Penn State’s men’s basketball team just did something they had not done since 1954 — beat two top 25 teams in a row. I like how my friend PSUGirl put it: Birds fall out of sky; Millions of dead fish found; Penn State MBB beats 2 ranked opponents.

First, the Nittany Lions beat Michigan State on Saturday, then on Tuesday, they took out Illinois (The Collegian). This comes after falling flat in their decent non-conference schedule, losing to Mississippi State, Maryland and Maine. Yes, they lost to Maine, but beat two ranked Big Ten teams. If you had told me that Penn State basketball would beat those two programs and Penn State football would not, I wouldn’t have believed you.

The Maryland Bureau Chief emailed me wondering if it was time to start saying “you can’t spell Nittany without N-I-T!” We are certainly approaching that point. It kind of seems like Penn State has done okay against the Spartans and Fighting Illini over the years, though.

David Jones, the Patriot-News “beat” writer for Penn State hoops, who vowed to onlyn attend the Illinois game (and only because he had a commitment nearby), notes that the Nittany Lions have a RPI of 52. They probably need to win another 9 games to have any shot at the NCAA Tournament though. In the end, beating these ranked teams is mostly going to help the teams they lost to early in the season more than it helps themselves. The NIT is likely though and Penn State has done pretty well there historically, winning it two years ago.