Is Spartan basketball back? (and other stuff)

I'm reserving judgment for now, but it looks like maybe, just maybe, Spartan basketball has righted the ship. They put in a dominating performance against Northwestern, a team that--after a great start--now does not appear capable of making the NCAA tournament.

Denzel Valentine looks like himself again, Bryn Forbes is out of his shooting slump, Matt Costello continues to play aggressive inspired ball, and Matt McQuaid had his best game in at least a month. He lit up the Wildcats in the second half.

So tomorrow MSU has what should be an easy win against Rutgers, the worst Big Ten basketball team in decades. Unless the Spartans come out either flat or over-confident (or both) it should be a blowout win for the Spartans at Breslin.

I'm still trying to figure out what Rutgers brings to the Big Ten. They are terrible in football and men's basketball, though they do have a strong women's basketball program under Vivian Stringer. Supposedly, Rutgers brings an East Coast television audience, but I'm not convinced.

On the subject of the most recent admissions to the Big Ten, I'm a little upset that it was so easy for Maryland and Rutgers to become members, while Michigan State had to cajole, lobby, and fight throughout the 1940s in order to gain admission. Now, admission to the conference seems to be as simple as how much television money can be gained from the new member school. The Big Ten isn't what it used to be.

Now back to Northwestern. Why are they so consistently mediocre in basketball? How is it that they have never made the NCAA tournament? It's baffling. Northwestern has been reasonably successful in football, but not in hoops. Conventional wisdom would be that it's more difficult to be good in football than basketball, though Northwestern has somehow defied that. I'll have to come back and inestigate this further.

My take on those kooky Michigan State uniforms

Much has been made about the neon day-glo lime green uniforms the Spartans wore last night against Maryland, with most fans (and non-MSU fans) disliking them.

Here's my take: As long as the players like them, and in turn play well while wearing them, I don't much care what they wear.

I stopped fighting the "uniform battle" years ago.

My favorite Michigan State uniforms ever were the ones the football team wore between 2007-2009, Mark Dantonio's first three season as head coach. They had a neat, clean traditional look that harkened back to the classic look of Duffy Daugherty's 1960s teams.

When MSU initiated the "re-branding" with Nike in 2010, and the football uniforms received a slicker, busier, more "modern" look, I wasn't happy. It seemed like MSU changing uniforms just for the sake of changing uniforms. I admit that when it comes to sports uniforms, particularly football and baseball, I veer towards stodgy traditionalism.

But a funny thing happened in 2010. When the famous "Little Giants" fake field goal play jump started what became an 11-2 Big Ten championship football season, those new uniforms I disliked so much when I first saw them before the season started didn't look so bad anymore.

My attitude has now evolved into--in the words of colorful former Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis--"Just win, baby."

As long as Nike isn't calling the shots and force feeding uniforms that Michigan State doesn't like, I simply don't care anymore. As long as the players like them and play well in them, I will give my (frequently grudging) approval to whatever they wear. It may not stop me from shaking my head in "grouchy middle-aged guy" befuddlement, but I've surrendered in the uniform wars.

Michigan State players clearly loved those lime green uniforms and won a must-have game against Maryland yesterday, so I give 100 percent approval to those uniforms.

Now get the hell off my lawn!

Like Spartan basketball, I am at least temporarily not M.I.A.

A much needed, and greatly appreciated, win for the Spartans over Maryland tonight. This coming after the blowout home loss against Iowa and the two gut-wrenching 1-point defeats at the hands of Wisconsin and (stinkin') Nebraska.

It'll be refreshing to tune into sports talk radio on Monday morning and not hear hours of "What the heck is wrong with MSU basketball?" for a change.

I hope the Spartans have righted the ship.Though it looks like a Big Ten title might be out of reach, bigger goals are still within reach.

Butt kicking at Breslin

When the highlight of your evening at a Michigan State basketball game is hearing "Let's Dance" played over the PA system during a timeout (RIP, David Bowie), you know you have trouble.

I just returned home from Breslin Center and am trying to process what has to be the worst home court butt-kicking MSU has received since Duke came to town in the 2003-2004 season and drubbed the Spartans.

For one of the few times since Izzo has been coach, it appeared the Spartans were thoroughly unprepared for this game. Outhustled, outshot, outrebounded, outcoached in the first half. It was just awful. There is no way to sugarcoat it.

 

The game was a perfect storm: Iowa was focused and executed perfectly, while MSU was out of sync and sloppy. By the time the Spartans woke (a little bit) from their slumber in the second half, it was way too late.

I won't say the sky is falling. It's only January. Denzel Valentine may still not be himself yet. As disappointed and numb as I feel now, I still believe this team can do big things this year. Believe it or not, a conference title is still not completely out of the question, though with two losses already, the Spartans will need help.

