Suddenly there are no sure wins.

Not that the Penn State men's basketball team would ever take a team lightly, or at least admit to doing so, but there was at least a time not long ago when Nittany Lions fans could pencil in wins against teams in the Ivy and Patriot Leagues.

As evidenced by the Lions 87-74 loss to Yale Sunday, those days are gone. The Lions will need a much better effort than they had in that game to beat the small conference foes they will see before entering Big Ten play.

"I'm definitely hoping that this opens a lot of our guys' eyes," junior point guard Brandon Watkins said after the loss.

"To see that we've got a lot of work to do. Just because we went to the Sweet 16 last year, when we walk on the court they're not going to lay down. If anything they're going to want to beat our butt even worse.

"We've got people coming in like Yale, Lafayette, Bucknell and Wagner that want to get down our throat and win. We've all got to come out and play harder."

Though they may be favored tomorrow night at 7:30 when Lafayette comes into The Bryce Jordan Center, they will not be able to come out flat and expect a victory, and they will need a tremendous effort to go to Chestnut Hill, Mass., Saturday at noon to get a win against Boston College.

Lafayette comes into the game 1-0 with an 80-72 win over Albany in their first game. After finishing last season 12-16 at sixth in the Patriot League, they are predicted to finish seventh this season. They do return nine players who started games last season, including guard Brian Burke, who finished third on the team with 14.0 points per game.

None of that may seem daunting, but the Lions will have to improve their defensive performance from the Yale game if they hope to beat anyone.

"It's just a matter of concentration and hard work," Penn State men's basketball coach Jerry Dunn said. "We've got to get back to the drawing board and figure out a better way to guard the basketball."

Any leeway the Lions may have against Lafayette, they will certainly not have against Boston College. After winning the Big East-East Division and the conference tournament last year, and advancing to the second round of the NCAA tournament until losing to Southern California 74-71, the Eagles come into the season ranked No. 17 in the country.

The Eagles lost their second and third leading scorers in guards Kenny Harley and Xavier Singletary, who averaged 10.7 and 11.7 points per game, respectively. However, their superstar is back for at least one more season. After sharing Big East Player of the Year honors with Notre Dame's Troy Murphy last season after averaging 20.4 points per game, point guard Troy Bell comes into the 2001-2002 season the preseason conference Player of the Year, and is predicted by some media outlets to be an All-American.

Bell's ability to drive and shoot from outside will eat the Lions alive if they play a similar defensive effort to the one that allowed Yale to hit 10 of 15 first-half three-pointers.

"You have to make stops consistently," Dunn said. "Defensively we've got a lot of work to do."