Continue reading »]]> I apologize for my lack of site updates. Life has taken its course over the last couple months. This doesn’t mean I haven’t taken the time to watch my fair share of basketball games, just that I haven’t had the time to put those observances into words here.

I write this during the last week of January. Conference schedules are well underway. Rivalries are renewing themselves on an almost nightly basis. Kids (and myself) are back on campus. The cold weather has tightened its grip on the mid-west. The sun is out in Las Vegas. Things are as they should be. Or are they?

Michigan State has taken a nose dive in many fans eyes. The hope and promise of a top 5 ranking to start the season has now given way to despair as the Spartans now sit at 12-7, 4-3 in the Big Ten. Hardly the record Spartan fans (including myself) figured MSU to have at this point in the season. They’ve lost games to good teams including UConn, Texas, Purdue, Duke, Syracuse etc. That’s a pretty tough schedule. They’ve won a few decent game including versus Wisconsin, Minnesota and Washington out in Hawaii. Those wins don’t erase the hope that developed during the summer, which stemmed from an amazing Final Four run last March.

So what’s the problem? It’s plain to see they are not who we thought they were. Good vibes, clutch play and a few lucky bounces contributed to another Izzo Final Four, some the lofty Spartan expectations. Last year they were a #5 seed, which puts them squarely on the bottom end of the top 25. This is about where they’ve played this season. They lost a huge impact player in Raymar Morgan. Adrian Payne and Keith Appling have done their best to step up and fill some of the void, but are still learning the college game at this point. Lucas isn’t even a shadow of his former self. Lucious can only hit a shot with two seconds on the shot clock. Delvon Roe tries, bless his heart, and had a nice outing at Purdue on Saturday, but it’s hardly enough. The team is not a cohisive unit, and doesn’t have a consistant player beyond the big dancing teddy bear. They are who I think they are, a #4 seed at absolute best, and a hopeful sweet-16 team. That is, unless Izzo turns on some of that March Magic, and ignights the college basketball world yet again come tourney time. One can only hope.

Speaking of hope, there’s little I can muster up for UNLV and a Mountain West championship at this point. A solid non conference season gave way to losses at home against BYU and the Jimmer Fredette show. As painful as that was, they’ve also dropped one to Colorado State. Hardly what needs to happen if you want to contend for the Mountain West these days, as both SDSU and BYU have claimed top 10 spots in the polls, and are angling for seeding in the tourney at this point. The loss to CSU puts UNLV behind them in Mountain West pecking order, and puts pressure on the Rebels to win at CSU for the return trip. It also puts pressure on UNLV to pick up a big time win either at BYU (not likely) or at home vs SDSU. Considering UNLV played SDSU very well on their home floor a few weeks ago, it’s possible to pick up a resume buidling win there, and cement UNLV’s status into the tournament. Time well tell. The way they’ve played lately, they can’t afford to look ahead on the schedule and concentrate on winning at Wyoming tonight, and at home vs a Utah team that has played better in recent weeks.

My Western Michigan Broncos are a different story all together, and I wonder how much more I can take of following Hawkins and his merry men through boring .500 seasons. It’s sad to watch, as when I was a student at WMU, the trio of Ben Reed, Mike Williams, and Anthony Kahn led the Broncos to a tournemnt birth, and what should have been an upset victory over Vanderbilt. Instead, it’s the status quo, and I wonder if a coaching change is needed to spark some interest and fire in the program once more. Sam tells me this will never happen, as the administration is happy with .500, which just frustrates the shit out of me. Oh well. I’m removed from the Kalamazoo area, and really cannot affect change. All I can to is sit back and watch them lose to Toledo.

A few side notes – my 50 games project is scraped again this year in favor of not skipping school. I should end up in the 20′s somewhere. I am putting serious thought into heading to Houston for the Final Four by my lonesome this April as well.

That’s what’s up in my basketball world.

