Forgive me if I was caught drinking the Kool-Aid.

I actually believed this year's edition of the Penn State men's basketball team was going to be different. Heck, I even felt that this team had the potential to make a run at the NCAA tournament.

But, if the Nittany Lions can't sure up their defensive woes, the losing will continue. Last season's success will seem ancient and the return to obscurity will cause fans to beg for just one more NIT berth.

The problem is simple to single out, as it has become commonplace in arenas around the Big Ten when Penn State takes the floor. The Lions drop into their 2-3 zone and allow their opponents to post obscene numbers from three-point range.

Sure, Northwestern made a majority of its shots against reserves well after the game was out of hand, and Indiana and Purdue made contested shots. The true troubles with the threes came to fruition against Michigan, the worst three-point shooting team in the Big Ten, and the problems have persisted against quality opponents since Quincy Douby and Rutgers lit up Penn State in last year's NIT tournament.

As the Wolverine sharpshooters fired at will from long-distance for 12 threes, it became apparent that the problem is more than just good shooters making tough shots.

Head coach Ed DeChellis said after the Indiana game that most of the Hoosiers' shots were difficult and contested. After Michigan, however, he had to admit during his postgame press conference that some of the shots were open.

The open looks were so prevalent, that Michigan head coach Tommy Amaker could find little fault with his team's shot selection.

"Certainly when we're open with our shoes on the perimeter for threes, we want to take those open jump shots," Amaker said, hammering home the ineffectiveness of Penn State's soft zone. "And I can only recall right now until I watch the film, one bad shot. I think of all the open shots that we were able to take from beyond the three-point line, I can only think of one off the top of my head that was a poor shot."

Clearly, Penn State is not getting to opposing shooters and forcing bad shots. Instead, the Lions have failed to learn from the mistakes they made against Northwestern and Purdue. After surrendering 19 three-pointers, the Lions never adjusted. Indiana and Michigan were still able create open looks and shoot at will.

While Penn State had trouble adjusting, Indiana and Michigan were capable of shutting down the Lions' hottest shooter, sophomore guard Danny Morrissey. Both the Hoosiers and Wolverines scouted Morrissey well and held him to a combined four treys. The prior week, Morrissey lit up Northwestern and Purdue to the tune of 12 three's and 45 points. Morrissey was obviously a little frustrated, but he expected the added pressure.

"They obviously keyed on me a little bit," Morrissey said. "They were getting into me pretty hard, but that's the way they play."

That's not just the way Indiana plays, that's the way the Big Ten plays. The league prides itself on tough defense and forcing bad shots, something the Lions have yet to show during conference play.

What had evolved into one of the Lions' strengths throughout the non-conference season, when Penn State forced opponents to shoot under 30 percent from beyond the arc, has suddenly unraveled and become a glaring weakness. It's now clear that Penn State's zone defense is not effective in the talent-heavy Big Ten. The league simply boasts too many quality shooters and rebounders for the zone to shut down opponents.

"I think our league is probably more of a man league," Indiana coach Kelvin Sampson said.

Sampson noted that in order for the zone to work, the defense must crash the boards and limit second shots.

And once again, for the Lions in the Big Ten, rebounding has been a problem.

As with three-point defense, Penn State prided itself on its rebounding during non-conference play. The Lions ranked 24th in the country with a plus-eight rebounding advantage. In the Big Ten, Penn State has only out-rebounded its opponents by one per contest, and in the losses to Indiana and Michigan, the Lions were out-muscled on the boards by nine per game.

DeChellis has identified the rebounding situation, but his team has still gotten beat on the glass by failing to box-out. Both the Hoosiers and Wolverines missed several first shots from long range, but were able to secure rebounds and get extra possessions and, subsequently, hit more threes.

If the Lions continue to struggle to defend the perimeter, the losses will pile up. This Penn State squad, one of the more-talented teams of the past decade, will end up like almost every other group of Lions: An afterthought and simple diversion to bide the time between football season and the Blue-White game.