Mikey D

The Good and The Bad of Kalin Lucas- The Good: Kalin is our leading scorer, and based on the last two games, our most clutch player. Mark my words- Kalin Lucas will win a game for us in the NCAA tournament this year. There will be one game in the tournament in which Lucas will need to come up huge and take over- and he will. It is comforting to know we have someone we can turn to when it matters. We have a finisher, and all good teams need to have that guy. The Bad: The turnovers need to stop. It's crazy how many times, especially early in games, he just makes bad decisions and turns the ball over. To go along with the turnovers is the wild drives Lucas seems to take at the basket (and he's not finishing them). In the Michigan game, with a 5 point lead and possession of the ball halfway through the 2nd half, Lucas took the ball up court, did not run an offensive set, drove the ball, and threw up a crazy shot that missed. Michigan grabbed the rebound, led a fast break, and hit a wide open three. The crowd went nuts and was rejuvenated. After an empty possession the next trip down for MSU, Michigan hit another three, and momentum had completely swung. Here's my point: It should never have been that way. If Lucas would have slowed the play down, ran a set, let our guys get in position to get a rebound/get back on defense, Michigan would have had to work to get off their shots (and judging by their shooting that night, probably would have missed). He needs to understand when it's appropriate to try a drive like that and the adverse effect it has on our team if he misses.

The Stud That is Raymar Morgan- At the beginning of the year I predicted Raymar would step it up big time this year. On a previous "MSU Thoughts" post that recapped the Gonzaga game I said, "Without Raymar Morgan, we don't win against Gonzaga, plain and simple. If you watched that game, you know that Morgan was the only thing we had going throughout the first half. He was the one that kept us in the game, both defensively and offensively." Replace 'Gonzaga' with 'Michigan' and the story is the same this past Tuesday. How could you not love Raymar last game? He definitely carried us; we would not have been in position to win that game without him. He's hitting a ridiculous 77% of his last 36 shots. And somewhere between last year and this year he's developed an outside jumper that he's actually hitting consistently. He's stayed out of foul trouble, too (although it's always funny to see the Raymar Morgan reaction to a foul call). He's our second leading scorer, and the combo of Lucas-Green-Morgan have carried us thus far through the season. And perhaps most importantly, he's been healthy. Keep it up, Raymar!!!

Freshmen Disappearance? It was only one game, but did anybody else notice that Nix and Sherman got very few minutes against Michigan? They both have been our starting center at various points of the season, but barely got minutes last game. I just think it's curious how you go from starting a game to not playing at all. My hunch is that because Michigan had a smaller lineup that Izzo just went with his more athletic guys that could defend on the perimeter better. I will definitely be watching against Northwestern to see the minutes our freshmen get.

Chart Toppers- How good is our team? There are many things you could look at, from rankings, to strength of schedule, to conference records, and on and on. But in basketball it boils down to two things: are you scoring points and are you playing good defense. You do those two things, and you probably have a good team. On the Big Ten Geeks blog there was a graph (posted on January 26th) that compared a team's offensive efficiency (points per possession) with a team's defensive efficiency (opponent's points per possession). We can sometimes get caught up in wins and losses ("well this team beat this team..."), but simple stats are sometimes a good way to gauge a team's performance. Obviously I'm happy with where MSU is at.

Logo Change- I am certainly a traditionalist, so I am not in favor of the new logo that MSU will unveil in April. That doesn't mean I hate it (I don't), and I will certainly get used to it in due time. But to me, a new logo is symbolic of a team/university that wants to undergo a change. Like the Lions, for example. Years and years of futility, and then they hire a new GM, new coaching staff, and draft Stafford. They are a team trying to make a change- to get people to stop thinking about 0-16, and more about the 'new' Lions. The new logo was supposed to be symbolic of that (and yes, of course, increase revenue through apparel sales). But from what I can tell, it appears that MSU is making the change just to make a change. Of course Nike will be making more money, and so will the University, but as a fan I don't see the benefit. I just wish there was a reason behind the change besides money. I'm sure some of the money MSU gets will be put towards good use at the University, but excuse me for thinking that some of MSU's bigwigs are probably just lining their pockets with some extra cash...

~Mikey D