Early in the first half, the ball zipped around the perimeter and found itself in the hands of a wide-open Mike Kebler. From 15-feet, he let it fly.
Swish!
It was the first jump shot I can ever recall Mike Kebler hitting. I should have felt happy for the guy; happy that he was contributing to the team's effort against our most hated rival.
But it was at that moment that reality had finally sunk in. It hit me like a ton of MSU shots (bricks...see what I did there?)- we're now a team that needs and relies on guys like Mike Kebler and Austin Thornton (walk-ons, nonetheless) to contribute meaningful minutes because we have nobody else.
It shouldn't have been like this. Lucas was supposed to come back healthy, Summers was supposed to keep his tournament form, Lucious was supposed to grow as a player after his fantastic tournament performance, and we were supposed to have Allen. Appling was supposed to come in and be our 5th guard. Kebler and Thornton were never supposed to see the floor, except during 30-point blowout wins against Michigan at the Breslin.
The loss of Lucious was really felt last night. Despite his poor performances during recent games and poor decision making, Lucious was flat-out a better option at point guard than anyone else on our team. When Lucious was in the game, teams had to respect the fact that he was a 3-point threat, and they had to respect his ability to create for teammates (2nd on the team in assists). With Kebler, there is no threat. Of anything. If Lucas has an off-night, there is no one who can pick the team up in the backcourt.
And poor Keith Appling. Last night also made me realize how tough this must be on him. He's been thrust into the starting role and asked to play as well as an Allen or Lucious, not because he's ready, but because we need him to. Again, we have no other choice. I'm sure he feels the pressure, too, but it's sad he does. The kid is just a freshman, and should have been the 5th man in our guard rotation. To put in perspective, Appling is, in essence, trying to replace both Allen and Lucious. It's impossible.
I'm afraid it's time to reach the conclusion that this team is what it is. The time to question a lack of effort or chemistry is over, and now it's time to face reality. We have two great guards who have tremendous ability (and played great last night!), but no depth behind them. We have a great small forward in Green, but he's being asked to do too much in providing a low-post presence while also being a facilitator with the basketball. We have big bodies down low that cannot produce consistently on a nightly basis, for a variety of different reasons.
We are, for this year, a middle of the road team. We will be competitive every game, but that may not get us far (or into) the NCAAs. It hurts to say that. We are MSU basketball, and I want to be elite every year.
I think we need to look ahead a bit to next year and realize that it will (should) get better. Before the season we were planning on replacing Lucas, Summers, and Allen next year, and now we'll have Lucious to probably add to the list. Four perimeter players. Enter Travis Trice, Brandon Kearney, and Dwaun Anderson. Enter Russell Byrd, a sharp-shooting redshirt freshman. Throw in the heralded Branden Dawson at the small forward (allowing Green and Roe to work down low). The reinforcements are coming; it's just unfortunate we don't have two of them to use right now.
We'll have a pretty young group, so there will be some growing pains, but I think we're all a little tired of our current team. We need some fresh faces, some new blood, and hopefully some positive energy. I'm sure Izzo is looking forward to that as well.
For now, I'm still going to be living and dying on every shot, but my expectations have finally been tempered. My reality has been checked.
~Mikey D
I was listening to some older music today, and I was curious to see if Kevin remembered who sang the song with the lyric, "slant rhyme is all I can give".
You remember?
~Mikey D
"What's Gone Wrong?"- from The Only Colors blog
Probably my favorite source for MSU information, The Only Colors makes sense of MSU basketball.
~Mikey D
I’m in a really depressed mood today, and (sadly) the major contributor towards my enervated feelings is the MSU basketball team. I live and die MSU basketball, and right now I’m feeling six-feet under. I’m hoping that by blogging I can “let it all out” and start to feel a little better so I can enjoy my Sunday. So my apologies in advance if this post seems a little all over the place, or has no cohesiveness/order.
After last night’s Purdue game: "We're so close, it's ridiculous," Delvon Roe said. "We're right there." It certainly didn’t feel like it watching the game last night, but mining the box score this morning says otherwise. We beat Purdue on the boards. We finally got inside production (Roe was a beast!). Only 11 turnovers. 50% shooting from 3’s. 10-13 from the line. It seems like we did a lot of things right last night, except getting the right outcome.
So let me say a couple things about last night’s game. I told Kevin that my barometer for how the game was going to go was Korie Lucious. If he made a decent contribution (hit a couple 3’s, limited the turnovers), we’d win. Lucious went 2-7 from the field for 6 points (1-4 from 3), with 5 of those points coming in garbage time. Basically, he didn’t show again…and we lost. If recent performance is any indication, Lucas, Summers, and Appling just aren’t going to be able to do it on a consistent night-in, night-out basis, which makes it all the more important to have Lucious come off the bench and be that spark offensively.