Continue reading »]]> There is a certain code to live by that makes being a sports fan a meaningful experience. It can be a difficult code to follow in hard times because it involves making an emotional attachment to a program, and linking your fortunes with theirs. It is because of that attachment and because there is the potential to suffer with your team that makes the enjoyment of winning so much more intense when you are lucky enough to experience it. You have to suffer with something to truly be a fan of it. You have to be tested, and you have to remain loyal when the temptation of being one of the throngs who regardless of geography or alma mater flock to the most successful blue blood program  or worse to Kobe or Lebron. If you are ever to earn the right to celebrate a teams accomplishments with pride then you must experience more than just a championship run. You have to be there on cold February days when conference road games take their toll. You might have to sit through an NIT or even CBI game, you have to watch players leave the court in March in tears knowing that they gave you 4 great seasons and you will never get to watch them again. You have to experience all of the highs and the lows to earn a meaningful affiliation.

It occurred to me yesterday when I was sitting in the Convocation Center watching my two mid major alma maters battle it out in a game that would determine 3rd place in the MAC West that this game had more meaning to me than the previous weeks Duke/North Carolina game could have had to most of the chattering, blue clad masses in the Dean Smith Center or watching on ESPN, because I am vested. I spent three years of my life in Kalamazoo and watched the Broncos 10+ times a season since the day I set foot on that campus, I’ve spent the last 4 years in Ypsilanti going to every EMU home game I can. The highlights of rooting for middle of the road to bad mid major teams are not plentiful, but they are far more memorable than any Final Four could be for the team I might have arbitrarily chosen to root for.

This might strike some as a bitter rant. I certainly don’t mean for it to. I root for Eastern Michigan, Western Michigan, Georgetown and Michigan State. I have degrees from Eastern and Western, and followed Michigan State since an early age. I do not mean to imply that you must attend a school to root for the basketball team. I think it should be your first loyalty and I absolutely resent the notion that you should cast aside your personal affiliation just because the athletic program isn’t as high a profile as the larger state school. I do recognize that some people make an attachment early in life and it stays with them regardless of where they went to school. I absolutely get that and for the most part can respect it. The so called fans that I can’t abide by are the guys that root for the top team, top player, or top tradition and want to revel in that success. These are the parasites that latch on to the biggest thing they can find to try and share in their success.

Classic example is this clown who sat near us at last years championship game:

This guy was the most vocal person in our section. He was more animated in his support of the North Carolina Tarheel’s than Tyler Hansborough’s parents (I know this because as the game got more and more out of hand I kept an eye on both just to have something to take my mind off things). He didn’t even care enough about the team to ever buy a t-shirt. He did care enough to put on his best Carolina Blue Rocawear jacket and matching Carolina Blue Old English D hat, and try to taunt Spartan fans in our section. He liked to declare things over and jump out of his seat for dunks. I liked to yell “Go Rocawear” every time he did, because I have zero respect for guys like this. If he had an equally unaffiliated friend who was wearing green and white Fubu and had a green and white yankee hat it would be different. But this tool was trying to banter with real fans who were watching their team play for the highest stakes out there. It was completely inappropriate, and no matter how much he tried to pretend to celebrate afterwords it was clearly unauthentic and meaningless. He was out there watching a TV show, I was watching a team/program that I had been following since I was in 3rd grade, other people were watching a team/program that represented the school where they spent years of their lives, a place where they had chosen a career path, met a spouse, etc… it just wasn’t balanced.

