Penn State men’s basketball now owns the longest active winning streak in college hoops after Michigan expanded its apparent school-wide “revenge tour” to basketball and knocked off Villanova in a rematch of last year’s National Championship Game.

The streak, which currently stands at seven games, began in the opening round of last year’s NIT with a 63-57 win over Temple. The Nittany Lions proceeded to carve through the NIT bracket with wins over Notre Dame, Marquette, Mississippi State, and Utah in the title game.  The streak ended the 2017-18 season at five games, which trailed only national champion Villanova. The Wildcats had won 13 straight before Wednesday.

Penn State extended its streak to seven games with wins over North Florida and Jacksonville State to start the season.

We head into tomorrow night's game at DePaul as owners of the nation's longest win streak at 7⃣ games #ClimbWithUs
7 in a row pic.twitter.com/VQkUPK4KtV

— Penn State Men’s Basketball (@PennStateMBB) November 15, 2018

This streak is not all that surprising, as the team is led by a coach in Pat Chambers rated higher then Coach K or Bill Self. (At least according to the all-reliable “GARP” stat from ESPN.)

The next two match-ups for Chambers’ team are very manageable, with games against Depaul and Wright State. After that, things start to heat up.

The Nittany Lions will play host to No. 16 Virginia Tech on November 27 as part of the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. While this game presents a big test for the Nittany Lions, it also provides an early opportunity for Penn State to make a case the NCAA Tournament. 

With the best group of freshman in the country emerging freshmen like Rasir Bolton and Myles Dread, All-Big Ten level talents like Lamar Stevens and Josh Reaves, and the potential return of Mike Watkins, the Nittany Lions are beginning to look like a serious threat to reach the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2011. 

With all that said, stats don’t lie. Longest winning streak in the country= best team in the country, right?

This is November.