Mikey D

It’s about two hours after today’s loss to Ohio State, and I’m still bummed. I’m upset we lost at home. I’m upset because we basically lost the Big Ten title. I’m upset because we still don’t have that marquee win on our tournament resume. And I’m upset because we lost to fucking Ohio State.

So with a week off to regroup (and recover) before we travel to Purdue (eek), here are my latest MSU thoughts:

~Okay, so I completely jinxed Raymar Morgan. I applauded his big time play against Michigan, but ever since he has been invisible. While that is disappointing, is anyone really that surprised? It’s the story of Raymar’s career. We may win the Big Ten tournament, make a Final Four, or god willing win a National Championship, but it won’t be because of Raymar Morgan’s consistent play- because that doesn’t exist.

~It’s nice to see Durrell Summers coming around. Unfortunately he’s got a little Raymar in him, though. He got off to a blazing start against OSU, and then kind of disappeared for a bit. I’ve given up on Raymar, but I haven’t yet on Durrell. If we can get a consistent 15 points, 5+ boards, and solid defense from him that would more than make up for Raymar Morgan’s lack of…uselessness?

~What happened to our transition game? Remember how we used to push the ball up the court on rebounds for easy lay-ups? It seems like we are making a concerted effort to slow ourselves down and be under more control, which I get given our high turnover totals, but our half court offense hasn’t been too consistent. It’s like we took away a strength of our team in order to take away a weakness, but in doing so discovered another weakness, or another area of improvement.

~Okay, so speaking of the half court offense, it boggles my mind the number of deep jump shots we are taking so early in the shot clock. I don’t mind Allen, Lucas, and Summers shooting the ball, but please, run a set! Move the ball, run off a screen, get an open look, and knock it down. Don’t dribble, stop, and shoot with a hand in your face. It’s no wonder we were shooting 33% at one point against OSU! Play smart.

~I’m trying to be positive and believe in this team, but it’s getting harder and harder. If they can put it together at Purdue, I will be ecstatic and the memories of these recent losses will be wiped away. Just show me something, State, something that I can grab onto and feel good about going into tournament play.

~I’m a complete dork when it comes to recruiting and follow it very closely. As you know, MSU already has a top 10 class coming in, but more may be on the way…with the possibility of Herzog graduating, one more scholarship may open up- for 6’5” shooting guard Trey Zeigler, ranked the 26th best player in the country. I know we are focused on the here and now with the group of guys we have now, but it’s hard not to think ahead. We are losing one player next year- Raymar Morgan (I know- boo frickin’ hoo)- and adding a stud big, a scoring point guard, and a McDonald All-American assassin from 3-range. And maybe Zeigler. Bring back everyone and load up with more talent? Could be a fun year. Hopefully Lucas stays and doesn’t go pro.

~Mikey D