The point of this one is simple: go to the women's basketball game tonight.

The Lady Lions play Minnesota. They're No. 8; the Golden Gophers' rank No. 9. The game tips off at 7 at the Bryce Jordan Center. Don't be late.

I don't care if it is Thursday, by which point you've become thirsty. You'll be out, and if it so pleases you, on your way to being passed out, by 9 p.m.

It's of no use to plead frozen numb. This is Penn State in January; you signed up to go this, not Arizona State.

Do not tell me you have a ton work to do because, in the words of Todd Flanders, "Lying makes Baby Jesus cry."

And most importantly, do not say, " But it's a girls game."

This is not a gender equality in sports rant -- I'm nearly as clueless about women's sports on the whole as the next guy.

But I do know this: it will be the best and most important game of basketball played at Penn State this year.

With all due respect to the job Eddie has done getting the men's team to look respectable, Rene Portland has the best pound for pound team in State College. Likewise, Pam Borton's Gophers are, pound for pound, the best team on Minnesota's campus.

If you say you like the game of basketball, you will go to this game.

You need more? No problem. This is the beginning of the end of a rivalry. This is the last chance to see Kelly Mazzante vs. Lindsay Whalen in person.

Just so you know, that means it's the last time to see last year's Kodak All-Americans square off. The last time to see the two Big Ten players of the year (Whalen in 2002, Mazzante in 2003) go shot for shot.

The last time to see two pure scorers who will probably finish top five on the all-time Big Ten scoring list stare one another down.

When, if you don't mind my asking, is the next time you'll see any of that at a men's game, hmmm?

Exactly, so go to the game.

Now an amazing thing happened at the Jordan Center on Sunday against Illinois.

No, not Mazzante's setting the women's Big Ten scoring record -- between the way she shoots and the way Portland has built the Lions' offense the last three years, that was inevitable. (Although if you like being near people when they break records, K-Mazz is just 19 points short of Calbert Cheaney's Big Ten record)

And no, it's wasn't the agility with which Portland motored up and down the sideline with her broken leg in a scooter, although that in and of itself is quite a thing to behold.

The amazing thing was that people showed up, all 13,305 of them. And by people, I don't just mean old people and small children. I mean students, enough of them to fill up the student section plus the four sections behind the pep band designated for student overflow.

Maybe it was the Tanisha Wright bobble-head dolls. Maybe it Mazzante's record. Maybe people have finally wised up to the quality of basketball these Lions are playing.

Either way they went, and, judging from crowd noise that didn't just come when the cheerleaders were hurling T-shirts; they enjoyed the one-sided celebration of Mazzante's career where the Fighting Illini never had a real chance.

Tonight's game will be different because it will be a game. No time for nostalgia here, broken record or not. Whoever wins will have to claw it out, most likely just before the final buzzer.

You will get your moneys worth, all $2 of it for a student ticket.

In short, go to the game.