The question going forward is this? Was last night an anomaly? I think we can say with certainty that, at this point anyway, Iowa is a better team than Michigan State. In fact, Iowa may be the best team in the Big Ten. But are they that much better? Was this just a matter of MSU not matching up well with Iowa? Or are the Spartans levelling off? Going into this season, most thought this would be a rebuilding year. Then when the team got off to such a great start, expectations changed and the Spartans eventually found themselves at number one in the nation. Clearly, at this point in the season, the Spartan are nowhere near the best team in the country, nor are they the best team in the conference.

Last night's game left me, and probably many other MSU fans, completely befuddled. A struggling Wisconsin at Kohl Center now looks like a much more daunting task than it appeared to be just three hours ago. How the Spartans respond will tell us a lot more about where this team stands.

Spartans rout the Nittany Lions

When this year's Spartan basketball team is firing on all cylinders, which thankfully has happened most of this season, they are an absolute joy to watch. This was definitely the case today, as MSU blew out Penn State 92-65 in State College.

It's windy and snowy outside here in Okemos, so it felt comfortable here on my couch drinking coffee with very little reason to get worked up. It did feel that Penn State was the beneficiary of some ticky-tack foul calls in the first half, resulting in a 19-3 free throw differential. This was the only reason the Nittany Lions were "only" down by 13 at the half.

The Spartans have so many weapons at their disposal. Bryn Forbes lit up the scoreboard in the first half, Matt Costello and Deyonta Davis continue to play brilliantly in the paint, with Costello in particular displaying some nifty moves in the last several games. Gavin Schilling provides strong defense, resembling an immovable brick wall in the post. And, lest I forget, how great is it to have Denzel Valentine back? He worked off his first half cobwebs and looked more himself in the second half, making "wow" passes and burying jumpers.

Now, how about we get some payback against Iowa on Thursday?

Transitioning to basketball

It's now over a week since the Destruction in Dallas, the Cotton Bowl Collapse, the JerryWorld Wreckage, or whatever you want to call it. Anyway, it's enough time for me to thoroughly decompress from the disappointment and move on.

I've emerged from the football cocoon and and slowly making the transition to a basketball frame of mind. Went to the Illinois game and saw the Spartans, still without Denzel Valentine, dominate a sad and depleted Illini team. Despite Illinois' travails, it was the most complete game the Spartans have played without Denzel in the lineup.

The highlight of the game may have come in the final 20 seconds, when a player I'd never seen before--playing without a name on his jersey--finally made it into the game, having spent what seemed like an eternity waiting at the scorer's table just itching for a clock stoppage so he could make his Michigan State basketball debut. The player is Greg Roy, a walk-on transfer from Adrian College. I tend to gravitate towards the guys who occupy the end of the bench, the "human victory cigars" if you will. This is probably because I can more closely identify with these players, since that has often been my role on any sports team I've played on. But it's also fun to see these guys, who work just as hard as the starts on the team--with none of the glory--get a chance to play in a game.

I should also add that we were sitting near two somewhat elderly gentlemen at the game--I overheard one of the guys say that he'd graduated from MSU in 1966--so I decided that I'd be on my best behavior. No jumping up and down, a minimum of fist pumps, and as little cussing as possible (not that I really do much cussing at games anymore. Usually nothing worse than "dammit!). I don't know if the guys would have been offended by my overt demonstrations of emotion, but I didn't want to risk it. As it turned out, the game was never in doubt, so there was little reason for me to act like a spaz. "Good sportsman" goal, therefore, accomplished.

A sad way to start 2016

Where to start?

The best indication of how bad a game is for me is the relative lack of alcohol consumed by yours truly. I drank one Stella Artois in the first half of MSU's 38-0 drubbing, and then no more.

In fact, I barely paid attention to the fourth quarter. I'd say that approximately midway through the third quarter, I muted the sound on the TV to avoid the inevitable Alabama lovefest, and by the fourth quarter I was barely even watching the game.

It was only slightly less horrendous than the 2011 Capital One Bowl. At least in this game, the Spartans finished with a positive yardage total (26 carries for 29 yards).

Alabama deserves credit for what proved to be a brilliant game plan. When Derrick Henry didn't even touch the ball in the Tide's first possession, my initial reaction was that they were over thinking it and getting too cute. But quarterback Jake Coker executed the pass-first strategy to perfection and the Spartans never adjusted.

But defense actually seemed the least of their worries because the Spartans couldn't move the ball an inch on offense. And in what might have been the turning point in the game, MSU blew an opportunity to cut the Bama lead to 10-7 (or at worse, 10-3) when Connor Cook stared down his receiver and threw a momentum killing interception. The game went downhill from there.

So, in times like this, I need to remind myself of how far this program has come since the dark days of Bobby Williams and John L. Smith. This pain will pass, and may prove to be just another growth ring in this program's development.