Continue reading »]]> Just a quick note of acknowledgement to MSU and the back-to-back Big Ten Championship that was secured last night. It has been an interesting season in East Lansing. Some high-points and some low-points that all seemed to come in bunches. MSU finished the regular season on a high-point and sent Raymar Morgan, Isaiah Dahlman and Jon Crandall out winners and BT Champs. Raymar played the way you hope a senior does in his last game – it was special, and part of what makes MSU Hoops special – Coach Izzo got a little teary eyed as the Seniors kissed the S and the trophy celebration ensued.

The Big Ten Tourney is next and MSU is jockeying for seeding in the top four lines. A good showing could mean a solid 3 seed and depending on what happens elsewhere a BTT Title could lead to another 2 seed (MSU is 10-1 as a 2 seed in the Tourney). I cannot wait for Thursday to get here – in the meantime I guess I’ll just have to get my fill of all the other Conference Tournaments and Championship games.

Now – a quick word why this was just a short note: In a few moments I will be heading to Historic Fordson High School in Dearborn to watch our own Coach Jimmy engage his battle tested Allen Park Jaguars in his first High School Playoff game as HC of the hometown Jags. Sam is meeting me there and we will rep the “Tourney Trip APHS Boys Hoops Booster Club” in Coach Jimmy’s first District game. It’s March – even for Jimmy – Go Jags!

Continue reading »]]> Well just about every prediction I made for Sunday’s game was just horribly off:

- Evan Turner didn’t play well and OSU still won

- MSU’s depth was a non-issue (even with OSU’s lone bench player fouling out) as the team seemingly did their own thing in the first half going against the game plan of run-run-run and if it’s not there pound the ball in the post (post-ups and drives) and what resulted was a 13 point deficit and OSU controlling tempo.

- Raymar played with good effort, and was the only player praised by Coach Izzo in the post-game, but was not too crisp. He made some plays and left it all on the court but was again limited by a few silly fouls. For the rest of the season – and his career – I just expect a good effort out of Ray and if he does that good things will happen. Ray can’t compensate for the lack of a true presence in the middle (cough – we really miss G – cough) or when the wings decide they know more than Izzo – So, from now on I’m Ray’s biggest supporter and as long as the effort is there I got his back (and thank him for a fine career in the Green and White).

Joe Rexrode at the Lansing State Journal has a very interesting blog post about the state of the team:

\”Hey Joe\” MSU LCD Issues

These “LCD” issues explain a lot about the last three weeks (and have been mentioned before, but no one pays attention to these things when the team is winning) so too does Kalin’s injury and of course the expectations factor discounting the loss of Walton, Suton, Gray and Ibok.

So, where does this team go from here? The discussion will focus on the Purdue game and the how far this team can go in the Tourney. And a lot of judgments about the latter will be based on the performance in the former. However, I still would not read too much into what happens next Sunday – and I still think a rested and prepared Spartan Team can win in West Laffy (as a matter of fact the Flintstones began to build their legacy one cold Indiana winter night back in 1998 at Mackey Arena – maybe Kalin, Raymar and DayDay can re-build their own legacy there too… but I digress) – as certainly the Big Ten regular season hangs in the balance but MSU has built its program based on the NCAA Tournament not the Big Ten regular season (don’t get me wrong I like BT Championships as much as the next guy but banners hung in the center rafters with Final Four logos are more important than banners hung on the side rafters that say BT Champ). And I still think this team has a Tourney run in them. They’ll have to work out the “LCD” issues and it’s a good thing Tom Izzo is there to guide that process. If they can do that in time for the 3rd weekend in March this team can play for more than two games in the Dance. Of course, based on my last post I wouldn’t go wagering the house on my predictions.

Continue reading »]]> Okay, 3 losses in a row was not what the doctor ordered for the Spartans and it’s hard to make excuses for the performance in 2 of the 3 games. However, it is important to remember that all is not lost and MSU is still in first place (they just have a little company now).

A couple of points about this last stretch of games:

- Obviously the injury to Kalin’s ankle has been a big factor. He played last night but at about 70% and his injury still impacted playing rotations. I would imagine that it has thrown off practice too – but his performance last night would seem to indicate that he’ll be back to normal soon.

- Morgan and Summers have been MIA. I do not like to pile on Ray and Rell as they both are good guys and Ray put out effort last night – it was just miss-directed. Both guys have a very high ceiling talent-wise and that is what is so frustrating to MSU fans when they struggle. Turning these guys around and getting them playing well again won’t just fall on Izzo and the coaches it will be a test of Draymond and Kalin’s leadership. The issue is in their heads, they need to shake it off and get going. Their success is directly proportional to the team’s success. Raymar is the key factor in determining what this team will become.

