Lisicky sheds, blood, sweat, tears for Lions

As the Penn State men's basketball team went through its pregame warmup before Saturday's game against Michigan, Penn State guard Pete Lisicky methodically stretched in the corner of the basketball court.

Simply put, Lisicky looked and acted completely focused.

He has been dealt a rough hand this season. He, along with now-redshirted point guard Dan Earl, were supposed to be one of the best backcourt tandems in the nation. Earl hasn't played a game for Penn State since last year's NCAA tournament, though, and Lisicky's new backcourt mate, Bailey, is just a freshman.

Bailey has been getting progressively better with each game, but he is not, as he has probably heard many times, Dan Earl.

Without Earl, a legitimate outside shooting threat on the offensive end, Lisicky has been forced to pick up the offensive slack in most games. Although he is leading the team in scoring with 16.8 points per game, it hasn't been enough. Going into tonight's game against Indiana, Penn State is in last place in the Big Ten with an 8-12, 1-10 record.

Penn State's futility has been that much harder to swallow because of the success of its predecessor. Last year, with seven games to go in the conference season, the Nittany Lions were 9-3 in the Big Ten. The team eventually finished with a 21-7, 12-6 record and made it to the NCAA tournament.

Those supposedly in the "know" thought Penn State would find success this season as well. Sports Illustrated Presents picked the Lions as the No. 18 team in the nation in its preseason edition.

But the team quickly parted ways with the best teams in the country and hasn't been mentioned in the USA Today/Coaches Poll or The Associated Press Top 25 since mid-December.

The injuries, the pressure of being the team's offensive crutch and the squad's inability to live up to the lofty preseason expectations obviously have worn on Lisicky -- a perfectionist.

At the end of Saturday's 81-64 loss to Michigan the Penn State reserves were stumbling through the waning moments. Lisicky sat on the bench and struggled to suppress his tears.

He scored 13 points and became just the 20th player in Penn State history to score 1,000 career points, but Lisicky could've cared less. Penn State lost its fifth game in a row.

The question is, would all of his Lion teammates say the same thing? Does everyone on the Penn State squad have the same desire to win every game?

As they warmed up for Saturday's game, it didn't look that way.

Guards David Macklin and Titcus Pettigrew were joking around as if they were preparing for a game in the intramural building instead of a game with one of the best teams in the Big Ten.

With music pumping from the arena's speakers, senior forward Phil Williams worked on his dance moves between practice shots.

And in the corner, Lisicky silently stretched without a word, without a smile.

Maybe Macklin, Pettigrew and Williams simply like to keep things loose on the team.

After all, you can't possibly play well if you're uptight.

Or maybe Macklin, Pettigrew, Williams and most of the Penn State team simply lack the discipline to take a step back and survey the situation.

The squad is tied for last place in the Big Ten and is going nowhere following the regular season. Being loose has not helped.

Lisicky, it seems, has discovered this. Maybe he should share it with the rest of the team.