Bleeding Green

Tidbits From Iowa City

Prior to State's game with Iowa on Thursday night, a couple of student leaders were attempting to fire up the 4,000 students in attendance.  Most suggestions about certain cheers and the fact that MSU players "dissed" the Hawkeyes by jumping up and down on the Hawkeye logo at center court were met mostly by blank stares and silence.  Later, when State was up by 20, the student section started to disperse and file out of the arena.  The students at Iowa are light years behind the Izzone when it comes to supporting their team.  Some will say that support is lacking due to the lack of victories, but Spartan fans know for a fact that the Izzone has been instrumental over the years for helping to get a number of wins.

Recruiting Sites

Since MSU has been enjoying a lot of good press about Coach Dantonio’s recruiting effort, I’ve been looking more closely at the two leading recruiting web sites over the past 12 months.  Most of us are probably familiar with Rivals and Scouts and there’s something that strikes me about their rating systems:  They just don’t work very similarly for the top 30 or 40 teams. 

What We're Learning in the Big Ten, CCHA Comments and More

Although I missed my prediction on the Purdue-Wisconsin game Tuesday, nothing about the first three games this week in the conference surprised me except Indiana almost winning in Evanston. The Hooisers have lost three down-to-the-wire games now in the league and MSU had better be ready when they face Indiana twice later in the year.

This Week's Predictions and the Race to 14

The Race to 14 is not a bad new reality TV show, but what will be occurring in the Big Ten men's hoops season over the next few weeks.

I am convinced that 14 wins will take no worse than a share, and probably an outright league title this year. Normally that number is 15, and last year with Wisconsin's stellar season it was 16.

How many wins will it take?

 Despite the one hiccup to Northwestern, the men's basketball team is in pretty good shape.  I'm curious how many Big Ten wins do you think the team will need to win to get the long sought after (not as long as U of M, hahah) Big Ten Championship?

Summers the Story in Another Road Win

There were a few keys to the MSU win in Columbus today. The Spartans outrebounded OSU by 35-19 and dominated on the offensive glass. That's what you need to do to win on the road in the Big Ten.

Second, the Spartans kept their turnovers to under 14 which has been a key number for them this year. If that number starts to creep up to 15 and over, the Spartans are often in trouble. Last Wednesday was a case in point.

Third, Kalin Lucas still wasn't shooting the ball consistently from the outside. But he still had a great second half, hitting free throws, taking care of the ball (0 second half turnovers) and setting the tempo.

But let's face it, Durrell Summers kept MSU in the game in the first half. I compared Summers to a poor man's Jason Richardson a couple of weeks ago because of his ability to hit outside shots and incredible athleticism. We saw that potential this afternoon and if he can emerge as another consistent scorer, MSU will be tough to beat.

A couple of other notes:

• If Goran Suton doesn't make at least 2nd Team All Big Ten, there should be an investigation. He has been so consistent whenever he hasn't been hurt.
• Is Raymar Morgan still sick? He still wasn't himself today. I'm not worried - yet. He is giving great effort but his offense has been nonexistent since he got sick. It must be one heck of a flu bug.
• Korie Lucious started. That was an interesting move by Coach Izzo but give him credit. I think it was because of the matchup with Ohio State, which has a short bench and usually plays three guards and a swingman on the floor at one time. But let's see if Lucious starts again this week.

I'd be interested to see if all you MSU fans feel this win makes up for the Northwestern loss. I still contend that was a bad loss. But perhaps it could turn out to be a kick in the rear.

Next up, a trap game at Iowa. They are probably the second least talented team in the league. But remember what happened last year. I'm going to say we will score more than 36 points this time around!

Big 10 and the RPI

Well, since we are now more than halfway through the season, a lot of you may be wondering where the B10 schools rank in the current RPI index since it seems to play a big part in what teams are selected for the Big Dance.  As of this evening, the schools were ranked as follows:

     8-Michigan St., 19-Illinois, 22-Ohio St., 23-Wisconsin, 30-Minnesota, 37-Northwestern, 43-Purdue, 50-Michigan, 79-Iowa, 82-Penn St. and 181-Indiana.

