People are starting to believe in Penn State men’s basketball.

Yesterday, over 14,000 people watched the Nittany Lions beat the Badgers, 56-52, for the frist time with Ed DeChellis as coach. It took 12 tries over 8 seasons.

Penn State is very tough to play against right now, beating 3 ranked opponents and coming close against #1 Ohio State and #15 Purdue on the road. They are very much in the mix for a NCAA tournament berth, but my prediction is the same as the one I got texted from the Maryland Bureau CHief this weekend: “you can’t spell Nittany without N-I-T.”

I think the Lions will get stuck in the “last four out” scenario they were in 2 years ago. The flame out in the non-conference schedule that included a loss to MAINE is probably too much to overcome unless they do really well in the Big Ten tournament or beat Ohio State in the rematch. In other words — just good enough to break your heart.

Nittany Lions return from oblivion, top Badgers 56-52 – Patriot News