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Tonight: Penn State vs. Texas A&M, 9:55 p.m.
Records: Nittany Lions (22-13); Aggies (25-9)
TV: TBS
Region: Midwest
Seedings: PSU (No. 10); A&M (No. 7)
Shrews non-committal
Micah Shrewsberry's future remains a hot topic.
Harrisburg reporter Dave Jones asked Shrewsberry directly on Wednesday if he'd be the Nittany Lions' coach next season.
Shrewsberry, who has been linked to openings at Notre Dame and Georgetown, said, "That's a good question."
When Jones pressed, Shrewsberry answered, "I don't know."
The Lions (22-13) face Texas A&M (25-9) in the NCAA Midwest Region tonight in Des Moines, Iowa.
-- Neil Rudel
Though it's his first as a head coach, Micah Shrewsberry is making his seventh trip to the NCAA tournament -- so he's familiar with the one-and-done mindset the Nittany Lions must embrace.
Penn State (22-13) tips off at 9:55 p.m. tonight in the NCAA Midwest Regional against Texas A&M (25-9) at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines, Iowa.
"Now that you've heard your name called for the NCAA Tournament, don't take a deep breath and take your foot off the gas," Shrewsberry said. "Now you have to play even harder."
Shrewsberry was part of staffs at Butler and Purdue that were practically annual Big Dance entries.
"You take it for granted when you're at a program that goes every single year," Shrewsberry said. "You expect it."
Penn State hasn't danced since 2011, and in order to stay around longer than one game, Shrewsberry contends the Lions will have to play with the same resolve they showed late in the season and throughout the Big Ten Tournament.
State, 10th seeded in the region (A&M is seventh), earned an at-large berth by winning eight of its last 10 games.
"We're at our best when our backs are against the wall," Shrewsberry said. "The toughness has really come out late in games. There's never a lead that's safe -- either way. We have to be better down the stretch when we have a lead and just as good when we don't."
Shrewsberry expects "another war" against the Aggies, who went 15-3 in the SEC, finishing second behind only Alabama, the nation's top-ranked team and the tourney's overall No. 1 seed.
"Being second in that league behind Alabama -- with those teams Tennessee, Kentucky, Auburn," he said. "That's a powerful message right there. This is most of the best rebounding teams in the country, one of the most physical teams in the country, and their guards are electric. These dudes go to the glass ... they're great at attacking the rim, and they rebound like madmen.
"We need to get ourselves ready."
While some national pundits are picking Penn State as a sleeper to win a couple of games -- the Big Ten Network's Andy Katz has the Nits going to the Elite Eight -- others believe Texas A&M was underseeded.
Count Aggies coach Buzz Williams among them.
"I think transparency is needed (by the committee)," he said. "With so much at stake and the exposure and all that comes with it, I think there is a better way that smart people can figure out on how we can all be on the same page on how this works. I think looking at the NET (rankings), that's what everybody continues to talk about. We were 120th on Dec. 21, and on March the 12th, prior to playing the No. 1 seed, we were 18. Now we're the 26th seed. We would just like to know how it works. Any multibillion-dollar industry, they explain how it goes. That was my point last year in not making it, and that's my point this year."
Shrewsberry doesn't have to be sold. He has admired Williams' work in molding NCAA teams at his two previous stops, Virginia Tech and Marquette.
"Buzz Williams has won everywhere he's been," he said. "It's a tough matchup right off the bat, but everybody who goes into that tournament has earned their way in. They're really good."
The eyes of Texas will be on the game because the winner gets the second-seeded Longhorns, presuming they get past Colgate.
Williams preferred not to look that far ahead.
"I'm just trying to process what we've got to do to beat Penn State," he said.
Dating back to last Sunday's win over Maryland that kept the Lions' NCAA hopes alive before they clinched their berth at the Big Ten tourney, PSU will be playing its sixth game in 12 days.
"Everybody in college basketball is sore, injured, tired," Shrewsberry said. "Once we get to Des Moines, that adrenaline is going to kick in, and we'll be OK."
-- Neil Rudel
nrudel@altoonamirror.com