BRACKETS!

The season might not have ended as planned...or began as planned for that matter...or at any time resembled what fans were expecting in 2010, but the time we've all been waiting for has finally arrived. The Nittany Lions, who were so incredible in the single-elimination tournament format last season that saw them travel from University Park to Gainesville to the Big Apple, have their spot in the conference tournament and a chance to punch their own ticket to the big dance.

Penn State drew the primetime slot for its first round game this Thursday against Minnesota, a team that has defeated the Lions twice this season by a total of eight points. It's difficult to know what to expect from the Golden Gophers, a squad that kicked off the season ranked in the top-20 but hasn't won more than two games in a row since the Big Ten season started.

The Gophers, slotted sixth in the Big Ten, need to at least reach the championship game, and that still might not be enough, to be considered for an at-large invitation. Should the Lions get by Minnesota, co-champion Michigan State awaits in the second round. A likely matchup with co-champion Purdue would follow should Penn State upset the Spartans and then a finals showdown against Ohio State or Wisconsin. It's a tough road to hoe for the Lions for sure, but maybe, just maybe, if all the fortuitous bounces and breaks that Penn State seemed to not get all season are repaid to it this weekend, this never-say-die team will get a chance to shine on the biggest stage of all.

SOMEBODY LET ME OFF THIS CRAZY THING

The most cynical of Penn State basketball fans would never dream of a season like this one.

The roller coaster named "The 2010 Penn State Men's Basketball Season" continued to dip and dive on Thursday night, culminating in another heartbreaking one-possession loss to Michigan State in what has become a seemingly endless "loop de loop" of unfulfilling drama.

It's nearly pointless to analyze the game, when one could second-guess virtually every possession as the one that would have changed the outcome. Suffice it to say that the Lions showed tremendous guts in fighting back from numerous double-digit deficits on the road against a team that had everything to play for. The steal by Chris Babb with under a minute to go, the hustle by Bill Edwards to not allow an easy layup, the oh-so-close five-second call against Michigan State that didn't come and the last second race up the court by Talor Battle serve as little more than residue of another loss in a season full of missed opportunities.

Throughout the basketball desert that has been the last two decades of Penn State basketball, one might have allowed himself to longingly fantasize about a time when the Lions would blossom into a giant on the hardwood and claim vengeance for years of humiliating defeats. In his worst moments of frustration he might even have envisioned a team that would reset the record books for futility and finally hit the rock bottom of college basketball.

Yet I can't imagine a fan that could have predicted that Penn State, following what arguably was its best season in the history of the program, would follow a path littered with heartbreaking losses as it has this year. Thursday's two-point loss at East Lansing was the ninth this season that came by six points or less or in overtime. If there were a courtroom of college basketball for teams to air grievances, the Lions could call the thousands of fans in Nittany Nation to bear witness to the cruel and unusual punishment that has befallen it all year long. Had the Lions even split those contests, they would be above .500 overall and right in the middle of the conference standings.

There's one game left in the regular season and then a chance to punch a ticket to the big dance with four straight wins in Indianapolis. If this team hasn't given up by now, you can be sure that it will give everything its got to extend its season with a miraculous run through the conference tournament. Judging by the way things have gone to this point, Penn State will lose on a last second four-point play in the championship game.

THE COLOR PURPLE

Here's a suggestion for the next time Penn State's basketball team decides to do a team-building exercise...karaoke. That's right. Let coach Eddie D put on his best neon stretch pants and 80's hair band style wig and take the stage. The song...a somewhat improvised brand of David Lee Roth's version of California Girls that goes something like this: "I wish they all could be like Northwestern."

Penn State looks like an entirely different team against the Wildcats. Its offense actually looks fluid (the Lions two highest scoring outputs this season both came against Northwestern), its bench plays with confidence and contributes at both ends and its defense is active and makes Northwestern's offense look like...well, Penn State's usually does.

There's just something about the purple and white that brings out the best in Penn State. Typically, that something is just the fact that the Wildcats are awful. But this season, that's not the case as Northwestern was, as of two weeks ago, a serious contender for an at-large berth in the big dance. This year's bottom feeders, Indiana and Iowa (along with Penn State), both beat the Lions. Traditional basketball royalty Indiana drew a particularly uninspired effort from the blue and white in State College.

By contrast, Northwestern and its 18 overall wins has been a solid middle-of-the-pack team in the conference this year, but gave Penn State two of its three Big Ten wins by a combined 30 points. The only question that remains is whether or not Penn State can possibly draw the Wildcats again.

As the standings are right now, Penn State is tied for 10th with Indiana and, assuming both teams lose out, will draw the seventh seed as a first-round opponent in the conference tourney. And just who is that lucky number seven team? Northwestern.

There's still a week of regular season games left to be played, but even if the Lions can't improve their stock by pulling off an upset of in their next two games, they still might not be in bad shape to play into the weekend in Indianapolis. Considering the Lions next two opponents are both likely second-day matchups for Penn State in the Big Ten tournament, this week will be extremely valuable should the Lions draw one of those two teams in the postseason.