I was wrong...and I'm happy to admit it.

Dominating performance by Michigan State tonight, particularly by seniors Branden Dawson and Travis Trice, who both made it abundantly clear they had no intentions of ending their college careers without picking up a win over Michigan at Crisler. In fact, it may have been the best game Dawson has played in his college career. It seems that he hears the clock ticking and in the last few weeks has brought every ounce of his incredible (but sometimes somewhat untapped) talent to every game he's played since the Illinois debacle.

 

I thought Michigan might have about a gallon of gasoline left in its basketball fuel tank, but it turns out it's running on fumes and may have permanently stalled at the side of the road.

In my previous post, I expressed uncertainty over whether the Spartans had truly turned a corner after the Ohio State game. Well, last night's win over Michigan almost has me completely convinced that, yes, this team has turned that corner and could be poised for a strong finish to the regular season.

Michigan State/Michigan: the rematch

Tonight is the basketball rematch between the Spartans and Michigan, as the two teams take the rivalry to Crisler Center.

 

Before the Big Ten season started, I predicted a split in the season series, and despite Michigan's injuries and MSU seemingly turning a corner after two consecutive wins, I'm sticking to that. I hope like hell I'm wrong, but I'm still not convinced that MSU has indeed elevated its game for the rest of the season.

 

If Michigan has any gas left in the tank, they'll use it tonight in front of what will probably be the last excited full house crowd they'll see all season.

 

Now, I've learned never to count out a Tom Izzo-coached team, so I'm not for one second suggesting that Michigan State has no shot in this game--far from it. This is still a team fighting for a spot in the NCAA tournament (Michigan is almost certainly eliminated from the Dance). I'm just not quite sold on them, so I'm grudgingly predicting a 66-64 Michigan win.

 

The game starts at 9:00 and likely won't end until 11:15ish. I need to get up for work at 5:30 AM. I know that no matter what the outcome, I'll be wired until at least 1 AM. For that reason, I'm considering ducking out tonight and catching the inevitable replay if the Spartans win.

 

I think I've discussed this wimpy plan in the past on this blog when it's come to other MSU/UM matchups. Anyone reading this is more than justified in calling me a wimp or an idiot. But I always envisioned this blog as being a portrait of the irrationality of sports fandom, or at least my sports fandom.

Denzel delivers a Valentine

After two post-game celebratory Bell's Two-hearteds along with a Big Ten Burger at Harrison Roadhouse, I'm now relaxing at home and basking in the afterglow of MSU's big win over Ohio State.

 

The second half was a bit rockier than the first half, but at least part of that was due to the officiating crew calling the game much closer than they had in the first half. This lent a lack of flow to the second half.

 

Still, it's hard to complain. MSU made enough plays, and with 3.2 seconds left Denzel Valentine hit perhaps the biggest shot of his college career--and maybe the most important shot of this MSU season-- to lead the Spartans to a much needed victory.

 

Who are we kidding? This was more than a "much needed victory." It may be the difference between MSU playing in the NCAA tournament or the NIT. A loss would have meant a third conference home defeat, and a major downer heading to Ann Arbor to take on Michigan. But instead it was a win over a top-25 opponent and a major bolster to a shaky tournament resume.

 

The best part was, I was there in person along with my son and brother-in-law. Section 218, row 15. Almost nosebleed, the first row of metal bleachers. The folks who trudged, slipped, and slid their way through the blustery bitterly cold Valentine's Day weather? They were energized and excited, as if they were hell-bent to make their perilous treks to Breslin worthwhile. I hope that the Spartan basketball team noticed and fed off that electricity.

Halftime a Breslin

That was a great half for the Spartans; love the defensive intensity that they brought, particularly in the final 10 minutes or so of the half, when a 20-16 OSU lead became a 33-24 MSU advantage at intermission. Branden Dawson, Matt Costello, and Tum Tum Nairn in particular need to be singled out for praise, but it really has been a complete team effort.