My philosophy is simple and fair. There is nothing wrong with liking a team. You can like a team without being a true fan. I like Georgetown. I root for Georgetown, watch them when I can, know who their players and coaches are, and read about them. I like their tradition, I like that they win at an elite level without taking dirty BCS football money, and I just plain enjoy watching them play. I am a true fan of Western Michigan. This is because I can’t walk away when the program is down, or when we have a tough loss. If Georgetown starts a long slide it won’t bother me that much, I’ll just root for Seton Hall or something. If Western Michigan starts/continues to slide I’ll get pissed, want the coach fired, call Ball State cheaters, want to build a new arena, drink more, etc… I can’t walk away from “my team”. If you don’t have a team you can’t just pick one up overnight . You have to earn the right to call a team yours through time and energy expelled watching, hoping, and sometimes being disappointed. Until such time as you become a true fan of a team you should be respectful of true fans and never try to equate your loss affiliations with their real passions. If some tool at BW3s who grew up in the same town as I did, went to community college, grew up rooting for the Fab-5 and then Michigan State when Izzo became dominate, and has never lived outside of Metro Detroit, sits next to me to watch Kentucky play WMU in the tournament this March (I can dream), he better not pump his fist and try to talk shit to me if Kentucky is beating up on Western Michigan just because he really likes Wall, and Bledsoe. He doesn’t matter, his thoughts don’t matter, and his happiness is just a meaningless front, because to him, sports don’t matter. I’d rather watch a game with some crusty old Kentucky fan from the hill country who has a picture of Adolph Rupp in his rec room if he is a true fan of his team. Because at least that guy gets it.

Continue reading »]]> Happy Valentines Day. I offer you a picture of my broken basketball heart.

say it ain't so baby

The week that was in college basketball may have been just like any other week. There are teams fighting their way onto the bubble, teams tripping themselves off the bubble, and teams that don’t know what that is, because they don’t roll dolo’s like some other schools do.

If you’ve read any part of this weblog of our basketball trials and tribulations, it’s not hard to know that we root for a few core teams. I tend to follow the Western Michigan Broncos, Michigan State Spartans, and UNLV Runnin’ Rebels. Quite the combination. I bet nobody else west of the Mississippi has a wall of fame hanging in their man cave with Ben Reed, Anthony Kahn, and Mike Williams on it.

Last week, things seemed to be great. UNLV was coming off a win at home against rival bible thumps BYU.  The Broncos won at home against Bowling Green. Michigan State had lost earlier that week at Wisconsin, and had looked to get back on track at Illinois (without Kalin Lucas). Ever since then, it has been a brutal run.

1. Western Michigan has lost two straight road games to Ohio and Eastern Michigan. Now they have a sub-.500 conference record. Not quite the note you want to hit when you’re heading into your final hand full of games before the conference tournament. I always believe that if they can get there, David Kool will bust out some flip mode sequence and pull off a miracle. He’s gone after this year, and deserves to see the NCAA Tournament. We deserve to see him and his squad play there too. Doesn’t seem so likely at this point.

2. Michigan State lost to Illinois. They probably would have won had Kalin Lucas played. Afterwords, they lost at home to stupid boiler up Purdue and their trio of clowns that everybody thinks are sweet at basketball. They have since won at Penn State yesterday, but come on, everybody has done that this year. Penn State hasn’t won a conference game to date. Sparty had been in line to challenge for a #1 seed, and an easy road to the round of 16, and hopefully beyond. Now, they’re looking at a 3 or 4 seed. It is possible to improve to a 2, but, I’m not holding my breath, or my lungs will look like the hoop rock just above.

3. UNLV played host to New Mexico, and did their best BYU impression on Wednesday. Yesterday, I saddled up tonto and rode up to the b-dubs down the street to watch UNLV play at SDSU on Versus, only to be disapointed in my investment. It was really hot in there. I hung out until I knew it was over. The Rebels lost the game, have now lost two in a row, and can basically kiss the regular season conference title good-bye. In addition, their next game at Utah is now a must win. I’m sure you remember what happened last time these two teams met, right?

So there you go. Happy Valentines Day. My second lover (my first being my very beautiful and loving wife), has forsaken me. I am no front runner. I follow the teams I do for very specific reasons. No Duke fan here. MSU is logical, because I’m from Michigan, and the Spartans are not the Wolverines. WMU is my pseudo-alma matter, and UNLV is the only sports gig here in Las Vegas. How could I not go? It would be easy to root for Villanova or something, but I just can’t bring myself to do it.

