You must be tired of hearing the "F" word.

But if Saturday's 65-62 win over Northwestern is any indication, the future of this Nittany Lion team seems to be promising.

Both teams came out playing lackadaisically in the first half. Northwestern didn't even bother to crash the offensive boards.

Only three Penn State players scored, and the Lions' leading scorer for the season, junior forward Aaron Johnson, was held scoreless. The Lions were lucky to be trailing the Wildcats by only one at the half.

But in the second half, Penn State gave the 8,207 fans who trudged through the snow a game worth watching. Johnson came out of the break and scored two consecutive field goals. Freshman guard Mike Walker knocked down his first of five 3-pointers. Forward Travis Parker followed with a big 3-pointer.

By the 9:42 mark in the second half, Penn State built an 11-point lead. But then the Lions made mistakes that an inexperienced team would make because the Lions are exactly that -- young.

For instance, a turnover by Danny Morrissey and an attempted alley-oop by Walker in the last minute-and-a-half highlighted the youth of this team.

With Penn State's lead cut to just two, Walker redeemed himself with what he called the biggest 3-point shot of his career to put the Lions up five. With six seconds left on the shot clock, Walker drained a trey with a hand in his face. Northwestern sneaked within one before Parker sank two foul shots to seal the win for the Lions.

But, you see, there isn't a single star on this team, which can be both good and bad. Penn State doesn't have a go-to guy. The players aren't selfish and Saturday was a perfect example of how the roles are evenly distributed among the Lions. Johnson scored a season-low eight points but out-rebounded the Wildcats by himself, 21-17.

"I don't care how many points I score," Johnson said. "I want to win, and this feels so good. I'd rather have this than have 20 and lose any time. I hope I keep having eight points and we keep winning. I don't care."

Then you have the "Let It Rain Brothers," Johnson's nickname for Morrissey and Walker. The freshman duo has the ability to sink a 3-pointer from anywhere on the court and as Morrissey said before, just because there is a 3-point line, doesn't mean that either is afraid to shoot from behind the arc.

Putting an end to his drought, Walker knocked down five triples after missing his first four shots. Morrissey connected on 4-of-6 3-pointers and finished with 16 points after injuring his shooting shoulder in practice earlier in the week.

There's Geary Claxton, the "Flying G from Connecticut," a name once again compliments of Johnson, who is the best athlete on this team. The 13 points and eight rebounds do not justify what an impact Claxton has when he's on the court.

I know coach Ed DeChellis and the Lions were supposed be better than 7-11 by this point in the season. But guard Marlon Smith wasn't supposed to be out for the year and guard Ben Luber wasn't supposed to spend a month as an inactive player. The entire team wasn't supposed to pass the flu around for a month. The bench isn't supposed to be five men deep.

This team wasn't supposed to win Saturday either, but it did, and experienced something it hasn't all season -- a Big Ten victory. Walker's constant ear-to-ear smile, Claxton's smug grin and Johnson's energy lit up the media room.

"It felt like it's been a year since we've won," Walker said. "It feels good. You get that feeling in the locker room and all that hard work pays off for this feeling right now."

Said Johnson: "This feels so good. It's like having the day off from school. If we have a day off from school, it's the same kind of feeling. You are just so excited.

"Now we just have to continue it because the first one is always the hardest one and once you get that you tend to know what it feels like."

It has to feel too good to not want to keep smiling and laughing and not let that feeling of losing nine of the last 10 come back.

It also has to be hard not to think about the "F" word and what's in store for this team.

Future doesn't have to mean next year, though. Future can mean tomorrow vs. Ohio State, or the remainder of the season, for that matter.