 

If the team brings the same energy in the second half, and feeds off a great Breslin crowd that fought through bad weather to be here, it should be a Spartan win.

Big game against the Buckeyes

It's a sub-Arctic, snowy morning here in the Lansing area, but I'm planning on braving the weather to attend the MSU/Ohio State basketball game at noon.

After another up-and-down (or more accurately, down-and-up) week for MSU hoops, the team seems to be riding some momentum going into this important home date with the Buckeyes. A win over a top 40 RPI team would not only look good on the Spartans' tournament resume, but improve their Big Ten record to 8-4 (17-8) overall. A loss, on the other hand, would further muddy their postseason prospects and poke the needle a little further into their NCAA tournament bubble.

I have a hunch, based on nothing but intuition, that the Spartans will bring it strong this afternoon. They have to feel embarrassed about how terrible they played in their last home game (a 59-54 loss to Illinois last weekend). They played inspired and focused in a blowout win on the road against Northwestern, and I just have a feeling it will carry over to this game. If I'm wrong, I'll be the first to admit it. So I'll just go out on a limb and predict a Michigan State victory at Breslin this afternoon

The Spartans escape

I may have lost an additional year of my lifespan after enduring MSU's 76-66 overtime win over a shorthanded but feisty Michigan team.

I still don't quite know what to make of Spartan basketball this season. Is this a tournament team? If they are (and I think they probably are), I don't see them making it past the first round. But just getting this team to the NCAA tournament could be considered a success for Tom Izzo. And if the Spartans both make the tournament AND make it to at least a second game, then that would be a phenomenal success.

John Beilein deserves lots of credit in getting a short-handed and banged up Wolverines team to play hard and never quit until they ran out of gas in overtime.

This is a flawed MSU team and we just need to accept that. The free throw shooting will continue to be terrible and the perimeter shooting erratic. One positive to take away from today is the resiliency they displayed in overtime. Matt Costello and Denzel Valentine in particular brought it strong when it mattered the most. Costello had some huge blocked shots down the stretch, and scored four of MSU's ten points in overtime. Denzel Valentine made up for missing the front end of a one-and-one with 31 seconds left in regulation that may have sealed the win and prevented overtime. Valentine scored five points in OT with two rebounds.

Looking at the upcoming schedule, it's favorable for the Spartans. Illinois at home is winnable, as is a road game against Northwestern. Then MSU comes back to Breslin for a date with Ohio State. An 11-7 conference record is certainly attainable.

I'm certainly not pounding my chest after this Michigan win. I'm merely relieved. It was a dicey proposition and MSU was lucky to escape with a win.

***

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I was fortunate to have tickets to the Michigan game and went with my wife. The Lansing area was socked with a monster snow storm and we slipped and slid our way from our house in Okemos to East Lansing. After parking at my brother-in-law and sister-in-law's house, we trudged our way through the ice, snow, and bitter cold to Breslin. Once we arrived, I made a point to make a bee-line (and not a Beilein) to the program vendor to purchase a game program. I rarely buy programs any more, but this one featured a bonus special issue of Tom Izzo's "20 biggest moments in 20 years" written by Jack Ebling. It's a more slender volume than I hoped, but still it's a nice keepsake.

The crowd at Breslin was spirited and excited through most of the game, but I was disappointed to see them begin to stream out of the arena with 55 seconds left in overtime. Really, people? You've made it this far and now you're leaving? The weather is already terrible, so staying an extra few minutes won't have any effect on your trip home; and forget about beating traffic, it's not gonna happen. Why not just stay until the end and give the team a hearty round of applause when the clock hits zero? Just a thought.

Spartan basketball, the career and legacy of Tom Izzo, and the Michigan game

It's been over a week since I posted in this blog, and in that time MSU basketball lost to an average Nebraska and blew out a horrible Rutgers. And now, quite unexpectedly, I have tickets for tomorrow's game against Michigan.