Basketball is a brutal lover. The highs are so high, and the lows are so low. The coming week poses challenges for all the teams I mentioned here. It is my hope to see some of them in March, at neutral sites, and having a blast. If they aren’t there, it will be OK, because the Trip is perpetual, and it’s not about our teams. It’s just icing on the cake. After last year’s Final Four, perhaps we are spoiled.

So, I guess I will treat this relationship like a troubled marriage. You have to work to make it work.

I’m not turning my back on you baby.

Continue reading »]]> The MAC West looks like its going to CMU. The Chips have a 3 game lead as WMU and NIU have faded during cross divisional play. Eastern Michigan will probably have a sub .500 conference record as they continue to drop winnable home games, and I am quickly becoming frustrated with the prospects of the conference to crown a champion capable of winning an NCAA tournament game.

Michigan State played a terrible game and was thoroughly out classed by Wisconsin. Kalin Lucas rolls his ankle and might be out for the seasons most pivotal stretch (@Illinois, and Purdue). If they don’t win the Big Ten regular season after starting 9-0 then they should make Paul Davis an honorary captain during the Big Ten tournament, and probably shouldn’t be expecting a deep run in March. The notion that everything will be all right in March is an over estimate in East Lansing. State really hasn’t been playing good basketball for the last month, and I don’t believe Tom Izzo can just have them flip a switch. I really hope they don’t fade down the stretch because this is a likable collection of players, but after the debacle in Madison I have my concerns.

Rhett assures me that Lon Kruger will step up today and stop the Mormons from running away with the Mountain West. Let’s see if Jimmer can carry his sprite drinking, polygamist practicing, Orrin Hatch voting, door to door bothering, 25 year olds to victory in a hostile and sin filled environment.

I need wins by UNLV, Western Michigan, Eastern Michigan, and Michigan State today to feel good about the direction of this season. I’ll take 3-1 but anything less than that and my worries will continue. I’ll be at the Convo in a few hours cheering on EMU against Ohio U. Hope its worth it.

Continue reading »]]>

The season is now in full swing as we move through December and mercifully no longer have to watch the brutal disappointment that was the 2009 college football season every week. I took in a couple of games in November to try and get a feel for how my teams were going to look this season and I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised in both cases.

On November 15th we headed through the ruins of Old Detroit and took in the Western Michigan/Detroit Mercy game at Callahan Hall. This game holds special significance to the Broncos because their best low post player from last season LeMarcus Lowe was sitting on UDM’s bench as a recent transfer. This is the guy who wanted to be closer to his ailing mother who lives in Flint so he left Kalamazoo for Detroit. Either that or those degenerates gave him a fancy shirt with a tiger on it, some gold chains and a previously owned Ford Taurus. At any rate the Broncos had something to prove after a 10-21 season and a major off season defection, and even in defeat showed enough to leave room for optimism. They never let the game get away from them and held their own physically on the road. A far cry from their performance last season.

Down the road in Ypsilanti Eastern Michigan is in a pivotal year for their program. Charles Ramsey is in year 5 of a very disappointing tenure that has yet to produce a winning season, and with a healthy senior lead team that includes the return of All MAC point guard Carlos Medlock from the injured list it is now or never for C-Ram. I was able to check out EMU once in person already this season when they soundly beat a pretty average Cansisus team from the MAAC in front of a very sparse crowd last week. They then followed it up by being soundly trounced by 51 at Ohio State on Saturday, but all in all I feel like EMU has had a good start to the 09-10 campaign as they sit at 5-3 with a steady diet of cupcakes on deck before heading into MAC play. If they can shake off an embarrassing performance and keep rolling forward they should be decent this year. I would like to be all in on the EMU bandwagon but I have seen this team fall apart to many times under Ramsey and to many promising players fail to develop after good early season performances. I should have a better feel for them after I see them in a tough game against somewhat even competition (I’m giving them a pass in the Ohio State game for now because I think Evan Turner breaking his back really threw them off).

