Sweet 16 - Michigan State versus Memphis

With this tonight's game with Memphis, the Spartans have four possible scenarios. Three of them do not lead to a positive result:

• The game is a physical one and the refs decide to call the play tight. End Result: The Spartans lose by less than 10
• The game is a run-and-gun affair and Memphis' pressure gets to State's PGs. End Result: The Spartans lose by more than 10
• The game is a close one but the Spartans' Bigs decide to disappear (which has happened more times than not). End Results: The Spartans lose by around 10.

But if you've been listening to all of the prognosticators this week, almost all of them have been picking this scenario:

• The game is a physical one and the refs let both sides bang a little. Memphis' lack of consistant free-throw shooting comes back to haunt them late in the game. End Result: The Spartans win by less than 10.

Case in point, here's some analysis by the worst comb-over since Marv was wearing the toup, Joe Lunardi:

My prediction: The game will be a tough one and both side will have their weaknesses exposed some more (Spartans are scarily inconsistant with both their shot selection and their ball control; Tigers' depth is not the greatest and of course, their free-throws) but at the end, the Spartans should get a few breaks (and calls) and limp away with a 5 point victory.

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How Sweet It Is - Michigan State

Although, my "area of the country" was not treated to the Spartans taking out the Panthers (BTW - it's the fifth straight victory for Izzo and MSU against Big East teams), it was sweet enough to watch the updates on the the crawler at the top of CBS' broadcast while watching UCLA almost lose to Texas A&M. The Worldwide Leader's Andy Katz has a nice write-up on Drew Neitzel (pictured above) and his performance last Saturday.

Next up is the Number 1 seed, Memphis. Do you believe that I'm more scared that prognosticators (Dickie V in particular) are going with the Spartans than I am the actual Tigers themselves. Ugh, I'm not liking the role of the favorite for this team in 2008. and the less that is said about brackets, the better (Thanks G-Town.)

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Sweet Christmas - Temple versus Michigan State

Today at 12:30, Michigan State, the five seed, will tipoff against the Owls of Temple and all I've heard is how the tandem of Mark Tyndale and Dionte Christmas might be too strong for the Spartans. This game has become a predictable 5-12 upset of most of the prognosticators.

Well, I mihgt not get paid for my opinion (yet) but how can these people think that the Big Ten doesn't offer the same type of team that Temple is - high-tempo, hard man-to-man. It just doesn't make sense why anyone would think that a team built to run it out of the gym (State) would be tripped up by a decidedly weaker Atlantic-10 tourney winner.

The predecition - State 80-60

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"Fair is foul and foul is fair" - Michigan State versus Wisconsin

I know that this missive might be perceived as sour grapes or a fanboy just pissing and moaning but I'm not about objectivity with this one.

I purposefully stay home to peacefully watch the MSU/Wisconsin game and ended watching an unbelievable display of flopping that would make Manu proud and ticky-tack fouls that made me wonder if the officiating team was working a Donaghy angle on the outcome.

Early on, you could see that the officials were imposing their will on the game by reaching for their whistle seemingly every other time Wisconsin brought the ball down court. By the first half, the Spartans had a meager two point lead but also was averaging about a foul a minute. Hmm, you don't think that those early fouls would have an effect on the second half, would ya?

By the time all was said and done, Michigan State held the Badgers to 17 made shots from the floor (37% from the floor, 29.4% from 3-point line), forced 11 turnovers and got 2 blocks while hitting 42% of their shots including being 47% from 3s, and dishing out 10 assists. That's a recipe for success against the very consistent and tough Wisconsin team. But the Spartans lost dramatically in the one area of the game that they could not control - fouls. Wisconsin only committed 18 total fouls resulting in 19 free throws while Michigan State had four player foul out and had a total of 30 fouls, resulting in 37 free throw attempts. The only reason that the Badgers only won by two was that they were a shade over 70% from the line.

At least the Spartans will get a chance to prove themselves in the NCAA Tourney against a non-Hightower led crew. But for this Big Ten semi-final game against the Badgers, the old witches in Macbeth were right - "Fair is foul and foul is fair".

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Last Day - vote SPARTY!

Today is the last day to vote on who will be the mascot on the EA Sports' NCAA Football 09 Wii cover and Sparty needs your help. He's in second place behind Butch T. Cougar of Washington State, who isn't in Sparty's league as far as image and style goes. So, who would you pick the rough and manly Sparty or the four-color Pink Panther?

So, I'm calling on all of the die-hard fans of classic American icons to click on the image below and vote to put Sparty over the hump. C'mon America (and outlying areas), let's get Sparty the recognition that he deserves!

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Eight Years Ago - One Shining Moment

It's hard to believe that eight years ago this week was the start of Michigan State drive to the NCAA National Baskbetball Championship. This year's team is too raw and too inconsistant to make another historic run. although, if you think to a couple of years ago, George Mason was just another mid-major starting down a Murder's Row of elite Basketball teams (MSU included) and that didn't stop them from making it to the Final Four. That's the way it is with the Madness - you never know...

So, in honor of the beginning of the Big Ten Tournament and here's to Charlie, Andre, AJ, Jason, Mo Pete and Mateen - my first National Championship team since I was a fan of any team (and I still have the T-shirts, guys).

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Images of the Day for 09-17-07

Sorry that I've been away for awhile but have been fighting the uprising of supposed ethics professors during this whole Patrios taping scandal. But there's nothing like a couple of victories to help clense the palate. Michigan State held off a game Pitt Panthers in a 17-13 win while the recently much-maligned New England Patriots put the boots to the supposed #3 team in the AFC (after NE and Indy) in a 38-14 victory. Nice way to start the workweek, if you ask me.

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Image of the Day for 09-04-07

(Photo by KEVIN W. FOWLER/For the Lansing State Journal)

In all of the other things that happened over the weekend (Labor Day, U of M losing, WWE suspensions), I forgot to talk up how badly the Spartans needed an opening day win in a way to totally create a fresh start for the Dantonio Era in East Lansing. Well, they did take it to the Blazers of UAB (owners of my old Fantasy Football team's logo) in a big way and cruised to a 55-18 victory. Jehuu Caulcrick went for 93 yards on 10 carries with scores of 1, 5, 42, and 5 yards, earning him Big Ten Offensive co-Player of the Week. This Saturday is the Falcons of Bowling Green (whose team colors are Orange - crazy Ohioans). For one week in the fall, the Spartans looked way better than the Wolverines and that feels very good.

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Take the Spartan Quiz

In celebration of Michigan's 10-year run as an elite basketball progam (and since Frank Miller's 300 came out yesterday), click the image below to take the Michigan State Spartan Quiz.

The Spartan Basketball Quiz

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Spartans squeak in at #55 in ESPN Top 119 Pigskin

Not exactly a banner assessment but sometimes the truth hurts. Here's the Worldwide Leader's review of Michigan State:

#55 - Michigan State
W/L: 61-58
Win %: .513
Titles: 0
Bowl Record: 2-2

Perennially the Big Ten's most underachieving program, MSU constantly shot itself in the foot in the John L. Smith era. Penalties and late-season collapses became MSU trademarks. There was a lot of talent but little productivity to show for it in the standings. The past 10 years, MSU was 19-37 against the rest of the Big Ten. On the positive side, the Spartans did rank No. 21 in the nation last season in attendance. That said, coach Mark Dantonio's discipline figures to be a welcome addition.

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