Five straight victories, but let's not get too carried away.

Sandwiched around those wins are two losing streaks, the most recent of which is a two-game losing streak to open up the Big Ten slate. And how can anyone forget the dreadful 0-6 start of the season? It was the worst start since the 1931 Penn State men's basketball team started 0-7.

The 2002 squad would have tied that mark, if not for a late first-half run and strong shooting performance in the second half against Northeastern. The Nittany Lions trailed early, 21-6, but closed the gap to two at the intermission and that's when the hot shooting of Sharif Chambliss and DeForrest Riley took over, as they made 7-for-11 from three-point land.

Then the Lions rolled off wins against powerhouses Bucknell, St. Francis (Pa.), Robert Morris and Buffalo. Any five of my esteemed colleagues from the Collegian sports staff would be competitive against the cupcakes that Penn State defeated.

Penn State needed a strong defensive second half in order to hold off Buffalo in the middle of the five-game winning streak, as the Lions trailed by nine at the break. They forced 13 turnovers and outscored Buffalo by 17 en route to an eight-point win.

If you look back at some of the early-season losses, even some of those teams, who were not as good as advertised found easy wins against Penn State.

North Carolina beat the Lions by 30 to open the season, but has since struggled after its run through the Preseason NIT, and has dropped three of its last five, including a loss to Iona. The Tar Heels did lose big man Sean May with a broken foot, but are still only an average team with him.

Another team that has proven to be only a middle of the pack team has been Yale. The Bulldogs rolled over Penn State by 16 after switching to a zone defense, but have fallen on tough times themselves, losing four of their last five. There is a simple and distinct difference between Penn State and other Big Ten teams. The other teams will not accept mediocrity.

Michigan, the team that manhandled the Lions this past weekend, started this season 0-6 but has since run off nine straight wins. Michigan coach Tommy Amaker was not pleased with his team's five-point victory on Jan. 4 over IUPUI, and that night at 12:01 a.m. he held practice. Amaker made a statement to his team that taking teams lightly would not be accepted. He is setting a high standard that he wants his teams to achieve.

It's just not the same here, or at least it doesn't seem that way, with two players (forwards Daren Tielsch and Jammal Tate) already leaving the team this season.

There are no America East teams or Patriot League squads remaining on the schedule for the Lions to easily beat. As the Big Ten schedule has started this past week, almost every team has shown the ability to beat a good team on any given night -- that is, except for the Lions.

Iowa, which was one of the teams that had a lot of questions entering this season, has shown promise with big wins under coach Steve Alford, as the Hawkeyes defeated ranked Michigan State this past weekend.

Even perennial doormat Northwestern beat Kansas State earlier this season, 59-54, and this weekend Kansas State upset then-No. 21 Texas Tech by 24.

Penn State's best opportunity for a conference win will come this weekend against Purdue, or in Northwestern, but it's never easy to win on the road in the Big Ten.

The Wildcats are ever improving under coach Bill Carmody, who is a disciple of long time Princeton coach Pete Carril, and have integrated the Princeton-style offense at Northwestern and improved each season. Welsh-Ryan Arena will be a tough place for Penn State to win, and the Wildcats have won the last two meetings. In order to defeat the well-coached Boilermakers this weekend, the Lions will need to lock down Willie Deane, who is averaging 16.8 points per game, but not like the Lions locked down Buffalo's scoring machine Turner Battle, who scorched the Lions for 21 points. Turner who?