It's March, and the Penn State men's basketball team is still relevant. Such has not been the case since 2001, the same year the Nittany Lions went to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament.

That year was also the last time Penn State won a game in the Big Ten Tournament. Needless to say, with a 14-13 record overall and an NIT berth just asking to be secured, this year's conference tournament is the most significant for the Lions in the last five seasons.

Certainly, this year's tournament -- being held next Thursday through Sunday at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis -- is more important than those of the past two seasons, in which Penn State finished last and had little motivation other than not to be embarrassed on a national stage.

"It's more meaningful [this year]," Penn State captain Travis Parker said. "Last year we still went in there and tried our hardest even though we weren't having a good season. This year it means a lot more, we can get more wins and make our record better than what it is."

The Lions, 6-10 in the conference, could certainly use a first-round win to bolster their resume for the NIT. Penn State will play at noon Thursday against the winner of tomorrow's regular-season contest between Minnesota and Northwestern. Should the Lions win that first game, Coach Ed DeChellis might be able to rest a lot easier on Thursday night -- even with a game against top-seeded Ohio State looming the following day.

Should Penn State get rocked, however, the wait until next Sunday's selection announcement may prove excruciating.

After ending its regular season in a blowout loss to Iowa, Penn State has the weekend off to mull over the situation.

But there are positives to having the weekend off after playing every Wednesday and Saturday for eight consecutive weeks, such as extra rest for a squad whose typical rotation is seven men.

DeChellis, though, can only worry about controlling what he can control and will start rolling the film once Penn State's opponent has been determined.

"You can't look at the whole four-day weekend -- you gotta look at that one day, the first game you play," DeChellis said of the structure of the single-elimination tournament.

Penn State is 2-0 against Northwestern this year.

The Lions have had success matching their zone against Northwestern's slow-paced, methodical, make-the-extra-three-passes defense.

The Lions were not so sound, however, against Minnesota on Feb. 8, when the Golden Gophers erupted in the second half to pull out a 77-66 victory. Gophers guards Vincent Grier and Adam Boone combined for 36 points. Boone took advantage of that very zone defense by torching the Lions on 6-of-9 shooting from downtown.