Indiana game about to start...(plus a follow up)

Another big game at Breslin, can my heart take it? I meant to write in here earlier, but didn't get around to it. I will try to write more later, but you know how that goes. Go Green!

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The Spartans lost, as you probably already know by now. Victor Oladipo further solidified his status as Indiana's best player--far and away the Hoosiers' best player in my opinion--and a definite national player of the year candidate. The guy is just the complete package: great defender, quick as blazes, and makes the little hustle plays that add up to victory. If one were voting right now, I'd say Oladipo should be Big Ten player of the year.

It's hard to get too upset over losing to a team like Indiana, and the Hoosiers deserve a tremendous amount of credit for being unfazed by the Breslin crowd and finding a way to win.

But I can't get over thinking that MSU didn't bring their best effort last night. Even so, they had a chance to win late in the game. Up by three, Keith Appling missed the front end of a one-and-one and that was truly a killer. I certainly won't lay all the blame on Appling, because there are any number of missed opportunities that cost MSU the game. When you get right down to it, the Spartans lost to the #1 team in the country by four points. There's no shame in that.

As frequently happens after a big game, particularly one in which MSU loses, I agonize afterwards. I replay parts of the game in my head, I waste too much time on the internet (either the Red Cedar Message Board or Facebook) and rehash the game with others, commiserating with comrades or sparring with the Walmart Wolverines who come out of their dark crevices like cockroaches to laugh at MSU's misfortune. They are hardly worth my time, but have a tendency to push my buttons. I have to learn to let that slide, or just avoid the internet altogether after an MSU loss. My emotions sometimes get the best of me.