Right now I don’t see either of these programs as championship contenders even in a weak MAC, but there is reason to hope that they might develop into contending programs. We shall see.

Continue reading »]]> College sports seasons are a difficult thing to grasp sometimes. In both football and basketball, teams usually start the season playing games against teams that are not in their conference. Depending on who you are, these games serve different purposes.

• BCS / High Major Teams – If you’re North Carolina, Kentucky, or UConn, games at the start of the season are meant to do a lot of things. You’re probably paying for a few cupcakes to come to your place and watch you do dunking drills. You’re probably playing in a pre-season tournament, meant to face you against different teams that do things you are not used to (ala, the NCAA Tourney). You’re also playing a few good teams in order to (hopefully) get a few marquee wins on your resume before you begin conference play. These are not necessary wins because you still have your conference schedule, with chances to play other good teams, and your conference tournament.
• Mid Major Teams / Low Major Teams – Most of these guys are collecting a few checks to be a punching bag in a rabid home environment for one of the above teams. A few exceptions (Butler, Xavier, Davidson in recent years), will also be trying to add a few marquee wins vs the teams above, hoping for that mythical at large bid when tourney time comes around. The rest of the punching bags are just hoping to survive to conference schedules (usually starting after the new year), and a chance to position themselves for the conference tournament, and a ticket to the shindig.

Spring will be here before we know it. March will be here, and some of these wins will be important, but others will not. Most teams as we see them now will have a completely different make up. Tom Izzo and is MSU Spartans are notorious for this. You never see his March teams play the way his December teams do. Yes, Michigan State lost at UNC, losing to the Tar Heels for the 3rd straight time in the last two years. Yes, two of those victories were against last years NCAA champion shucks howdy hip gyro nation squad. MSU figured to have the superior squad this last week at UNC, now that most of the title team has moved onto the NBA. Sparty was outplayed for most of the game. I have always seen Tom Izzo’s season as a progression towards a goal. Yes, a win at North Carolina would be great. However, it’s the test that probably (I’m going off the cuff here) means more. Hostile environment, check. Blue Blood squad, check. Broken arm coach who lives his apple pie and the funnies in the sunday section, check. Even though MSU lost, they still gained something from playing the game, and it will go a long way to getting these guys where they need to be come tourney time.

The same could be said for WMU. They travel to Hawaii at the end of December to get beat up on by a few teams before their conference schedule starts. Flying all those time zones away, playing supposedly superior competition (you do have to play the games), and all just before you enter the grind it out portion of your schedule. WMU is not going to get an at large bid this year, unless they don’t lose another game by some miracle. This means they’re playing for a conference tournament seed, and keeping their fingers crossed for some hot David Kool shooting in Cleveland. That is the life on the other side.

So, things may seem sort of brutal at this point. I’m pumped for UNLV hoops, undefeated with two close road victories over Arizona and Santa Clara (appears Santa Clara should have won that game). I’m also hopeful for WMU, as they’ve shown flashes over their non-con schedule (win vs VCU, playing Temple tough). I also see that Tom Izzo and his Spartans are a work in progress, and if things happen the way they have previously, we’ll be watching a different team in a few months.

I’ve got no games this week, until Saturday for UNLV and Kansas State, which, as it turns out, will be a pretty big time game.

Have a good week everybody.

Continue reading »]]>

2009-10 WMU nonleague schedule

• Nov. 15 at Detroit
• Nov. 18 VCU
• Nov. 23 at Loyola (Ill.)
• Nov. 28 HOLY CROSS
• Dec. 1 TEMPLE
• Dec. 9 at Eastern Illinois
• Dec. 13 at Illinois
• Dec. 19 KENNESAW STATE
• Dec. 22-25 Diamond Head Classic (Hawaii, C of Charleston, Saint Mary’s (CA), SMU, UNLV, USC, Northeastern)
• Jan. 3 SAM HOUSTON STATE
• Jan. 5 MICHIGAN-DEARBORN

What I like:

• Keeping the home and home series with Detroit Mercy going. It’s a nice little pseudo rivalry early in the year that has produced some close hard fought battles.
• Two 2008 NCAA Tournament teams are visiting University Arena (VCU, & Temple)
• 6 Home games! That is great for a mid major
• Besides Illinois there are no obvious mismatches. The potential to lose any game by a wide enough margin to psychologically damage a young team is not something I want to worry about.