- I love Draymond Green – love him. But DayDay has been forcing things over this stretch and I can’t fault his heart and effort one bit but in the absence of others (some physically and some mentally) he has forced his game. He played great at Illinois but even then had some un-forced turnovers that lead directly to points (forcing passes in the post & knocking un-contested defensive rebounds out of bounds). I think a little rest and some help on the offensive end will get Draymond back on track, here’s hoping that comes soon.

- Korie Lucious has taken a lot of heat due to the turnovers of late and some of it is warranted. Long-term I think this stretch will help him next year and beyond when he’s the primary 1. Of course, given how things have gone recently I’m leaning more and more that Kalin will be back next season.

- As soon as Delvon Roe realizes that very few people can stop him within 10 feet of the basket he will be an offensive force. The defensive and rebounding aspects of his game are good but on offense he seems sort of tentative creating his own chances – he shouldn’t be, he has the tools and just needs to use them.

- One scheme issue has really reared its head over this stretch and that’s the high ball screen switching issue. The reason uw, UofI and PU got so many open looks from deep is that on high ball screens our bigs are not playing over and causing the wing defender to get buried below the screen (see Moore’s shot last night to stop MSU’s run after cutting it to 3). Last night all of the switching was off (see the open cuts and back doors) but this lack of communication and adjustment on the high ball screen has been an issue all season. I have to believe they’re being told the right way to play it but for some reason it just isn’t sinking in – the defense needs to step up from everyone and this issue is a big factor in the defensive play.

- Overall, the conference championship is still very much a possibility. The next two games are on the road but against Penn State and Indiana. PSU is terrible but after these 3 losses I start to get a pit in my stomach that MSU will be their miracle game this season too – Talor Battle is good but he shouldn’t be good enough to beat MSU by himself. And IU is improved but MSU still outmans them and should beat them no matter where they play. If the Spartans take care of business and win these two it sets the stage for the 21st against OSU – that will be a lynchpin game in the BT Championship race.

At the end of the day I still have faith in Izzo and the talent that’s on this team. And I still have faith in the aforementioned’s ability to get the team chemistry on track and nothing helps team chemistry like a conference road win – So, Go State Beat PeeSU.

And a quick note of thanks to Chet for the ticket to last night’s game. The travel was tough and the game ugly but there are few places in the world I’d rather be than in the Breslin with a good friend. Thanks again Chester.

Continue reading »]]> Ohio State (5) v. Michigan State (1):

OSU seems to have saved it’s Big Dance dreams with the win over Wisconsin yesterday (developments in the A-10, Big 12 & MWC Tourneys have made the bubble teams start to sweat – In the Big Ten PSU, Minny, um & Wisconsin will have a nervous Sunday) – MSU just outlasted Minny, as I posted yesterday it wasn’t pretty but in March you win and don’t worry about style points – despite what the yutzs in the ESPN studio may say about seeding – but I’ll talk more about seeding in tomorrow’s preview when we have most of the conference tournaments final results in hand – for now let’s all agree that Jimmy’s hero Digger Phelps is just a giant homer douche and move on.

Today’s game should be another slugfest, it won’t be pretty both teams like to bang and scrap but if you like Big Ten hoops it will be a great game. Evan Turner meet Travis Walton – on the defensive side that’s the key match-up for MSU. For MSU to win Suton and Raymar need to have better games – G had his way with the young Mullens in MSU’s prior to victories and that will need to continue. Raymar usually plays well against his home state’s team so I expect his performance will improve. Roe and Lauderdale should be a good match-up (and Day-Day Green and Quise and the Dunk Police when they’re subbed in). If Mullens is playing well against G don’t be surprised to see ID – Idunk Iblock – get some minutes. Diebler will challenge MSU’s tough perimeter defense and I have no doubt he’ll get some good looks today. The last time these teams played Durrell Summers went off – here’s to hoping he can do it again.

It will be a battle but I think MSU is set for a March roll and they will outlast the Buckeyes and move onto Sunday (then we can let the seeding talk commence).

Pick: MICHIGAN STATE

Purdue (3) v. Illinois (2):

Both of these teams played well last night – but both will face tougher competition in each other today. Purdue had a bit of an offensive re-awakening last night and Illinois ground Michigan into the floor. Illinois is historically the toughest out in the BTT and they seem to be upholding that tradition without Chester Frazier’s services – it will be interesting to see how his absence plays out today. For Illinois Mike Davis is again the key and Hummel is the spark plug for Purdue. The match-up to watch will be Johnson versus Tisdale in the low post, two very skilled young big men playing against each with a trip to BTT Finals on the line – who could ask for anything more? In the end I give the edge to Purdue due to Frazier’s absence but the Illini swept the season series so it’s hard to get really excited about that pick. Should be a good defensive Big Ten battle – if ESPN doesn’t like that they can eat my shorts.

Pick: PURDUE