Spring Game

I'm skipping the spring game this year, and watching a bit of it on TV.

I feel a little bad missing it, and hope there are enough other Spartan fans there so our fanbase isn't again accused of being apathetic by certain members of the media.

Based on what I'm seeing on TV, it looks like an okay crowd. Maybe about 30-40,000.

My initial observations are that Tyler O'Connor looks sharper at quarterback than Damien Terry. And as is often the case in MSU spring games, defense is dominating.

What can anyone take from these spring games, anyway? It's almost like watching a spring training Grapefruit League baseball game and making a broad generalization about the upcoming Detroit Tigers season.

Putting the Middle Tennessee State game to bed, and what is going on with hockey?

In case you're wondering, I'm over the Middle Tennessee State loss. In fact, for whatever reason it never bothered me nearly as much as it apparently did my fellow MSU brethren. Don't get me wrong, it pretty much ruined the tournament for me (I've barely watched since the loss), but nobody has had to talk me off any ledges.

Even if MSU had made it past the first round, I'm frankly not convinced the Spartans were any guarantee for the Final Four anyway.

Speaking of the Final Four, my NCAA bracket is completely shot to hell. All of my Final Four picks have bit the dust. At this point, I'm reduced to finding the teams that would bother me least if they won it all, and pull for them. Those two teams are, in order, Villanova and Oklahoma. (I am most certainly NOT pulling for either North Carolina or Syracuse)

In other news, Mark Hollis has thrown his public support towards Tom Anastos and Anastos will get at least one more year as Spartan hockey coach. I really don't follow the hockey program closely enough to decide if this is a good idea, though allegedly Anastos has a good recruiting class coming in. Part of me cynically believes Hollis doesn't want to admit he screwed up the Anastos hire in the first place.

All I know is that if the hockey team has another season as awful as this one, the screws will turn much tighter and the small but vocal hockey fan base will clamor even more vociferously for a change.

Hockey is an absolute shell of what it was when I was a student (1986-1991). Students waited in line for season tickets, and the demand was so great that two different half-season packages were doled out. Of course, a large factor in hockey's popularity back in the '80s was that basketball then was woeful and football generally mediocre.

With Tom Izzo turning the basketball program into a national power, and Mark Dantonio (maybe) doing likewise in football, hockey's struggles are less noticeable. Frankly, outside of a handful of hockey diehards, I don't get a feeling that current students give a hoot about hockey. I'm not sure if the athletic department feels much pressure to improve the program. It feels like an afterthought these days. Perhaps this will only change if basketball slips in the future, or enough disgruntled hockey fans put up a big enough fuss.

An abrupt end to the basketball season

What is there to say?

Michigan State ran into a spirited team in Middle Tennessee State that out-worked, out-hustled, and out-shot them. The Spartans, unfortunately, played one of their worst games of the season when it mattered the most.

It's an incredibly sad way for Denzel Valentine, Bryn Forbes, Matt Costello, Colby Wollenman, and [maybe] Deyonta Davis to end their collegiate careers.

It also concludes what has been, outside of the Big Ten Tournament championship  (remember that?) and a first-round NCAA tourney win for the women's team, a bad week for MSU sports; and also, a bad week for two people associated with Spartan basketball, Branden Dawson and Mateen Cleaves. More on them later.

Back to today's game. I have to admit that, due to an unforeseen circumstance, I wasn't able to see most of it. Instead, I followed on my phone, listened to Will Tieman and Matt Steigenga's largely incredulous and mournful radio broadcast, and then finally the last 6 minutes or so of the CBS TV broadcast. Poor Steve Smith, former MSU standout, probably wishes to never have to provide color commentary for another MSU hoops game. Under the circumstances, he was unfailingly professional.

It was a stunning way for the season to reach conclude, and I still feel a bit numb. Strangely enough (or maybe not strangely), I'm neither angry nor even particularly depressed. More like shocked and numb. The Spartans seemed so out-of-sync today that I suppose I had a sense of foreboding throughout the game, and this gave me time to prepare myself for the inevitable.

Every single time it seemed that the Spartans might get it together and take the lead in this game, Middle Tennessee State responded with a score. In the final three minutes or so, the Spartans did what I rarely ever see them do: they panicked. Middle Tennessee, to borrow the tired old expression, smelled blood in the water and put MSU away.

Now to Branden Dawson and Mateen Cleaves. I'm disappointed with Dawson's situation (accused of domestic assault), but I am downright sick and despondent over Mateen Cleaves' sexual assault charge. Not that I know Cleaves personally, but from what I do know of him (or think I know of him), it seems completely out of character. If Tom Izzo, someone I consider to be of high moral standing, chose to name his son after Mateen, then that says a lot about Cleaves--or so it would seem.

It's now up to the court of law to decide. Maybe there is a dark side to Mateen Cleaves that few know about? I hope that's not the case, but if it is--and Cleaves committed the crimes of which he's accused, he needs to face the consequences.