What I don’t like:

• Michigan-Dearborn is Division II and not even competitive at that level. The fact that we have to dip down to that level to fill our schedule and stockpile easy wins is distasteful to me. Also there are more local DII teams that I would rather see given the opportunity like Ferris State (Big Rapids) or Grand Valley State (Allendale). Believe me those half wits in Bland Rapids already think that GVSU has athletics on par with the MAC, a 40 pt beat down would be just the thing to set them right and shut them up.
• The Diamond Head Classic has the potential to ruin Christmas. Hawkins has been brutal in these exempt tournaments with a 1-5 record in last season’s Charleston Shootout and 07’s Old Spice Classic. There is the distinct possibility looking at that roster of teams that Western could have an 0-3 tournament.
• The Loyola (Ill.) game is on the Monday before Thanksgiving making it hard to miss work for a Chicago road trip.

Continue reading »]]>  Times are tough here in the rust belt. GM & Crysler are bankrupt, our housing market is as bad as any in the country, on top of that  we have the nations highest unemployment rate, and are trying like hell just to hold on day by day. The sweet release of college hoops is still half a year away, and believe me we could use the diversion. The trouble is the god damn economy has started to appear in our sports world, and have the same depressing effect.

Just like this current recession/depression it isn’t going to effect the wealthiest among us. The Big Ten is going to carry on with little visible difference ( I hear they are even talking big renovations to Crisler Arena). The brunt of the impact is going to go to the mid majors, college basketballs middle class families. Just trying to stay above water, living pay check to pay check, etc… The Mid American Conference has begun to feel the pinch. They are not printing media guides this year, they are not going to have a media day and they are scaling back the conference tournament by 4 teams moving the first round games to campus sites. The rent at Quicken Loans Arena is becoming burdensome to the already thin stretched budgets of the conference members. At Western Michigan renovations to the locker rooms and offices at University Arena have been postponed indefinitely because of revenue shortfalls, which caused Coach Hawkins to have a mini melt down at a golf outing with the local Kalamazoo media.

I guess it really isn’t that suprising that these small cuts are taking place at a time and place when many people are forced to make drastic life changes to weather the economic storm. After all this is a conference situated in the hardest hit areas of the economy, made up of schools that have often struggled to get large numbers of alumni to contribute financially or even show interest in their athletic programs. Still it is sad that the conference tournament is being diminished, and that our diversions are colliding with our realities.

Continue reading »]]>

#7 Central Michigan vs. #10 Eastern Michigan:

This is really a tough game to figure out. Eastern is playing their best basketball all season right now winning 4 in a row (half of their win total) going in to this game. Central has been surging for the last month as well including a come from behind win over rival Western Michigan that earned them a share of the MAC West title. Having a share of the MAC West title is kind of like having a share of Citibank right now with the 3 co champions all well below .500 overall, but it still counts for something when your program has been down as long CMU’s.

Eastern won two very close games in the regular season this year against the Chips; one in double OT and the other with clutch free throw shooting in the last few seconds. It is difficult to see those two wins giving the Eagles an advantage in this one since the margin was so razor thin. If anything I feel like the emotional edge is with CMU since it is so difficult to beat a team 3 times in one season. I also like Marcus Vann CMU’s big PF a whole lot. This guy plays a very physical style in the post, one that Eagle forward Brandon Bowdry is often reluctant to play preferring to float on the perimeter and look for chances to fire up a three pointer which he rarely makes. Vann should dominate inside putting pressure on EMU’s inferior backcourt to score which should spell the end of Eastern’s season.  The only chance the Eagles have is if on again off again head case Justin Dobbins shows up and has a big game to counter Vann’s aggressiveness. I just don’t see it happening.