At this point, all that can really be said about the basketball team is this: the only part of them that is predictable about them is their unpredictability--and that they can't shoot free throws to save their lives.  However, there is a glimmer of hope that perhaps they're turning a corner. After a terrible first half against Nebraska, the team played much better in the second half and almost came away with a most improbable win. The schedule smiled upon them with the next game on the road against Rutgers, and the Spartans dominated throughout to take a 20-point win.

So, looking at tomorrow's game, the Spartans should win. It's at home, the Wolverines are depleted, and the Spartans should ride the momentum of a blowout win at Rutgers.

Branden Dawson played great against Rutgers and seems to be performing at a high level that he's always been capable of attaining. I've often thought that Dawson is one of the most frustrating players Izzo has ever had. He is an incredibly gifted athlete who has the capability of dominating a game--when he's into it. Too often, he seems either disinterested or just inconsistent. If "good" Dawson shows up tomorrow--which I fully expect in a game against MSU's arch rival--and the Spartans can shoot reasonably well from the perimeter and not awful from the free throw line, MSU should win this game by at least 8 or 9 points.

I don't want to dismiss Michigan, though. Despite the loss of Levert and Walton, Michigan continues to play just well enough to get it done. Any team that is able to take Wisconsin to overtime, while missing two of its most important players, must be taken very seriously.

***

Tom Izzo turned 60 years old yesterday. How did he (and I) get this old? In the same year that Izzo hits the big six-oh, we celebrate his 20th season as MSU head basketball coach. I hate to use the whole trite "where did the time go" cliché, but...WHERE THE HECK DID THE TIME GO?

When Izzo was named head coach, I'm sure I was not unlike most everyone else in wondering who he was. I don't think I was following the basketball team close enough at the time to notice him on the bench as one of Jud Heathcote's assistants. In fact, when I first heard his name, I thought that perhaps he was related to former MSU basketball player Mario Izzo. (One look at the 7-foot Mario Izzo and the 5' 9"-ish Tom Izzo would immediately dispel any notion that the two were related).

The first two years at MSU were tough for Tom Izzo. Jud hadn't left him with much talent and those first two teams struggled. Many, including yours truly, wondered if this Izzo guy was the right man for the job. At the time, I didn't fully realize that slowly but surely Tom Izzo was building a soon-to-be-dominant program at MSU. Key recruits like Antonio Smith and Mateen Cleaves were the foundation.

Izzo's third year was the breakthrough year, but even that season wasn't without its tribulations. The Spartans had a less than stellar non-conference slate including a loss to the University of Detroit that I remember well because my instant reaction was, "here we go again." Undoubtedly the first big win of Izzo's coaching career came in the Big Ten opener against the overwhelmingly favored Purdue, when the Spartans stunned the Boilermakers 74-57 at Mackey Arena. Unfortunately, I didn't actually see the game, but clearly remember seeing the headline in the Lansing State Journal the next day and being completely dumbstruck that the Spartans had won by such an overwhelming score. (As a side note, it's hard to imagine that there was once a time when one couldn't instantly learn who had won a game. I waited over 12 hours to discover MSU had beaten Purdue).

From that point forward, we have experienced the glory years of Spartan basketball. But I suppose even with all the incredible success Izzo has had--the 2000 national championship, the Big Ten championships, the Final Fours--that 1997-1998 team will always maintain a special place in my memory. I remember visiting the now-defunct College Store shortly after the season ended and buying a "1998 Big Ten champions" t-shirt and the 1997-1998 basketball media guide, all the while thinking how great it was that MSU had won the Big Ten title and to appreciate it NOW because it wasn't likely to happen again for at least another decade...little did I know what the future would have in store. Tom Izzo has taken the Michigan State basketball programs to heights I never thought were possible.

