A crazy day in the tournament

First off, so much for that LIU preview.  Life and work got in the way, plus the fact that my two kids seem to always be on our computers, so I wasn't able to get online. Not that it matters, if you really wanted a preview you should read Joe Rexrode in the Lansing State Journal or any number of other professional sportswriters who really know what they're talking about.

Could yesterday have possibly been more perfect from an MSU Spartan fans' point-of-view?  The afternoon really reached high drama early when the official "sexy" Final Four pick, Missouri, went down at the hands of Norfolk State.  I watched almost the entire second half of that game, and I was scratching my head wondering why Missouri was so highly lauded.  Not only did they play poorly, but they played stupidly.  I just don't understand teams that jack up three-point attempts early in the shot clock and have so many wasted possessions. Missouri is a quick team and did a good time of kicking the ball out to their wings, but otherwise I was not impressed with the way they approached the second half of that game.

Later on in the evening, Michigan lost to the real "Ohio", Ohio University--and within moments of Michigan's loss, Duke was defeated by (underrated) Lehigh.  Two of my most hated schools go down in flames within a half-hour of each other, I don't think life could possibly get sweeter from my perspective as a sports fan.

Finally, at 9:30, I poured myself a glass of the (highly unmanly) moscato, parked myself immediately in front of the television, and dug in for the MSU/LIU game.  As expected, the experienced Blackbirds gave the Spartans a battle and did a great job of hanging with the Spartans for the first half, and the initial couple minutes of the second half, but MSU's defense stiffened in the second half--and LIU had absolutely no answer for MSU's big men, Nix and Payne (and I'll throw in Draymond Green, as well).  According to their roster, LIU doesn't have a player taller than 6' 7", and MSU has six players taller than 6' 7".  MSU took advantage of that mismatch and it seemed that LIU just gave up trying to defend the paint as the game progressed.

I have two brackets going: one for what I think will happen, and one for what I hope will happen. I went 25-7 in my "intelligent/analytical" bracket and 28-4 in my "emotional" bracket.  Isn't that the way it always goes?

Next up for MSU: Rick Majerus and the St. Louis Billikens.  The Billikens are a bigger team than LIU and play a much slower style.  They sound similar to Wisconsin.  It should be an interesting tussle between MSU's big men and those from St. Louis.

The most exciting two days in sports...

...begin today at 12:15 PM.  Nothing in sports tops the NCAA basketball tournament, particularly the first Thursday and Friday when 32 games are played in a 48-hour timeframe.  Non-stop drama sprinkled with upsets are the ingredients for the most enjoyable and exciting event in the sporting world. 

Every year, I wish that I had taken these days off work to watch the action, but I'll have to be content to follow the action on my Droid until I leave work at 3:30.

I hope to offer a little preview of MSU's first round opponent, Long Island University-Brooklyn.  It looks as if the Spartans drew easily the toughest of the 16 seeds.  From all I've read and heard, LIU is quick, athletic, and can score lots of points.  Plus, they were in the tournament last year (lost to North Carolina), so they will not be starstruck or scared.

More later...

Undisputed Big Ten Champions: Michigan State Spartans

Once again, I'm at a loss of words as to where to start this post--so I'll just get to it.

I'm continually amazed at the sheer number of huge games and momentous victories that Michigan State has had under Tom Izzo.  At this point, there have to be at least a couple dozen games that one could look at individually and say, "That was an incredible win!"  Now, just add today's Big Ten Tournament-winning game against Ohio State to that luminous list.

First of all, it was one of the most exciting college basketball games I have ever seen...period.  The only other MSU game I can think of that comes close in terms of sheer drama is the 2009 Final Four game against UConn.  This game between the Spartans and Buckeyes was like watching Ali and Frazier go at it.  Two extremely tough and talented basketball teams delivering non-stop body blows, with the Spartans finally coming out on top.

Did anyone, outside of the MSU team themselves, expect the Spartans to play so well without Branden Dawson?  These guys just went out and played perhaps their best basketball of the entire season, at a time when it was the probably the least expected--certainly by knuckleheads like me.

How about Brandon Wood?  He played a terrible game against Indiana about a week-and-a-half ago, and has followed it up with three straight good-to-excellent games, with none better than today's 21 point performance.

I'm thrilled for Austin Thornton, who has been brilliant in in the last few weeks.  His three-point barrage against Wisconsin got the Spartans back in that game, and he did the little things today that don't make the stat sheet.

