Cagers hope to capitalize

By RYAN JONES
Collegian Sports Writer

Three weeks remain in the Big Ten season, and already the Nittany Lion basketball team has done most of what it wanted to this year.

A winning record -- which they missed by a game last season -- was wrapped up when the Lions beat Wisconsin last Saturday.

A bit of respect was happily earned when they received votes in both national polls earlier in the season. And conference respect also came, thanks to a convincing victory over perennially potent Michigan in January.

Only one thing is left. The Big Dance.

Penn State (14-8, 6-7 Big Ten) still has its eyes on an NCAA tournament slot, but it may need a flawless finish to earn that honor. And with five games left on the conference calendar, the Lions will continue their long-shot bid with the closest thing around to a Big Ten gimme, facing feeble Northwestern (5-17, 1-12) at 8 p.m. today in Evanston, Ill.

"I think the wear and tear of losing, and of the season, and the fact that we're not winning games has started to take its toll," Wildcat Coach Ricky Byrdsong said. "Our effort has slowly deteriorated, and we're just not doing anything well right now. We are not a good basketball team in any way, really."

A bad team with nothing to play for, a decent one with everything on the line -- not much of a match up. But Lion Coach Bruce Parkhill still bears the required coach's worry that his team might decide to take the night off.

"I'm hopeful that we'll take them seriously," Parkhill said. "I think our guys have a lot of respect for them as athletes, they know they have some good young guys on the team. It'll be a tough game."

Maybe, but the rest will likely be tougher, and the Lions can't afford to lose any of them. The must-win game is a scenario Penn State is now more familiar with, a scenario the team handled deftly against the Badgers on Saturday.

"I think (Wisconsin) was a very big win for us," junior forward Glenn Sekunda said. "It brought us back from serious losses that we've taken. It's leading us back into the right direction, hopefully, for our goals that we want to attain at the end of the season."

Sekunda didn't use the plural accidentally -- the Lions have more than one goal left to work toward. A winning Big Ten record is attainable with a 4-1 finish, while a 3-2 stretch would put Penn State at 9-9 in the league. Either count would better the team's combined conference win total from the past two seasons.

But the tourney is still the priority. While 16 or 17 wins might get the Lions an NCAA berth in another year, their scrawny non-conference schedule would likely keep them on the outer edge of the selection bubble this season. They need to win out, and they know it.

"If we win the remainder of our games, I think there's a good chance that we're going to make the tournament," Sekunda said.

Parkhill would love that chance as much as anyone, but he's not about to burden his team with a do-or-die mentality.

"We don't approach it that way," he said. "That's not the way to approach playing basketball in college. We just take them one game at a time and do the best we can."