Rebuilding is the general term folks use for this process, but such talk discounts the details. This, more appropriately, is a full-time construction project. And a frustrating one.

At Penn State, a freshman recruiting class comes in and plants hope. Then a foundation of veterans crumble.

Wins come early in the season. Then losses follow in nine of the team's next 10 games.

Confidence builds. Then it erodes.

In his second season as men's basketball coach at Penn State, Ed DeChellis already knows this much about his so-called rebuilding process: When the pieces fall apart just as quickly as they're stacked together, results come slowly. If at all.

Today, when the Nittany Lions (6-11, 0-4 Big Ten) play host to Northwestern, they'll take the court looking far different from the team DeChellis anticipated at the start of season. In recent games, DeChellis has used, at times, a lineup featuring four freshmen and a junior college transfer. He has just nine scholarship players at his disposal and admits that players are wearing down in practice. If this sounds familiar to the chorus of last season -- young team, little depth, few victories -- that's because, well, it is.

Though Penn State has a legitimate chance to claim its first conference victory this afternoon against Northwestern, DeChellis knows his team has greater challenges. Namely, restoring some confidence. Finding some healthy players. And escaping the bad karma that has short-circuited Penn State's hope for a surprise season.

"I think our confidence has been shaken," DeChellis said bluntly.

Penn State has a four-game losing streak. It also has larger concerns. Sophomore guard Marlon Smith, the main cog in the team's backcourt last season and through 13 games this year, recently left the team for the season after doctors discovered partial blockage of an artery in his brain. Though the condition is not life-threatening, Smith is taking a blood thinner to combat the clot. That precludes his participation, at least temporarily, in all contact sports.

Before Penn State lost Smith, the team had already tripped through a year of roster instability. Early in the season, another key sophomore guard, Ben Luber, missed about three weeks because of undisclosed personal reasons. (He has since returned to the team.) In December, redshirt freshman center John Kelly left the team, hoping to transfer. (He eventually settled on Iona.) Meanwhile, fifth-year senior Jamaal Tate decided to make himself an "inactive" member of the team, meaning he would attend practices but refrain from playing in games.

The departures have depleted Penn State's depth and amplified the strain of the losing. When the team performs five-on-five drills in practice, assistant coaches are now forced to participate.

"That's not the ideal situation when you're trying to create competition," DeChellis admitted.

But DeChellis, familiar with the proverbial rebuilding process -- he orchestrated a similar project at East Tennessee State, his previous school -- can still identify reason to be optimistic. Even if it takes some stretching. Add Travis Parker, a junior college transfer, to the batch of the Lions' four freshmen, and those new faces have accounted for just more than 50 percent of the team's total points. "That's a positive," DeChellis said.

Want more? Junior forward Aaron Johnson leads the team in scoring (14.7 ppg) and rebounding (9.9 rpg), while providing veteran leadership for a team that desperately needs it. Freshman Geary Claxton has emerged as a go-to outside player since Big Ten play began -- he has finished as the Lions' leading scorer in two of the past four games.

Still, the losing has a tendency to overwrite such success. That's why the team clings to games such as today's for hope.

"Our confidence is pretty low because of the losses, and some of the players individually aren't satisfied with themselves," Claxton said. "Right now, we're in a tough losing streak. But hopefully we can turn it around this weekend by getting a win."