As the regular season winds down, the Nittany Lions remain in the thick of the race for an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament. There’s a lot on the line as we come into the last two weekends of the regular season and with all the games going on across the country, including many conference tournaments, is might get confusing as to who the lion fan base should be rooting for. So I’m happy to provide you with a short list to help out.

Here, where your rooting priorities should lie, in declining order of importance.

1. PSU over Wisconsin (2)
First and foremost, PSU needs to take care of business. This means going into Madison Wisconsin and sweeping the hapless Badgers. Wisconsin is having a nightmare season. They sit dead last in the conference at 1-11-4, and they very much look likely to end there. That said, this weekend is the last home series for the seniors and they very much would like to act like spoilers for the Nittany Lions. Wisconsin is also very likely to meet PSU in the opening round of the Big Ten tournament so they undoubtedly would like to set a tone for that series. That makes priority #1 for Penn State to sweep Wisconsin.

2. Ohio State over Michigan (2)
Secondly, it’s still possible for PSU to earn the second seed in the Big Ten Tournament which would give them an all important first round bye in said tournament. To do so, they need to pick up six points on Michigan over the next two weeks (we own the tiebreaker over them, so six points will do the trick. The easiest way to do that would be for Ohio State to go into Ann Arbor and take a couple of games from the Wolverines. Michigan will be a clear favorite to win two, but you can’t count either school out in any sport when it comes to a match between these two hated rivals. That makes Ohio State our second most important rooting selection. I know it’s hard to root for the Buckeyes, but a couple of wins by them this weekend would do us wonders.

3. Michigan State over Minnesota (2)
In theory, Penn State is still in the race for the regular season Big Ten crown. Minnesota currently sits in first place one point ahead of Michigan and seven points ahead of Penn State. Unfortunately, Minnesota also owns the tiebreaker over us so we really have to pass them to lay claim to first. Making up eight points is a long shot but we could get a huge start on it if Michigan State were to top Minnesota twice. In addition, and perhaps even more importantly, Penn State and Minnesota are neck and neck in a race for an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament. At the moment, we are barely holding onto #14th place in the pairwise rankings which would give us an at large bid if the tournament were to start this weekend. We really need that gap over Minnesota to be bigger and one way for it to expand would be if the Spartans could take a game or two from the Badgers.

4. Denver over Nebraska-Omaha (2)
Working on the theory that the best defense is a good offense, the best way to protect our #14 spot in the pairwise just might be to overtake the team at #13. That team would be Nebraska-Omaha who ends their regular season this weekend by traveling to Denver for a two game set. Denver is the #7 ranked team in the country so it’s not the least bit out of the realm of possibility that Nebraska-Omaha could drop two. Most likely that wouldn’t be enough to let Penn State pass them but it would set things up so that a good showing by PSU in Ann Arbor could enable us to squeak pass the Mavericks (assuming they fair poorly in the opening round of the NCHC playoffs where they will be an underdog on the road).

5. Miami over Minnesota-Duluth (2)
Minnesota-Duluth is in a virtual tie with us for the 14th, an current last at-large, spot in the pairwise rankings. The only reason that we are ahead of them is that we have the better RPI which is a tiebreaker. Neither we nor the Bulldogs can afford much of a stumble down the finish. But the Bulldogs have one very big problem that we don’t. Their record currently sit at 13-14-5. NCAA rules disqualify teams with an under .500 record from taking an at-large bid. Losing twice to Miami would put them very much behind the 8-ball when it comes to being able to get their record above the magic .500 level. So root for Miami to put a real hurt on Minnesota-Duluth chances this weekend. That said, these game have to be a low priority on the rooting totem pole. Miami is also in the thick of the at-large bid race, so a couple of losses by them wouldn’t be the biggest hurt to our chances either. The worst case scenario might be a split or two ties. That result would probably keep both teams in the race for the at-large, so keep your eye on today’s result between these two and root for winner tomorrow.

That’s probably enough for now. There’s no need to spin peoples heads any more. Five rooting interests ought to be enough for the weekend. We are now down to just three weekends left before the NCAA start and things will certainly clear up a bit after this weekend.