« February 2009 | Main | April 2009 »
Had a fantastic time in Indianapolis this past weekend. The biggest surprise of all was seeing Joe Rexroad in a tie. It kind of ruins his laid-back image. Anyway, here are some interesting tidbits I was able to pick up at the games.
I think Michigan State should partially thank the rest of the Big Ten schools for reaching the Final Four, yesterday. For several years the Spartans have almost futility tried to play an up tempo style against the likes of Wisconsin, Northwestern, Iowa, Michigan, Illinois while their Big Ten brethren have tried to drag them into the mud by playing a slow half-court style of basketball. I hear many of the basketball experts call this style (especially Steve Lavin of ESPN) as "grinding" basketball. Only Purdue and perhaps Penn State seemed mildly interested in playing an up tempo style this past season in the Big Ten.
Well this year it seems either Michigan State decided to accept their fate or more like "fight fire with fire." This team didn't seem to get frustrated as Big Ten opponent after Big Ten opponent tried to keep the score low and use most of the shot clock. The Spartans are 10-0 in games in which both teams score under 70 points and they are 28-0 when they hold their opponents under 70 points. Although this team will use the fast-break when available, they seem to play their best when the game is played at half court. Now Mateen Cleaves' teams could win at any style but since the days of Jud Heathcote, Michigan State has always tried to play at higher pace and get on the fast-break.
This 2008-2009 team seems to be at their best in a "grinding" style of basketball and no longer fears the half-court style of basketball. "Grinding" helped the Spartans yesterday and has helped them throughout the season and tournament. Most of the other teams they have faced in the tournament have wanted to play into the 70s or 80s. Most of the schools from the other conferences are not used to the "grinding" style of basketball played in the Big Ten.
I believe what has helped Michigan State the most in adapting to the "grinding" style of basketball is the play of Kalin Lucas. Often teams that play a half-court style of basketball need a point guard who can drive and penetrate and create their own shot of for others when the shot clock is running down. This seems to be Kalin's specialty. Not since Mateen Cleaves has Michigan State had a true point guard who can take the basketball when the shot clock is down to under 10 seconds and create a shot.
I know what you are saying, "It's the defense, stupid." Yes the Spartans have played tremendous defense all year but Coach Izzo's teams have always been good at defense but what I think is different about this team is its ability to flourish in the halfcourt and force their opponents to adapt. Perhaps more importantly is that the Spartans can rotate 10 players (11 if you count Idong Ibonk against bigger centers). Playing that many guys keeps a team fresh and allows this team to hustle on defense.
I could be wrong, what do you think has been the biggest key this year in finally winning the Big Ten title after seven years and getting back to the Final Four?
What bodes well for Michigan State is UConn has lost twice to the one team the most emulates the Spartans style and that is Pittsburgh. What do you think are the keys to beating UConn?
I see Coach Izzo playing Draymond Green more instead of Delvon Roe against UConn. One of the keys to beating UConn is either getting their 7-3 center Hasheem Thabeet away from the basket or getting him into foul trouble (good luck). I don't see Jim Calhoun having Thabeet guard Goran Suton. Roe is a terrific and is going to be a great basketball player but he doesn't have an outside shooting game, yet. Green can shoot the ball a little bit and he could force Thabeet to play outside more than he wants.
Let the speculation begin!
Just coming down from that euphoria after the Spartans kicked Louisville to the curb?
Save some of that spirit for Bleeding Green!
We know Spartan fans from around the world visit here to talk about their favorite sports teams. Join the Final Four excitement by posting your comments here in a virtual pep rally for the Spartans.
Let's cheer the Spartans on to Detroit with the best green-and-white support that can be found on the Internet!
Join the virtual shouting by commenting below! Go Green! Go White! Let us hear you!!!
(And here's a link to play the fight song while you write!)
Nice job by Morton for giving us a glimpse of some incoming recruits for MSU. As someone who has watched some of these kids play in person, I wanted to give you a heads-up. I occasionally cover high school games as a side job here in suburban Detroit for one of the area daily papers.
Continue reading "Follow-up on Future Spartans and Prospects" »
With both the men's and women's teams advancing nicely in their respective tournaments, let's look into the future a little bit at next year's incoming recruits.
It is very possible that MSU just beat the most talented #10 seed in recent NCAA tournament history. Take a deep breath.
Alright were any of you nervous when Robert Morris took a 28-26 lead late in the first half? This is one of my favorite times of year. I took the past two days off from work and ordered Mega March Madness from Direct TV and watch about every game I possibly could. A lot of the 14 through 16 seeds gave the favorites trouble in the first half of their games but as I watched throughout the tournament the talent of the top seeds usually won out in the second half.
After the game was tied at 30-30, Robert Morris went on a ridiculous cold streak that was part Michigan State's defense and part Robert Morris' poor shooting. The positives for Michigan State were that Chris Allen shot the ball well and Draymond Green seems to be getting better day by day. Throwing Green into the mix, the Spartans now have four guys that can post up and score, Delvon Roe, Raymar Morgan and Goran Suton, which is a luxury that few teams have.
As for USC, it will be interesting to see how Michigan State will match-up with their big guards who average 6-5 and how those bigger guards will handle Kalin Lucas' speed. USC likes to mix up their defenses by playing a lot of zone. Michigan State must stay patient against the zone and not settle for three point jump shots like they did against Ohio State in Big Ten tourney. The Spartans have carved up zone defenses when they have gotten the ball to Suton and Morgan on the base line and free throw line are for medium range jump shots. OK, I now have given USC too much information hopefully Tim Floyd won't read this.
It should be a great battle but Tom Izzo has a great record in the second round. I think Michigan State's coaching and tournament experience should give them the edge in this match-up. Also everyone knows the Spartans and the rest of the Greeks sacked Troy and won the Trojan War, come on.
It looks like the madness has begun, so far with Northern Iowa keeping up with Purdue no problem and Memphis struggling till near the end to take out Cal State Northridge.
So, I'm curious what teams Spartan fans like beyond our backyard. Personally, I'm totally behind the Big Ten, with the obvious exception down the road in AA. I have Illinois, OSU, and Cal friends here and like to see them do well. It'd be nice to see Boylen do well with Utah too.
But, I'll confess that I always want UM to lose anything and everything first. Just an extraordinary excess of carcinogenic fans I guess. And, Memphis is my next favorite to see fall early. I just can't find a reason to respect their schedule or their conference, and their claim to fame is a win over Gonzaga, an ok team but from another mediocre conference.
How about you? What teams in the Big Dance do you want to see go far or check out "yesterday?"
I'm not going to bore you by rehashing everything that has been said about our opponent, seeding, chances, etc. We're going to discuss watching the game.
I'll make this short, which is a relative term for my typical posts. Before we move on to the NCAA pairings, MSU played like crap Saturday. We know it and I'm not worried about it. I'm tired of the Big Ten and after winning the league title, the NCAA is all that matters.
