The Penn State men's basketball team has almost everything now.
The squad has a berth in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1955.
The Nittany Lions have claimed victories over four of the top teams in the nation Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan State and North Carolina.
In wins over Kentucky and North Carolina, Penn State has topped a couple of the more storied programs in college basketball. The Wildcats and Tar Heels have seven national titles between them and the top two coaches, Adolph Rupp (876) and Dean Smith (879), in career wins.
The team has the raucous support of the students and community as evidenced by the more than 200 supporters who showed up at the University Park Airport Sunday night and into Monday morning.
Those fans showed up well before the team plane was scheduled to land and had worked themselves into a frenzy by the time it finally touched down at 12:30 a.m.
Some supporters stood on each other's shoulders and reached over the fence, which was topped by barbed wire, to shake hands with the players.
This team also has personality.
All you had to do was listen to the television announcers gush over the fearlessness of Joe and Jon Crispin and the courage of Titus Ivory, who came out and played while his mother was in the hospital.
And let's not forget about Gyasi Cline-Heard. The forward was caught on camera winking at an official after being whistled for a foul against Providence in the first round and now carries the Nittany Lion mascot off the court after big tournament wins.
But the one thing the Nittany Lions are missing is a slogan.
Every team has one at this point in the season, especially if it is an underdog in the tournament and goes on a run like the seventh-seeded Nittany Lions are on right now.
"We believe" has become cliche. Every team believes. If it didn't, it wouldn't be as far as it is or knocked off the teams it has.
"Who let the dogs out. Woof, woof, woof." Oh, please no.
This could work because the Nittany Lions are be considered an underdog at this stage of the tournament. But so can Temple, which is the 11th seed in the South Regional.
The slogan for this team may come from another Pennsylvania team, the Pittsburgh Pirates. A few years ago when everyone in the National League Central Division was clustered up in the standings, everyone in the media was talking about the Cincinnati Reds, St. Louis Cardinals and the Houston Astros.
That's when Jim Leyland, the manager of the Pirates at the time, offered this query, "Why not us?" Perfect. Plus it looked good on a T-shirt.
Why not the Nittany Lions in the Final Four?
They have those four big wins this season and they've worked hard to get where they are.
They backed themselves into a corner with the loss to Northwestern but came back throwing haymakers to get to the tournament.
Penn State did lose badly to Iowa in the Big Ten semifinals, but where is Iowa now? At home. And the Nittany Lions are in the Sweet 16.
So hey, Why not them?
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