The Penn Stater Magazine

Rue 66

March 16, 2009 at 1:11 pm Ryan Jones Leave a comment

One of the best regular seasons in Penn State basketball history wasn’t quite good enough to earn the Nittany Lions an invite to the 2009 NCAA tournament. Fans are lamenting a double-overtime loss at Iowa nine days ago that, if not for a couple of banked-in Iowa three-pointers, would have provided Penn State with an NCAA-clinching victory. The media consensus, meanwhile, focuses on the Nittany Lions’ weak non-conference schedule—something the head of the tournament selection committee echoed after the brackets were announced Sunday night—as the biggest reason Penn State was quite possibly the first team left out of the field of 65.

Not quite Paternoville...

The bright side? It’s not much, but Penn State has at least one more home game to play. The Lions will host George Mason Tuesday night in the first round of the National Invitation Tournament. Tip-off is 8 p.m., and the game will be televised nationally by ESPNU. And while Penn State fans certainly would have preferred the Big Dance, at least some of the student faithful were up early Monday morning to grab their NIT tickets.

Ryan Jones, senior editor

Entry filed under: Nittany Lion basketball. Tags: George Mason, NCAA tournament, NIT.