And then there's Draymond Green.  I think I've used up every adjective in the dictionary for this guy.  He didn't have one of his best games today, but that 3-point shot late in the game was the "YEEESSSSS!!!!" moment of the day.

Could there have been a more perfect storybook ending to the regular season?  It's amazing to think that exactly one week ago I was depressed over MSU's two-point loss to Ohio State, and now I am jubilant over this remarkable MSU Big Ten tournament run capped off with a redemptive win over the Buckeyes.  And it is so sweet to end Ohio State's run of two straight Big Ten Tournament championships, and for MSU to get their first tournament crown since 2000...and speaking of 2000, we all remember how MSU's season ended that year?  Pretty decent conclusion to that year, if memory serves me well.

I just can't get over what an amazing season it has been for the Spartan basketball team.  I'm a little disappointed that I never made it to Breslin for any of MSU's Big Ten games, but I'm happy that I was able to see them a few times in person during their non-conference gestation period.  Even then, I could see that this team had potential, certainly enough raw material to finish in the top half of the Big Ten and get into the tournament, but I never would have predicted a Big Ten regular season title AND a Big Ten tournament title.  Just add this remarkable season to Tom Izzo's incredible resume.

Yesterday was a beautiful day for Spartan fans

First of all, I apologize that I never added much more to my post-Ohio State basketball post of the previous week.  I'm sure you were all crushed that you didn't get my expert analysis.  I was too distraught to add much more, but it's certainly interesting how quickly the emotional tide can turn for sports fans. One week you're down in the dumps, the next week you're feeling optimistic. Which brings me to...how great was yesterday!? (Rhetorical question)

Saturday began with Michigan State basketball beating Wisconsin for the third time this season, and concluded with Michigan getting beaten like a rented mule by Ohio State.  Could it possibly have been better for Spartan fans?  Now Michigan fans can crawl back into their holes temporarily, though I'm sure they're just dying to crawl out again in the event that their (true) rival Michigan State loses to their (pretend) rival Ohio State.

This leads me to something that I've been mulling over in my head for quite some time.  Is the Michigan/Ohio State rivalry the most overrated in college sports?  I contend that it is.  Look, I'm willing to admit that in football, it's a fairly big deal, even though the Buckeyes have, for the most part, routinely pounded Michigan over the last decade.  But there is no denying that, between the 1930s and the early 2000s, there was generally a lot on the line when Michigan and Ohio State met on the gridiron.   But the fan hatred seems to be much more on the OSU side than the Michigan side, and the football rivalry seems more intense among the players than the fans (at least the Michigan fans).  Ohio State fans genuinely loathe the University of Michigan, at least as much as Michigan State fans do.  But it's always been my impression that Michigan fans pay lip service to the hatred, while privately saving their true vitriol for Michigan State (though I don't doubt that Michigan fans definitely do not like Ohio State).  Michigan fans don't want to give MSU the satisfaction of admitting that Sparty is truly their biggest rival--to do so would give MSU more importance than the smug Michigan fan is willing to publicly bestow.

The national media buys into this myth of Ohio State and Michigan as being the bitterest of bitter rivalries, but if they spent enough time living in the state of Michigan, they'd quickly understand that the level of bile spewed forth between MSU and UofM fans outstrips anything between OSU and UofM, at least from the State of Michigan side.  And besides football, there really is no rivalry to speak of between Michigan and Ohio State.  In any other sport, Michigan State is easily Michigan's biggest rival, whether Michigan fans are willing to admit it or not.

With Michigan State's success in basketball, and more recently, football--the hatred and venom between MSU and Michigan fans is beyond anything I've ever witnessed.  It's safe to say the Michigan fans are uncomfortable being in the position of the downtrodden, and they are lashing out in message boards and Facebook posts.  For example, I am a "fan" of The Huge Show (a Grand Rapids-based sports call-in show), and the host frequently posts on Facebook.  The pissing matches in these posts, between MSU and Michigan fans, is beyond anything I've ever witnessed before.  It's so bad that I've decided not to even bother posting anymore--it's just not fun.  The attacks get personal and I'm afraid that I could get some Michigan fan so angry that they might obtain my personal information and threaten me.  I'm not kidding.  I've decided to back off of these Facebook sports posts and stick to outlets like the Lansing State Journal or Red Cedar Message Board, where I am at least among like-minded folk.