Two years ago the Nittany Lions qualified for the first NCAA Tournament appearance in the young program’s history. A year ago the team returned to the tournament by gaining an at-large bid. This season it carries the unfortunate distinction of being the highest-ranked team in the country that did not make the NCAA Tournament.
Five out of the six conference tournament winners were already well within the top-16 in the PairWise Rankings. Only the Atlantic Hockey conference winner, American International, was outside the top-16, thus bumping one team in the top-16 from the NCAA Tournament field.
That team was Penn State.