Now what does all of this mean?  Well, by comparison, last year only four at-large teams ranked in the Top 40 did not make the tournament, due mainly to the fact that they had a poor strength of schedule or finished the season on a big losing streak.  The poorest ranked teams to get at-large bids were:  53-Vanderbilt, 54-St. Joseph's and 55-Kentucky.

If selections were made today, the B10 would have at least six teams in the tournament with two more on the bubble.  This is the best the conference has looked in many years with the lower echelon teams more than holding their own.  Northwestern's two quality wins this week have put them right up in the mix and they could pull off their first NCAA bid if they can continue to play the way they have.  What are your opinions of the RPI rankings, and how many B10 teams do you think can make the tournament.

It's Just One Loss, But...

Big Ten championship teams typically don't lose at home to Big Ten squads that went 1-17 last year in the league.

Joe Rexrode did a good job of capturing my feelings in his blog post after the Northwestern loss. Yes, the Wildcats hit a few ridiculous shots. But the Spartans basically lost because they couldn't stop two players from scoring, they couldn't make open shots and they turned the ball over too much.

MSU won't shoot well every game. But the most disturbing aspect of this game long-term is the team's apparent inability to consistently score against an aggressive zone defense. The Wildcats used a 1-3-1 yesterday. Guess what Michigan usually runs? Guess what Iowa has run at times this year? Guess what Penn State used effectively in the second half a week ago in almost coming back on the Spartans?

I said earlier this week that against Northwestern's zone Chris Allen and Durrell Summers would be key figures in their ability to shoot three-pointers. They didn't hit them for the most part yesterday. But you can't rely on three-point shooting to beat good zones as the Wolverines has proved in their last three losses. Delvon Roe and Goran Suton need to finish more around the net when one of our point guards can break down a zone.

Ohio State in Columbus is next up this weekend. Do you like our chances? This could be a make or break game for the Big Ten title run for MSU. Lose and you're looking at a frustrating league season like last year. Win and perhaps you've straightened the ship. But the formula to beat MSU has been established: use aggresive zone defenses, close out on Allen and Summers from deep and let everyone else shoot outside shots, get back on defense to prevent quick MSU baskets and when in doubt foul everyone but Kalin Lucas.

So much it seems for a #1 NCAA seed but a Big Ten title is still possible. And we need Raymar healthy!

More Numbers Retired?

It was nice to see Morris Peterson have his jersey retired last weekend. Now, don't you want to see other numbers retired from some of those great teams from 1998-2001? If you retire Peterson's number, don't you have to retire Charlie Bell's number? I know Bell never averaged any more than 13.5 ppg in any one season but how can you separate he and Peterson when Bell was actually a part of three (rather than two) Final Four teams?

And what about recognition (but maybe not having numbers retired) for such players as Andre Hutson? I contend that he is one of the most underrated Spartans basketball players because of the consistent scoring and rebounding numbers he posted. Hutson averaged 10.1 ppg and 6.1 rpg but 13.8 and 7.6 as a senior. And Antonio Smith, despite never being a great scorer, was kind of the one who started it all for Izzo after a 16-16 first season as head coach.

A quick note on Peterson. I was a senior at MSU writing for the long since defunct Green and White Magazine in 1995-96 (that 16-16 team) when Peterson was redshirted. I remember attending the basketball's team media day that fall and seeing this tall, lanky kid in the stands where the other players were sitting. I had no idea who he was but there were no media members talking to him so I gave it a shot. It was Peterson and he told me that I was the first media interview he had given as a member of the MSU team.

I can't say I remember much about what we talked about other than that he was being redshirted and that coach wanted him to get stronger and play better defense. Also that he had taken an elbow in practice from Jamie Feick which he surmised is a good example of what Big 10 basketball will be like. At that point, I never would have guessed that he would have a 10-year NBA career ahead of him. Belated congrats to Morris.

Update on future Spartan roundballers

Two future Spartan basketball players had outstanding showings in Monday's Martin Luther King Jr. Basketball Classic in Toledo, Ohio.  Detroit Pershing's Keith Appling and Derrick Nix helped lead their team to defeat last year's Ohio Division II runner-up, Toledo Libbey, 86-57.  Nix had seven points and 10 boards, while Appling scored 24 points and was named the MVP of the four team classic.  Nix, a senior, has already signed his letter of intent, while Appling, a junior, will have the opportunity to sign this November.