Penn State has another chance to make things right.
Another year, more success, but what happens come Big Ten time will decide its faith.
In the grand scheme of things, there are three great teams in women's college basketball. There are three that ESPN must have in the Final Four. Everything from promotion of the sport, to national televised segments will come from Duke, Tennessee, and Connecticut, nobody else. However, with the Final Four needing a fourth to complete the party, that spot is wide open.
In reality, the execs at ESPN probably couldn't give two cents who that fourth is. The added team will just be a nice story of the small going up against the elites, and kindly bow out before the title is awarded.
While there are a few candidates for that spot, none have as much at stake as does Penn State.
This is the one real shot for the Lady Lions. Kelly Mazzante's last season in blue and white has been publicized as "the one," since the beatdown the team endured in last season's Sweet 16. A game that wasn't even as close as the 86-58 score indicates.
This season's version of the female Lions is currently the No. 5 team in the country, but still have work to do in the Big Ten tournament, which it hasn't won since 1996. Regardless of how well Rene Portland's teams have performed in the regular season, they don't exactly perform up to their ability come Big Ten tourney time, if you know what I mean.
While the Lions have shown themselves to be the best regular season team in the conference for the second straight season, beginning today they still need to prove to the entire country that they in fact belong.
On paper, this year's team looks similar to last season's squad, but see the Sweet 16 reference above. A great regular season, in a talented conference, doesn't always translate into success come the big dance.
So Portland and her team have traveled to Indianapolis in search of accomplishing one of the team's many goals set out before the season.
If they come away victorious, this team will finally be able to say it can win big games away from its beloved Jordan Center.
If they don't, the task of advancing to the promised land, that is the Final Four, becomes all the more daunting.
Despite a No. 5 ranking, nobody knows for sure where the Lions will be seeded in the big dance.
Going head-to-head with Portland on this issue is like feeding a hungry tiger.
Portland can give the long version of a no comment better than anyone.
She can tell you that she has no idea about where her team will be seeded in the NCAA tournament, and tell you that her mindset is only on winning the Big Ten tournament. Coaches can say a lot of things, very few can be taken word-for-word.
Yes, Penn State does have the No. 2 RPI. That's above UConn and its coach Geno Auriemma. Once again though, this is a regular season statistic.
Penn State can sweep all the conference awards it wants to; it won't mean squat come postseason.
This is where players prove they truly are the best in the league, when coaches prove they are the smartest, this weekend is a proving ground, and one the Lions have failed on countless times.
Another failure gives them at best a No. 2 seed and an early exit from the tournament. In that case, the closest they would get to the Big Easy is on Pugh St. Maybe they could say hi to Tony for me while they're there.
Triumph Monday night, and this team may actually be that other No. 1. They can be the Cinderella ESPN needs to go against the beast of women's college basketball.
This is their shot to make the jump into the elite realm of college basketball.
This is their chance to prove they belong.
But, they've had this chance before and failed.
