I already looked at the 2009-10 Penn State men’s basketball teams’ out-of-conference schedule and now want to focus on the Big Ten part of their schedule. It all gets started on December 29 when the Nittany Lions travel to play Minnesota who is currently ranked 18th.

The Big Ten should be very good this year and has six teams in the current top 25. Teams like Michigan State and Purdue are expected to make deep runs into the NCAA Tournament and others like Michigan, Ohio State, Minnesota, and Illinois are expected to be tournament teams as well.

Indiana should be the most improved team this year and Wisconsin and Northwestern should also have a chance to put their name in the NCAA Tournament field. Iowa is the only weak link the eye can see for the Big Ten.

In the Big Ten, every team plays 18 games, which means Penn State plays every team but two twice. This year the Nittany Lions only play one against Iowa and Indiana.

This means Penn State, who is 2-0 with wins over Pennsylvania and Robert Morris, will play 12 of their 18 conference games against teams who are currently ranked. That includes games against five straight ranked teams from January 27 to February 13.

Here is the complete conference schedule for Penn State:

December 29 at No. 18 Minnesota
January 3 vs. Wisconsin
January 7 vs. No. 16 Michigan
January 12 at No. 25 Illinois
January 16 at Iowa
January 21 vs. Indiana
January 24 at Wisconsin
January 27 vs. No. 25 Illinois
January 31 at No. 7 Purdue
February 3 at No. 15 Ohio State
February 6 vs. No. 18 Minnesota
February 13 vs. No. 2 Michigan State
February 17 at Northwestern
February 20 at No. 16 Michigan
February 24 vs. No. 15 Ohio State
February 28 vs. Northwestern
March 3 at No. 2 Michigan State
March 6 vs. No. 7 Purdue

It should be a tough road for the Nittany Lions to hoe. I will predict that Penn State goes 7-11 in the conference, which will probably land the Nittany Lions in the NIT for the second straight year.