Michigan State/Purdue pre-game dispatch

I watched the Big Ten Network's replay of the Michigan State/Maryland game and I have just a few observations of the game:

*I swear that every time Jim Nantz would say, "It's been [such and such] minutes since Maryland has scored," the Terps were guaranteed of draining a 35-foot 3-pointer. I counted, and this occurred at least three times during the game.

*I try not to get down on the play-by-play/color guys too much. (If I can get away with it, I'll simply watch games with the sound turned down). However, I have to say that Grant Hill seemed to have a hard time hiding his Maryland pom-poms. Perhaps he forgot the Terrapins are no longer in the ACC.

I followed up watching the MSU/Maryland replay by watching a little of the Purdue/Michigan game. The Spartans will have their hands full with Purdue's big men: Hammons, Haas, and the "almost Spartan" Swanigan. I know this is probably stating the obvious. If the Spartans can just hold their own in the paint and knock down the outside shots they didn't make yesterday against Maryland, they should be okay. I hope they didn't expend too much energy in dispatching the Terrapins. This game might go right down to the wire.

See you on the flipside.

White-knuckler against Maryland

I don't think there is a sport that sends me as perilously close to cardiac arrest as basketball, specifically Michigan State basketball. One would think by this point, after decades of white-knucklers--most of which end up in Spartan victories--I'd be used to it. I'm getting a little better at keeping it together in these games. The expletive count is down since I got married and had kids. In addition, after all the success MSU has had under Tom Izzo, I kind of expect the Spartans to find a way to win despite whatever adverse circumstances befall them.

The second half of today's Maryland game was about as enjoyable as a teeth cleaning or maybe a hernia operation (yes, I've had one so I'm speaking from experience). In any case, the Spartans overcame turnovers, poor shooting, great defense from Maryland, and a largely M.I.A. Bryn Forbes to find a way to win. Huge kudos to Deyonta Davis, whose blocked shot late in the game (14 seconds left? I can't remember, it's a bit of a blur now) was the pivotal play of the game.

So now it's on to a second consecutive appearance in the Big Ten Tour championship, this time against Purdue. I assume the Boilermakers will have a large contingent in Indianapolis. I hope that the determination of MSU's seniors will be enough to get the Spartans' fifth Big Ten tourney title.

Big Ten Tournament

It's the third day of the Big Ten tournament, and already craziness has ensued. Illinois beat the free falling Iowa Hawkeyes yesterday, and then got blown out by Purdue today. Michigan, after sleepwalking through the last half of the conference regular season, but also remarkably still fighting to get into the NCAA tournament, beat Northwestern and #1 seeded Indiana in dramatic fashion.

As far as my team is concerned, I'm not thrilled that Michigan State has to play Ohio State for the third time in about three weeks. I'm particularly not excited that this is a Buckeye team that is fighting for its NCAA tournament life. I've compared the Big Ten tournament (and most major conference tournaments) to an extra credit assignment in school: the students with the most incentive to do well tend to be the ones who muddled through the school year. Generally, but not always, the teams that do the best in these tournaments are the ones that still have work to do in order to reach the Big Dance.

Here and there, a team that has either won its conference's regular season title or has finished near the top will go on to win the conference tournament. It's hard to pinpoint why this happens. Maybe it's due to simply being the best team in the league and wanting to prove it definitively (as MSU did in 1999 and 2000), or despite having a good regular season, feeling that a score needs to be settled (MSU beating OSU in 2012, avenging a loss in the regular season finale; crushing Michigan in 2014, making up for an injury-plagued conference season and two demoralizing losses to the Wolverines. Last year, MSU avenged two regular season losses to Maryland by beating the Terps in the BTT, and almost beat Wisconsin in the final).

As far as what happens tonight, I have no idea. MSU players have indicated they want to win the Big Ten tournament. We'll see if that's enough to beat a desperate Ohio State.

A happy Senior Day

As a fan, I know I've watched a pleasant and successful MSU game when an occasional "damn" is the worst expletive to leave my mouth.

It was almost the best possible Senior Day. It could only have been better if Bryn Forbes had more success behind the 3-point arc (he was a human-like 1 for 6). The Spartans got off to a good start, kept a resilient Ohio State team at arm's length, and won fairly easily 91-76. Considering how well the Buckeyes had played coming into the game, and how desperate they are to get off the NCAA tournament bubble, this was no small task. Ohio State has a good team and when they are given a opening, Lyle and Loving can shoot lights out.

This Michigan State team just finds ways to win in any conceivable manner. Try and take away the perimeter shooting, and the Spartans will find Costello, Davis, Schilling, or Wollenman in the low post for easy lay-ups or dunks. Try and stop the big men, and they'll kick it out to Valentine, Forbes, or Harris for an uncontested (or little contested) jump shot. There's a reason MSU is leading the nation in assists. They have an uncanny ability to find the open man.

One of the hardest parts of being a college sports fan is that we are only able to enjoy these players for a limited time. I think I'll miss Costello, Forbes, Valentine, and Wollenman more than any other Spartan senior class I can remember. They are at least on a par with the 2005 team (Hill, Anderson, Torbert) or 2000 team (Cleaves, Granger, Peterson).