MSU/Purdue game

Watching the Purdue game and the Spartans are getting absolutely wrecked so far. They can't buy a basket, are struggling with both Purdue's defensive intensity and their big men, and have been slow on defensive switches allowing the Boilermakers' guards to bury a barrage of 3-pointers. The only bright side so far is that Hammons and Swanigan are on the bench with two fouls.

McQuaid misses two shots from 3-point range. MSU is ice cold so far tonight. If matters don't improve soon, MSU will get run out of the building.

46-30 halftime deficit. A terrible first half for MSU, as they are getting owned by Purdue's bigs and the Boilermakers are shooting a scalding 63% from the field. This has Iowa (games one and two) written all over it unless the Spartans can somehow turn it around in the second half.

The Spartans fight and claw back in the second half, and actually take a four point lead late in the game, but can't hang on and lose 82-81 in overtime. It's a heartbreaker, but a team just can't dig as big a hole as MSU did in the first half and expect to win.

Any shot at winning or tying for the conference title is over. Now, just hope to regroup at home on Sunday and beat a very good Indiana team.

Spartans blow out the Wolverines

I'm not sure that anybody saw that coming.

Michigan State absolutely hammered Michigan 89-73 at Crisler Arena and it wasn't really that close. Bryn Forbes impersonated Stephen Curry once again, Matt Costello continued his hard-nosed spirited play, Denzel Valentine showed everyone that he's back to his old self, and Michigan State looks like they officially have their mojo back.

I fully expected Michigan to give the Spartans everything they had, and thought the game may not be decided until the last one or two minutes of the game. Instead, the game was essentially over after about the first five minutes. Michigan did go on a bit of a mini-run late in the first half to cut the lead to eleven, but that was as close as they got. The Spartans led by 16 at halftime, got out of the gate quickly in the second half, built the lead to 30 late in the second half, and the deceptively closer score was a result of sloppy play by MSU's bench players.

From this fan's perspective, this is exactly what I needed after Michigan stole all the attention on football signing day. It actually was a great week for Spartans sports, with the MSU women's hoops team throttling Michigan mid-week, and the Spartan hockey team recording a rare victory when they slipped past the Wolverines in overtime, 3-2 on Friday night. (Unfortunately, the Spartan icers fell back to earth...or ice?...on Saturday night when they lost 4-1 to the Wolverines at Munn. Of course, I was glowing from the basketball win so I took this loss quite well).

But back to Spartan basketball. If you're a fan, you have to feel good about how this team looks right now. Clearly, the road game against Purdue will be a tough game, but one the Spartans can win, With the way the senior triumvirate of Costello, Forbes, and Valentine are playing, a win at Mackey Arena is certainly not out of the question.

Spartans/Wolverines basketball pre-game post

Another Michigan State/Michigan tilt is upon us, so I thought I'd take a few minutes to discuss it before tackling the task of cleaning the dirty cat boxes in the basement.

As usual, I face today's game with a degree of nervousness and trepidation. Though I think the Spartans should win, the game is in Ann Arbor and the Michigan basketball team is about as unpredictable as they come--if their shots fall, they are dangerous, but if they don't, disaster frequently follows. Some point to the Wolverines' drubbing at the hands of Indiana as an indication that the Wolvies are trending downward. Maybe. But I have a hard time believing that they will play that poorly in consecutive games--and this being a rivalry game, I fully expect Michigan to play extremely hard. But I also expect the Spartans to bring the ever-present chip on the shoulder. MSU has three senior leaders in Valentine, Costello, and Forbes who do not want to lose in what could be their final game against Michigan. So, for whatever my predictions are worth (since I'm a shameless homer), I'll pick MSU to win this one in a relatively close game, 82-75.

***

While on the subject of Michigan (a topic that never goes away), I should take the opportunity to clarify what I wrote about Michigan's recruiting event at Hill Auditorium. It's truly great that it raised so much money for the Chad Tough fund to fight cancer, and it's probably unfair of me to come down so hard on Jim Harbaugh. He has to be given credit for creating such a novel idea that was pulled off so successfully. It's exactly the sort of event that Mark Hollis has frequently devised here at Michigan State. Though I'm not always on board with every Hollis creation, I am generally more charitable towards him than I was towards Harbaugh. It was a stroke of genius to create an event that both loudly and extravagantly promoted the Michigan football program while also raising six figures for cancer research. Though I must admit I still view the whole affair with a bit of cynicism, kudos to Michigan for its generosity.

That was a rare moment of conciliation offered to the University of Michigan. I may be getting a little soft in my old age (though if you saw my back-and-forth with Michigan fans after signing day and after the Spartans' 3-2 win over Michigan in last night's hockey game, you might not think that's the case).

Now, before I get too warm and fuzzy with Michigan, it has to be said that lately they excel everywhere EXCEPT on the field. There is a constant bellowing bluster coming out of Ann Arbor about September Heismans, August Big Ten Champions, and Recruiting National Titles. I'm still waiting for any of this hot air to translate into results on the playing field.

Off to get to those cat boxes now. I may or may not get back to this blog after today's basketball game, depending on what mood I'm in.

It was national signing day, and I don't care that much...but that shindig in Ann Arbor sure got some attention

College football's national signing day was today.

I don't know if I've ever mentioned it in this blog before, but I really don't care that much about national signing day. In fact, I don't pay all that much attention to recruiting in general. In that, I may be in the minority among fans of collegiate athletics.

With the dog and pony show in Ann Arbor, though, it was difficult to ignore. That, and the constant updates I kept getting on my phone about various recruits making their decisions.

I got in trouble with a Michigan fan on Facebook for referring to Michigan's recruiting hootenanny at Hill Auditorium as a "dog and pony show," but I stand by it. This particular Michigan fan called me "classless" because this Wolverine shindig raised a large sum of money towards cancer research.

It's all well and good that the all the fat wads of money the U of M faithful paid to see Tom Brady, Ric Flair, Lou Holtz (etc.) went to charity, but one has to be incredibly naive to believe this was solely about philanthropy and nothing else. If Jim Harbaugh hadn't already cultivated an image of huckster and shameless self-promoter who will stop at nothing to get attention, I'd think otherwise. The cynic in me believes the "charity" aspect of today's event was attached mainly to make it more palatable to the public, and not appear solely be a brazen attempt to hype the Michigan football program.

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.