My Pick: Central Michigan

#6 Kent State vs. #11 Northern Illinois:

Kent State is another team that has been playing really well this last month of the season. The Golden Flashes are usually among the elite in this conference however thanks to a coaching change and slow start to the season they were passed up by most of their East division rivals early on and not quite able to recover in time falling one game out of a bye, and being forced to play an extra game this week. Kent also benefits from a sizeable home court advantage in this tournament. Most of their fans and alumni are in metropolitan Cleveland so they usually bring a nice contingent of folks to the Q.

Northern Illinois is just a plain lousy team. They do nothing particularly well, and have no sign of improvement from midnight madness through today. They are coached by Ricardo Patton a notorious hot head who provides the only drama in many of NIU’s games as anxious fans wonder if he will be ejected for lighting into an official. This game shouldn’t be close.

My Pick: Kent State

#8 Western Michigan vs. #9 Ohio

After chocking away a 14 point lead and the outright MAC West title (along with the #2 seed and bye into the quarterfinals)in the final 10 minutes of Sunday’s game against Central Michigan the Western Michigan Broncos now draw the only team from the East division that they were able to beat this season in cross divisional play and the only team in the conference playing as bad as they are. This is the only reason I would even entertain the notion of predicting a win for the worst rebounding and worst shooting team in the MAC.

David Kool has not been enough to carry this team this season despite some very impressive individual performances, and he won’t be able to carry them through this tournament.  Not with the horrific rebounding efforts they have been famous for this year. I don’t care who they are playing. I don’t care that Ohio got torched by BGSU on Sunday like a team that has quit on their season. I don’t care that WMU beat them by double digits at their place this season. I refuse to pick a team that is as poor on the glass as WMU. Rebounding is more about desire than talent. Western doesn’t have the desire, and that is why they lose.

My Pick: Ohio

#5 Akron vs. #12 Toledo

Along with Kent Akron brings the largest amount of fans into the Q every season which makes this a virtual home game for the Zips. They are going to need all the support they can get after a very emotional loss to Kent State that ended their regular season and cost them a share of the East division title and the #1 seed in this tournament.  They’ll square off against a Toledo team that has been overmatched for much of the season, competing with only a handful of scholarship players. Toledo doesn’t win much away from home either going 1–17 away from Savage Hall. Senior gurard Tyrone Kent can’t do everything although a big game from him might keep it close…for a while.

My Pick: Akron

Continue reading »]]>  Now that Michigan State has clinched a share of the Big Ten title like most Michigan State fans I have been overcome by a profound sense of relief. Not being able to close out the Big Ten in 03 and 04 to Wisconsin had given Spartan fans a sort of psychosis. It was reinforced last season in the Big Ten tournament when the last 10 minutes of that semi final game turned into a Wisconsin free throw parade. If Michigan State had failed to clinch on Sunday at Illinois (which is another place that they have had trouble winning in the past mostly because of Dee Brown) it would have been a very tense environment around that program.  That win should allow them to play Purdue on Sunday without the weight of the world on their shoulders, and go into the Big Ten tournament as the #1 seed relaxed and focused.

While Michigan State has been realigning the Big Ten and returning to their rightful place in the hierarchy of that conference the Western Michigan Broncos have fallen from the rank of contender in the MAC and are now on the list of also rans. The fall has been swift since big man Joe Reitz moved on to the Baltimore Ravens. His presence has been missed badly as Western’s frontcourt has deteriorated into a league wide joke. The lack of intensity in pursuing rebounds has become the calling card of this team.  They are dead last in the MAC in rebounding margin and field goal pct. That is a poisonous combination that has ensured defeats in many close games this season. All everything G David Kool has played very well at times this season, and is probably an all conference performer. However without any supporting cast his outstanding junior season has been a waste. If some of these Freshman bigs don’t grow up this off season the only Mr. Basketball ever to attend Western Michigan is going to graduate without a conference championship, or a post season appearance. That would be an incredible waste.