***

On Friday's Drive with Jack Ebling, Jack asked various guests to name their favorite MSU/UM basketball game. His UoM grad/fan/co-host Tom Crawford went with Michigan's 2011 win at Breslin (a game I'd like to forget ever happened). Jack's choice was the 1986 game at Jenison Fieldhouse, and I have a hard time arguing with that. The scrappy Spartans beat the eventual Big Ten champion Wolverines, 91-79. Re-reading some of Jack's piece about the game in his book Magic Moments: a Century of Spartan Basketball, I'm reminded of how much I disliked Antoine Joubert at the time and how thrilling it was that Skiles and company beat those guys that season--not just once, but TWICE. Despite Joubert guaranteeing a payback win at Crisler, the Spartans hammered the Wolverines even worse than they had at Jenison. The final score in Ann Arbor was 74-59. At the time, I was a senior at Caro High School in the thumb of Michigan and overrun by Michigan fans. I was able to hold my head high that season.

I suppose my favorite game in the series was the 2013 game at Breslin, a game I was lucky enough to attend in person. It was the first and only time that both teams entered the game both ranked in the national top ten and the Spartans blew out the Wolverines in a spirited performance.

Other memorable MSU/UM basketball games: 

1979 (MSU 80, Michigan 57; at Jenison). I was a 10 year-old kid at my grandma's house in Rosedale Park, Detroit and watched this game in her den/library. The Spartans avenged an earlier heartbreaking loss in Ann Arbor and completely blew out the Wolverines in the rematch. I haven't seen this game since the day it was played, but the memories I have involve MSU running fast break after fast break with Earvin "Magic" Johnson and Greg Kelser putting on a show. I don't know if my memories necessarily represent reality, but the warm glow from those hazy memories remains to this day.

1998 (MSU 80, Michigan 75; at Breslin). After losing his first five meetings to Michigan, Tom Izzo finally broke through into the win column.  I clearly remember watching this game at the Peanut Barrel in East Lansing and, fueled by a reasonable amount of beer, going crazy near the end of a tense back-and-forth victory against the Wolverines. I talked a lot of trash and said some nasty things about Robert "Tractor' Traylor and the rest of the Michigan team. I let out all my frustration that had been pent up during that five-game losing streak between 1996 to the first MSU/UM meeting of 1998. Those there who were unfamiliar with what a lunatic I can become during MSU sporting events were probably alarmed by my demeanor.

2000 (MSU 114, Michigan 63; at Breslin). Unfortunately, I had to work during this game and didn't actually see it until after the fact. (My at-the-time fiancée and later wife was good enough to tape the game for me. Ah, the days of VHS. What memories).  A friend of mine and fellow co-worker (who was smart and took the day off to watch the game) called me at work to relay the score, probably at or near halftime. (Once again, imagine that there was once a time when you couldn't check a score on your phone or computer). The phone conversation I had with my friend went something like this:

Friend: "You'll never guess what the score is."

Me (always a bit worried when it comes to this game): "Uh-oh, is it good or bad?"

Friend: "Oh, it's pretty good."

Me: "Okay, what's the score?"

Friend: "MSU is up 51-24."

Me: "Get the hell out of here! Seriously? You better not be messing with me!"

Friend: "No! It's really 51-24! I'm not kidding!"

Me: "Holy shit."

It was an amazing and incredible win in which everything--and I mean EVERYTHING--went right for the Spartans. Seemingly every shot they made went in the basket, and Mateen Cleaves set a Big Ten assist record that still stands. The game was a happy culmination of everything Izzo had built over the first five years of his head coaching tenure, and served as a hometown send-off for the Spartans' march to the Big Ten tournament championship and national championship.

***

While this year's game doesn't have as much juice or intrigue as games past, it's still Michigan. I'm hoping for a win. With a victory, I'll be content until September (regardless of what happens in Ann Arbor) and the Spartan basketball team will set themselves up well for a potentially strong finish to the regular season. I don't want to think of what a loss will mean.