THE MSU PREVIEW WITH SOME PISTONS MIXED IN

Spartan Dawgs were CLEARLY looking ahead to a week from now because they played like absolute dog shit. They got it done. Winning at IPFW by 11...this after trailing in the 2nd half. That shouldn't happen. Hey look, I'm a big fan of our depth and getting out and running but damn, take good shots! Once these cats settled down and Raymar Morgan went MODE and everything was all good. The main this is that they are 2-0 with the gauntlet starting next week. I'ma take a look at the squad and give you my view from what I've heard, seen, and think about the season with the order going from worst player to best/most valuable:

Idong Ibok = still a project. Won't be anything more than a project. Will play spot minutes against big teams or when Suton, Gray, Roe get in foul trouble. Can't catch but will block shots.

Isaiah Dahlman = I think the kid is a player, but he's caught in a logjam of 2's and 3's. Was the state of Minnesota's all-time leading scorer in high school. Can shoot the rock but it'll be hard to get playing time. Played well 2 years ago as a freshman but a foot injury now has him lost in the shuffle.

Austin Thornton = A guy who walked on the team last year despite getting offers from schools Stanford, Notre Dame, and Virginia amongst others. Can shoot it and seems to make things happen when he's on the court. As Izzo said: "He's Tim Bograkos with a jumper"

Draymond Green = Lost some weight making him more mobile. Can rebound and has soft hands. Plays good position defense and he'll play good in limited minutes but won't get a lot of time this year.

Marquise Gray = A guy who is a top-notch athlete with ZERO court awareness. Will provide you with highlight dunks and blocks but doesn't play good position defense. Could take the team to national title level if he ever put it all together.

Korie Lucious = KLIF2 (meaning Korie Lucious is fast). Quickest dude on the team, yes quicker than Lucas in my opinion. Will make freshman mistakes and stupid passes but can shoot it from deep and has great court vision. Undersized so he could be a problem on defense.

Travis Walton = he is what he is. He can't improve, just lock people up like you are supposed to do

Durrell Summers = poor mans JR...BUT...GUARD SOMEBODY! I like his upside. Definitely a crazy athlete with an improving jumper but you gotta guard somebody man. Izzo wants to run, he's probably the best or 2nd best finisher on the team but you won't play unless you play D.

Chris Allen = He's got a smooth stroke. He can create his own shot, somewhat. Izzo compared him to Shawn Respert. Enough said. However, as I alluded to with Summers, GUARD SOMEBODY! WTF! I don't know if you can guard me right now. If you aren't hitting shots then you are not effective at all because you can't defend.

Goran Suton = still dinged up but is grabbing boards, gonna need close to double-double numbers every night if we wanna be in the D (it's so cooooooooooooold in the D)

Delvon Roe = Finally the post presence that takes this team to another level. He can do it all down low and has good awareness. Will board and block some shots but needs to get 100% (which he clearly isn't yet).

Raymar Morgan = stud, plain and simple, best player on the team. More effective at the 4 where he can take guys of the bounce, get in the lane, and get fouled. Built like a tank and can finish strong. If he improves on his free throw shooting, then he could be the highest scorer in the Big Ten. Again, he's the best player, but not the most valuable. That guy would be...:

Kalin Lucas = He's the straw the stirs the drink. The best PG MSU's had since Cleaves. Once they gave him the keys last season, the team started to make moves. We want to run. In Izzo's words, he's the fastest guy he's ever recruited. The orginial KLIF (Kalin Lucas is fast). He will be a stud, but needs to be more of a leader and be consistent all the time. If he does these things, then they'll be in the D in April (and it's so coooooooooooold in the D).

Spartan Dawgs for 08-09. Let's get it!

Now a quick word on the Pistons. They are now 4-3 with A.I. rockin the red, white, and blue. They've had 2 monster wins, dropping the Lakers in L.A., on a back-to-back, to give them their first L of the season.

Then last night, down 11 at the half, A.I. and Sheed took over and sent Cleveland a little bit of a message. Chauncey Billups isn't around to get trapped anymore by the Cavs. We can get to the rack now.


They've got a big game tonight. Another case of the league fucking us over with the back-to-back at Boston. That's a game that they will probably lose but we'll see. It'll be tough sledding against the Big 3.

THEY PLAYIN BAAAAASKKKKKETBAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLL

Even though I'm still technically in college football mode, college basketball, my favorite sport, is upon us. Those Spartan Dawgs got off to a good start tonight with a 100-62 win over Udaho.

We'll touch more on the Spartans shortly but first I'd like to address something:

There are more than 2 teams in the NBA. The world doesn't revolve around the Lakers and Celtics. However, many many people think and feel that way so it's always great when those teams lose! To see the Pistons get all up in the Lakers' ass was a beautiful thing.


People can start to take it easy on how dominant they are. Still a very good team but they just won't waltz to a title. Same thing with the Celtics.

A.I. and the gang are 7-3 now after getting blitzed in Phoenix. I'll take a 3-1 West Coast trip everytime. Couple biggies with Cleveland and Boston this week.

Now back to my boys in the college game.

They smashed Udaho. Dropped 100 for the 3rd straight game (first 2 were exhibitions). They are deep, fast, and physical. They need to defend better though.


I promised my boy over at 2Cents that I would give ya'll a preview so I'll do that.

In the non-conference, I've got the fellas goin 9-3. They'll win 2 of 3 in Orlando (not sure who the loss will be to, just don't feel like they'll defend well enough to win it yet), lose to UNC and Texas. Will still get big wins against Maryland, Kansas, and Gonzaga.

