The Penn State women's basketball team will win the 2002 Big Ten Tournament.

Yeah, that's right, I'm just laying it all out on the line. The No. 2 seed Lady Lions will be crowned the conference tournament champion this year when the annual tourney comes to a close on Monday.

You can pick yourself up off the floor now.

Okay, my prediction may not be earth-shattering, but at the same time it's far from a lock. Yes, the Lions have been a Big Ten powerhouse over the course of the last decade under head coach and basketball mastermind Rene Portland, but they certainly aren't this year's frontrunner. That honor would fall on Purdue, the tournament's top seed and the Big Ten regular-season champion.

Other favorites this year include No. 4 seed Iowa, last year's tournament champs, and the Cinderella-like Minnesota Golden Gophers, who are the No. 3 seed thanks to a meteoric turnaround this season on the shoulders of the conference's Player of the Year, sophomore Lindsay Whalen.

But none of that matters, because this year belongs to the Lions. You can call it wishful thinking on my part, or Post-2001 Nittany Lion Football Syndrome, or just plain old-fashioned delusion, but I really believe this Penn State team is going to win a postseason championship, and I've got the evidence to back it up.

Exhibit A: Kelly Mazzante. The hot-shooting sophomore co-captain has done it all for the Lions this season. She led the Big Ten in scoring and was second in the entire nation with 24.6 points per game. She's been the team's workhorse and was elevated to a leadership role in just her second season because of the Lions' overwhelming lack of experience. But the Naismith Player of the Year candidate is definitely ready for prime time, and a big game from Mazzante will be the first ingredient for Penn State success this weekend.

It won't be the only ingredient, however. Take a look at Mazzante's 37-point outburst in a loss to Old Dominion earlier in the year and you'll see that she can't do everything herself. The team has played its best basketball this season when Mazz's cohorts — particularly freshman guards Tanisha Wright and Jess Strom, along with post player Rashana Barnes — have turned in solid performances as well. If the wily Wright and someone off the bench like sophomore Jess Brungo or senior Katrena Carr can reach double figures in scoring, the Lions will have a chance at going all the way.

Of course, the Lions' competition will have something to say about that. First up, Penn State will have to get past the winner of tonight's Michigan State/Ohio State game. Barring an upset, the Lions would then likely go on to play No. 3 seed Minnesota, and if they survive that possible matchup they could face either Iowa or Purdue in the finals.

The reason Penn State will win the tournament lies in a saying Portland has espoused all season long: "We don't lose to the same team twice." Portland has repeated her maxim so many times that her young Lions are probably sick of hearing it. But apparently her attempts at brainwashing have ignited a spark in their impressionable heads — the Lions have yet to lose two games to the same team. They dropped their first matchup against both the Spartans and Buckeyes, but responded by beating both teams the second time around.

The Lions played both Iowa and Purdue just once in the regular season, and lost both matchups. The Hawkeyes embarrassed them on their home turf, and the Lions' down-to-the-wire loss to the Boilermakers last Thursday is still fresh in their minds. But luckily, by virtue of the tournament's seeding, Penn State would have to play only one of these teams, and that matchup would come in the championship game.

You can't count out the Gophers, the conference's biggest story thanks to a 10-win improvement in their conference record from a year ago. But Penn State beat Minnesota 88-83 back in late December in Minneapolis, as Mazzante scorched the Gophers for 49 points, the highest total by a Div. I women's player this season.

They say that the regular season doesn't mean anything now that the postseason is here, but in all honesty, it does. And while the Lady Lions have an inexperienced roster, their veteran coach has certainly been to the tournament before. Under Portland, the Lions own the best record in the event's history, going 12-5 over the last seven tournaments and winning it twice.

They may not be the favorite, but we all know that the favorite doesn't always win (anyone remember this year's Super Bowl?). While a Penn State tournament championship may not be an upset on the same scale, it would still raise a few eyebrows. So as the rest of the basketball world watches in surprise as the Lions get crowned as tournament champs on Monday, don't say I didn't warn you.