The voices in my head are arguing again.

The first voice is the little cynic that has taken up permanent residence in my brain. He's been soured from watching years of heartbreaking, soul-crushing Nittany Lion defeats, and is claiming that Penn State will be up to its old tricks in tonight's South Regional semifinal against Temple, and the Cinderella run through the dance will be over.

But another voice is slowly but surely making himself heard. This one feels a lot better about Penn State's chances, and says that the Lions can and very well might beat John Chaney and his Owls down in Hotlanta.

I'll let you in on some of the ongoing dialogue. . .

Voice 1 — . . .the Lions will choke. . .look at all of the close losses last year. Look at the Indiana game, where they blew a seven-point lead with three minutes left only to allow a last-second game-tying shot to Kirk Haston and then lose in overtime. And the last time Penn State pulled off two big wins (in the Big Ten Tournament) they followed it up with a humiliating loss to Iowa.

Voice 2 — Whoa, whoa, whoa. Let's take a look at some of the Lions' big wins. First, they went down to Lexington and beat up on a Kentucky team that is now one of only 16 teams left in the tournament and arguably one of the nation's top five.

Yeah, but Kentucky didn't peak until the end of the season. The Wildcats were lousy when Penn State beat them.

OK, but when was the last time a team defeated Tubby's troops in a home opener? Try 12 years ago. And that wasn't even the Lions' biggest win of the season. Penn State knocked off No. 6 Illinois on Jan. 31 in University Park in overtime.

All right, so the Lions have a couple of impressive Ws, and they did beat a stacked North Carolina team last week to get to this round. But Temple's vaunted zone defense will be too much for Penn State, and Owls guards Lynn Greer and Quincy Wadley will light up the Lions from the outside.

You really are a pessimist, aren't you? Penn State beat Temple earlier this year, by the way, and has won two of the last three games in the series.

I've been burned before by this team, I'm just preparing myself for a letdown. And don't forget that Wadley was sidelined during that first matchup, or the fact that he's been scoring at a 25 points per game clip in the tournament thus far.

I'll give you that one. But if you're talking about seniors stepping up and playing well down the stretch, how about Penn State's triplet of Gyasi Cline-Heard, Joe Crispin and Titus Ivory? Those guys put up 61 points against the Tar Heels last weekend.

Crispin shoots too much. It has cost his team before and it's bound to happen again.

Ah, but you're forgetting about the Ohio State game, my friend. Crispin realized that he couldn't take the team on his back, and has been spreading the ball around and letting Ivory, Cline-Heard and Jon Crispin become more involved in the scoring. The results have paid off quite nicely, wouldn't you agree?

Yeah, yeah. It won't matter. Chaney will outfox Penn State coach Jerry Dunn. That guy's been in Philly since the Liberty Bell. Plus, this is his fourth visit to a regional semifinal in the last 11 years, compared to Dunn — who himself admitted his team was "in uncharted waters" — who had only coached in one NCAA tourney game prior to last week.

Chaney may have more experience and more tournament savvy, but Dunn has his team playing exceptional basketball right now. He's letting the seniors take the forefront, and if he utilizes his bench as well as he has been, the Lions will have an advantage over the Owls, who are basically a seven-man team.

Well, even if Penn State somehow gets past Temple, it'll have to face Michigan State in the regional final. And Penn State's last win over the Spartans was a fluke.

Call it what you want, but remember besides the upset in the Big Ten Tournament, Penn State mastered the Spartans for a half on their home court earlier this year. Don't think that Michigan State coach Tom Izzo will be enthused about a fourth meeting with the Lions.

Yeah, well, we'll see what happens this weekend.

We will indeed.