan. Is this the guy we beat out ND for? Hopefully.

All that said, it will take some good fortune for Shrew to play alchemist and push the right buttons here. I'm optimistic, but realistically our Achillies Heal is exactly where we thought it would be...and we are still experimenting.

We are on the bubble, as we always seem to be. Boy I wish that we could have back one of the VA Tech, Clemson or MSU games....

 

[Erial_Lion]

We've just got such a unique team this season...

• We're the most experienced team in college basketball history
• We're the best team in the country at not turning the ball over
• We're the worst team in the country at getting to the FT line
• We're the third worst team in the country at offensive rebounding
• We're the smallest major conference team in the country when it comes to Pomeroy's "effective height", which is the height of your 4 and 5 (which obviously impacts some of those other ratings)

I expected us to play at a much quicker pace this season given our personnel...however, we're still playing very slow. My guess at the reasoning would be that we're playing Pickett (and Funk for that matter) a LOT of minutes and don't want to tire him out. But we just don't get many easy baskets (thinking layups and dunks) and don't create extra possessions or free points at the line, so we really need to make shots and protect the basketball to win.

I'll be interested to see how we guard Purdue tomorrow night...do we go bigger again and hope to get into a 3 point shooting contest with them? I'd assume yes, and while not a great strategy, I'd rather see that than letting Edey eat us alive inside again.