Following yet another defeat, my basketball colleagues and I found ourselves asking the question: What if Golden Gophers standout guard Quincy Lewis had missed his game-winning shot and the Nittany Lions had come down the court and nailed a jumper to finally end the streak?

It seems like a year ago when the Lions pulled off an early season upset over then-No. 10 Temple with a last-second shot in the lane by guard Joe Crispin for a 65-64 victory. The Lions proved that upset wasn't a fluke when they went on to beat Villanova and Penn.

But since entering Big Ten play the tables have turned and the Lions have been forced to swallow last-second losses.

The slide started back on Jan. 13 when the Lions lost a heartbreaker to then-No. 19 Wisconsin, 61-58. After the game the Lions were down but realized there still were a lot of games left, especially on their home court. Next came a 62-60 overtime loss at Northwestern, then two weeks later another overtime loss to Indiana, then a final-second loss to Michigan State.

It seems every step the Lions have taken had an opposite, more-positive ending sitting just a few points out of reach. That in mind, here's my retracing of some of those steps in this what-could-have-been campaign for the Lions.