While things are looking bleak in Kalamazoo bronco fans can always take solace in the fact that their program is still in better shape than Eastern’s. Eastern Michigan is just flat out bad. The coaching staff is overmatched. There are some decent players on this team but one gets the feeling when watching them labor through countless anemic performances that they are better individually than they are collectively. This in my mind speaks to the inability of the coaching staff to put players in a position to be successful. It is my opinion that a change in the leadership of this program is necessary, but this a cash strapped University is barely able to finance its athletic programs as it is so a buyout is probably out of the question (especially since they just bought out the football coach in December).  My guess is that Charles Ramsey makes it back for one more season with a healthy Carlos Medlock available in what will be a make or break year for him. He might be able to squeeze out an above .500 season and save his job, but long term there is no way that he gets EMU back to the level Ben Braun had them at in the late 90’s.

Here is a list and brief synopsis of my February games that helped me to the above conclusions:

2/3 Akron @ Eastern Michigan: A late 3 pointer by Will Cooper helped get Eastern get above that oh so important 40 pt. mark in this  78-41 blowout of blowouts. The only mildly interesting thing about this contest was watching LeBron’s former high school coach Keith Dambrot stomp up and down the sidelines and yelling during free throw attempts. After the departure of Dan Dakich from Bowling Green and Jay Smith from Central Michigan I have been trying to determine who the biggest tool in the MAC is. Well congratulations Keith Dambrot you now hold that distinction.

2/15 Buffalo @ Eastern Michigan: EMU battled well in this game against the top team in the Mid American Conference but never seriously threatened. This spark of life they showed against the Bulls was lead by some tough defense by Tyler Jones and big post play by Brandon Bowdry who for one game at least resisted the urge to drift outside and take bad jumpers. Bowdry’s 11pt. 9 reb. day was nice but ultimately the offensively challenged Eagles had nowhere to go when they needed big bucket to cut into Buffalo’s comfortable lead and lost this one 58-49. The Convo was graced by the presence of Mr. Ed Hightower who stayed in town after the Michigan game to officiate this one. He was frequently out of position, used improper mechanics, and made some head scratching calls against both teams. He was slightly less animated without the TV cameras though.

2/21 Eastern Illinois @ Western Michigan:  As part of ESPN’s Bracketbuster weekend the Broncos hosted a bottom feeder from the OVC,  and gave one away on their home floor 59-57. It is a rare occurrence for the Broncos to actually outrebound an opponent, but on this day they did by a double digit margin (39-29) unfortunately they were only able to shoot 30% from the field and came up just short at the end of the game. Coach Hawkins was T’d up early in the second half allowing EIU to open up a 6 pt. lead once they made both free throws and scored on the ensuing possession. Nice going Hawk your T was the difference in this one.

2/25 Iowa @ Michigan State: This was my first trip to Breslin in awhile so I was just happy to be there and look the place over again.  It was a sleep walking performance for the Spartans who never got their transition game going in this 62-54 win. Delvon Roe had his best game as a Spartan with 16 hard earned points, and Korie Lucious set his career high as well with 12. These two freshmen showed a brief flash of what they are capable of, and it was enough on this night to beat a bad Iowa team. They are going to need more in March from everyone else if this is going to be a special season.

2/28 Western Michigan @ Toledo: Toledo gets a nice home crowd for a team that has only won 4 games this season…well make that five games as the nose dive that is WMU’s 08-09 season continues. Despite a furious late rally that saw them close a 10 point to lead to one with 4 seconds left the Broncos feel short in this one 63-62. They were not able to secure the rebound of a missed free throw attempt with 4.8 seconds remaining even though Toledo had no one but the shooter to compete for the board. Another frustrating loss in a frustrating season. The 9-19 Broncos close out the season with back to back home games against division rivals Ball State and Central Michigan at home, lets hope they play with some pride. Either way though this is going to be a 20 loss season for WMU.