I know a lot will be made about Lucas going 3-16 from the field last night as one of the reasons we lost the game. Yes, he was awful. But we were shooting well enough from 3’s and getting the inside production to actually overcome that poor shooting performance (like good teams can do). The problem I have with Lucas was his shot selection. There were numerous times where he drove the lane early in a possession and threw up a wild, circus shot. And although the aggressiveness is good, it hurts us when he misses the shot, because it really puts our transition defense in a bind. Think about it: if Lucas is falling away, landing on the floor or crashing into the crowd, that puts us in a 4-on-5 disadvantage. What’s more, the man guarding Lucas is free to run down the court, usually with a big trying to catch him. It’s essentially a 4-point swing, and that kills momentum, especially when we’re trying to make a comeback.
Last night was also a lot about Purdue. If you’re into stats and history, read this from The Only Colors today. Essentially Purdue played not only their best game of the year last night, they might have played their best game in over a decade. Not to mention the game was in Mackey Arena, with College Gameday, in primetime, so the student section was rabid last night. So the question should be asked: Who could have beaten Purdue last night? Probably very few teams, if any. The defense that Roe played on Johnson was outstanding, yet he still got 20 points. Moore and Jackson hit some ridiculous off-balance shots that just made you shake your head. Sometimes there’s not much you can do as a defender. Not only did Purdue hit a berserk 58% of their shots, they also seemed to get every break. I’m talking about 50-50 balls, foul calls, etc. Kevin, I’m sure you can attest. It never seemed like we got that one play that would turn momentum in our favor.
And yet we never gave up. We played tough, down to the final whistle. It’s been a tough week, with Illinois and Purdue just shooting the ball so well against us. But I think the effort has been there.
Look, we can sit here and talk about how this team isn’t as good as we thought they were going to be, and how they’ve been a major disappointment. But I think Dick Vitale was right last night when he said that the Spartans will be extremely dangerous in March, because the improvements are coming, slowly and surely. Last night was a testament to that. We’re not turning the ball over, we’re improving on the free throws, and we’re back to being one of the top rebounding teams. Hopefully we continue to work the ball inside like last night, because I don’t think we’re a team of bad outside shooters, we just need to create the open looks by having the defense respect our post game. Shooting 50% from 3’s shouldn’t be a “fluke” for this team, but a realistic goal for a game if they continue to open up the outside shot by working it inside.
And the roles are becoming more defined. The starters are set. Roe and Appling have accepted their roles as defensive stoppers, and are pretty good at it. Payne, Nix, and Sherman will give you a few minutes, but aren’t going to be counted on as major contributors (same with Thornton and Kebler). Now just imagine for a second that Summers and Lucious regain some of their form. Can you picture it in late February and March? I can. I seriously can. Those two guys are too good and have proved they can be big-time.
The schedule eases up the next few games, but there cannot be a slip-up. We have Michigan, Indiana, and Iowa, probably the three worst teams in the league. Hopefully these will be the “get-well” games for the team.
Then it’s the tough stretch: @Wisconsin, home against a tough Penn State, @ Ohio State, home against Illinois (ESPN College Gameday, too), @Minnesota, and the rematch against Purdue at home. So as tough as the last two games have been, they will not define our season. There are plenty of huge games ahead of us, and while the Big Ten Title seems unrealistic, I’m still holding out hope of raising a different kind of banner next year. And yes, even at 12-7 I think we can make the NCAA. We’re not at that type of panic yet (at least I’m not). With our schedule, even 19 or 20 wins will get us in. Lose to Michigan or some other inferior opponent, well then yeah, I’m worried.
Looking at the tough stretch, what’s a realistic goal? You’d have to assume losses to Wisconsin and Ohio State, based on the fact they’re both really good at home. Purdue, Illinois, and Penn State at home are definitely not guaranteed. And Minnesota (still a top-20 team) is a dangerous game on the road. I’ll say 3-3, although I’m hoping (obviously) for better. But let’s say we go 3-3, and we handle our business against Indiana, and the two games each against Michigan and Iowa. We’d be 12-6 in the Big Ten, and 20-10 going into the Big Ten Tournament. That’s a solid tournament team, especially with our resume.
While I’m talking about the Big Ten, I will finally give credit to Ohio State. They won, in my mind, their first meaningful game against a quality opponent in Illinois yesterday. I’m not ready to anoint them anything special, though. All it takes is an average performance from Sullinger to have them go from great to beatable. See, Evan Turner, last year. Remember OSU in the NCAA? Tennessee locked down on Turner, and it was game over. I can picture the same thing happening, because OSU isn’t a very deep team, and too reliant on a couple players. Ah, I’m just a hater, what can I say? The Big Ten Title is theirs to lose, though.
I have to admit, I do feel better getting all this out. I like that we get a little break before Thursday’s game against Michigan, and I like that the next two games are at home. We need a break from the road and we need some rest. Remember, there’s a lot of basketball still to be played. Keep the hope.
~Mikey D
This fan's comment pretty much sums up my feeling about MSU basketball after tonight's extraoridinary win:
"Maybe that light at the end of the tunnel isn’t an oncoming train after all."
Maybe just maybe.
~Mikey D
