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.
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