Mikey D

-Well, his name is brought up every year when it comes to coaching vacancies. This year’s first rumor (and probably not the last) is that Oregon is preparing to offer Izzo the largest contract in college basketball amongst coaches. Izzo an Oregon Duck? Considering he has no ties whatsoever to the school, would be moving cross country away from his home state, and would be leaving an elite program for a mediocre one, I’d say his chances of leaving Michigan State are zilch. He’d have to be a complete sell out to do so, and he’s not.

-The Big Ten Network had the MSU/UConn game from last year on last night (Yes, Durrell Summers’ dunk is still awesome). What’s interesting to me is that we won that game with very little contribution from Walton, Suton, and our other senior bigs. It was Lucas, Green, Morgan, Allen, and Summers that really came up with the big buckets, basically the main contributors from this year’s team, and the same guys (sans Lucas) who are making this tournament run. So while we are all surprised at MSU’s run and how well some of these guys are (finally) playing, they did show this ability a year ago.

-Another interesting observation from that UConn game is that we almost pulled a Maryland in that one. Our ball handling and decision making was atrocious towards the end, and UConn actually got the game within five before we got a run-out on the press for a layup. So maybe we were a little hard on Lucious, Morgan, and Green as they “choked” versus the Maryland press, because Lucas, Walton, and Suton (a better ball handling group) had their fair share of troubles, too. We, as a team, just suck against the press.

-Adam touched on this next point in his blog, and I just wanted to expand on it. Adam said, “I used to think, how good could we have finished if Kalin Lucas didn't get injured against Maryland…Now I wonder, would they be this far if it weren't for Kalin Lucas' injury?” I was thinking about this last night. Where has the drop-off been? We are scoring about the same, and as far as turnovers are concerned, we’ve only given up 9, 18, 11, 10- which is a tremendous improvement. Looking deeper, Lucious has only turned the ball over nine times in four games. Do you remember when Lucas turned the ball over 8 times in one game earlier this year??? And if you think nine turnovers is still too high, consider that Raymar has turned it over fourteen times in four games- and he’s not even the primary ball handler (by the way, that’s about 30% of our total team turnovers…that’s disturbing, Raymar)! Everyone keeps expecting the wheels to fall off this run we’re having because they think the loss of Lucas will eventually catch up with us, but I don’t think that’s going to happen. Lucious has proven he can fill the shoes of a starting point guard and facilitate the offense. We’re not asking him to take or make the shots Kalin Lucas used to (although a couple game winners is starting to make me think otherwise), we’re asking him to run the sets Tom Izzo has designed to make our offense go. Korie can do that, and THAT is more of the reason for our success than anything and why the loss of Lucas hasn’t been felt yet.

-And yes, Durrell shooting lights out helps. But he hasn’t really “picked up the slack” since the Lucas injury (I’ve heard that a lot lately). Remember, his shots were falling in the New Mexico State game, as well as that first half against Maryland- when Lucas was playing. He’s contributing the same regardless of the point guard, which is a testament to Korie and Izzo for being able to run the right plays to get Durrell open, and to Durrell for being able to knock down those open shots.

-Who’s your Spartan? Mine is Delvon Roe. He’s one of those guys that gets it and leaves it all out on the floor. I love those players. He could easily take the rest of the year off and have his surgery. He could easily bitch and moan about how he was a top-recruit and how his knee injury has made him less than an elite talent. The guy is just selfless and team first, and I know we’ve all heard and read comments about how he’s a “warrior”, but it’s true, he is. And he’s been an invaluable piece to our puzzle during this run. Two more games, Delvon…

-Fuck Tennessee. I hate playing teams like them. The cockiness and swagger just bother the hell out of me. The salutes to the crowd, the screaming in an opponent’s face…it’s just unnecessary. I’m proud of our guys for keeping their poise and not involving themselves in all the extra theatre. That was a damn good team that was playing at a ridiculously high level, and we managed to come out on top.

-And fuck all the analysts for picking Tennessee. Not a single one on CBS or ESPN threw MSU a bone. To hear Digger Phelps say that the difference in the game would be on the boards, and how Tennessee had a 100-40 advantage on the glass (or something close to that) the first three games of the tournament, and how they’d continue to pound the boards against MSU because we don’t have the stereotypical big guys is just blatant ignorance. Seriously. Who is the number one rebounding team in the nation??? Yeah, not Tennessee. Michigan State. If there was one area I was not worried that Tennessee would dominate, it was rebounding (35-32 in favor of State). Come on, it’s what we do!!! Stop being stupid! What Tennessee did against San Diego State or Ohio rebounding has no bearing against the number one rebounding team in the nation. Sheesh!

-I’m not done ranting. To me, the game was an even matchup (and it showed on the court). Tennessee has the athletes to hang with anyone, so I knew the game would be close. Of course I’m biased, and I thought MSU would ultimately prevail. But if I were an analyst, and I felt the game was going to be close…why the hell would I pick against MSU? Tom Izzo: 5-1 in regional finals. Bruce Pearl: first ever Elite Eight. Our team had been there before, there team has never played a fourth game in any tournament. Tom Izzo is a frickin’ genious at getting his teams prepared for the 2nd game of the weekend. Come on now, you still going to pick against Izzo’s crew? It’s because of the Lucas injury, isn’t it? We are fine without him I tell you!

-I like the Butler matchup. Vegas has us as 1 ½ point underdogs, which is probably right considering Butler’s current winning streak and the fact they are playing in their own backyard essentially. I know all week we are going to hear about Butler’s tenacious defense and how they like to grind games out…well great! That’s how I want the game to go!!! The teams that give Michigan State the most trouble are the teams like North Carolina, Texas, and Kentucky- the teams that just have ridiculous athletes all over the floor and make the game into a track meet. When the game gets sped up too much for us, we struggle. When the game is slow and we run our sets, we excel. It’s that simple. I think another close game is in store, very similar to the Northern Iowa game. The final should be in the 50’s, and within five points either way. I still give the edge to State because of Izzo and the fact we’ve been there before. We can play Butler’s way…and win. We’ve done it before. It’s called Big Ten basketball.

-Everytime I think about it, I just shake my head in disbelief and smile…WE’RE IN THE FINAL FOUR, BABY!!!

~Mikey D