In the Big Ten, they'll go 15-3. A loss at Purdue and a couple stinkers along the way.
They'll finally win the Big Ten Tournament and be 27-6 entering the tournament. That'll give them a 2 seed, put them in Dayton, then get to the Indianapolis region and hopefully a trip to the Final Four.

I have them losing in the Elite 8. I'd love to be wrong and see them get to Detroit in April. You betta believe that I'd be there.

But for now. There's a trip to IPFW on Wednesday. Gotta watch those Mastodons shug.

I'M BACK

Ok so a lot has changed since March 9

Let's recap shall we, and I'll try to go in order:

MSU got robbed against Wisconsin in the Big Ten Tournament, got sent to the South Region, made a nice run to the Sweet 16 before getting their asses handed to them by Memphis.



1 of my best friends in the game got married. Congrats once again to Marty and Jenny F.


The Pistons won 59 games, got to the Eastern Conference Finals...AGAIN...and lost...AGAIN! WTF! Which means, Flip Saunders, get yo ass out of Detroit.


RED WINGS - 2008 STANLEY CUP CHAMPIONS! LET'S GET IT DETROIT!


Tiger Woods won the U.S. Open on 1 leg. Unbelievable


I made a big splash by coming up with a MCBB Prestige Rankings that was a big hit on ESPN.com. Shout out to Nick2Cents for helping a ton with the process. Check his spot out too (Nicks2Cents@blogspot.com). Nick, you can thank me later for the free pub.
Top 10 teams since 1985
I chatted about it too

I made my last trip to Chicago for a really long time. I'll let you read between the lines for that one.

The Lions went 4-0 in the preseason...still waiting on that first win that actually counts...we'll get back to them in a minute.


The Tigers, led by awful starting pitcher, an awful bullpen, and awful defense found a way to finish last in the AL Central after having the 2nd highest payroll in the bigs. HUH?


I've moved from R1 to R2 status.

I heart Mark Dantonio (pause). The Michigan State Spartans lost their season opener at Cal. They've won 9 of 10 games since. That's right. Michigan State is 9-2 and can win the Big Ten in 2 weeks...seriously...no i'm not just making that up...i'm serious!



All of my fantasy football teams suck, except for the one I don't pay much attention to. That was is 6-4 somehow and is the highest scoring team in the league!

Back to the Lions. The Lions are 0-9. They've been outscored 145-63 at home. They stink. They suck. They are awful. They've lost 16 of their last 17 regular season games. They have an idiot coach talkin about a shovel and a pick and some tomb or some shit. Get him out of here!


The Michael Curry era has begun in Detroit and Chauncey Billups is no longer around. The man known as A.I. is wearing the Red, White, and Blue. Damn it looks strange. They need time to gel but they'll be fine come playoff time.




Izzo's got the boys locked and loaded once again. No. 7 in the preseason, games against Maryland, Gonzaga, Tennessee/Georgetown, North Carolina, Texas, and Kansas. Should be a fun year. Final Four in the D. If they get there then it's bananas!



And of course we can't forget: MY PRESIDENT IS BLACK! Barack Obama got it done. 44th president of the United States. Shout out to America for getting this thing right. I'm not a huge political guy so don't get it twisted but this definitely seems like the right move. And no I didn't vote for him because he's black. For those who didn't vote for him, remember that this is your president too. We gotta work together to get this done.


So ya boy is back. Hopefully I won't take 10 months between posting next time.

UPDATING THE PAST WEEK

Ok so a few things have happened since the last blog. Between work, working out, and having my misses in town, things got a little hectic and busy. But here is a rundown of what you might have missed.

- MSU lost that game to those dreaded Badgers (sigh)

- However, they ROLLED Indiana at home. When I say rolled, I mean they FUCKING ROLLED. That was some of the worst transition defense I've ever seen. We are talking about Big Ten basketball here. I know it was senior night and all that but there is no way my boys should score 59 in the 1st half and 103 for the game on a Top 15 team. I'm sorry. Not that I was complaining! It was good to see the boys get out and run. If they can do that in the tourney...WATCH OUT. What's that noise....oh you want to see some visual evidence...no worries, I got you.



And a shout out to the reigning Big Ten Player of the Week!


Now back to Senior Day. It was "Drew" day, both Neitzel and Naymick have played well. Naymick has become our most dependable big, all-time shot block leader at MSU, and is starting to come around after so many injures. Neitzel, despite the frustrating senior season, has become one of my favorite Spartans ever. He's the reason kept our tourney streak alive last season, upsetting No. 1 Wisconsin in the process. He's poured his heart into the program and he'll always be remembered for that.

Here's to you seniors!


Back to other things that happened

- Pistons lost round 3 vs the Celtics, which means the Celtics will win the NBA Championship....or not. So many people took way to much out of a regular season game, especially when Boston had 2 days off while Detroit played back to back...but whatever. See you in the ECF and we'll dance for real.

- MSU WON ON THE ROAD!!! Yes, they won at Illinois, a place they haven't won since 2002. I know Illinois isn't good this year, but MSU is usually abysmal on the road. Any road win in the Big Ten is a good one.



- Thanks to the Mavs, the Pistons also clinched a playoff spot! Woo hoo/wake me up around May 20thish.

Now MSU finishes the season at Ohio State. Then the Big Ten Tournament starts...and they'll face.....Ohio State with a possible game vs the Badgers (again) looming. A trip to the Conference Tourney Title Game could give them a 3 seed and a chance to play here: That would be great. More than likely, they'll split these next two games and then lose vs Wisconsin but we'll see.

Don't forget to leap forward. We lose an hour you know...which means more sunshine!

(Shout out to the Detroit Free Press for most of these pics)