OK, so Wisconsin had its WORST shooting night in forever, and Appling woke up as Michigan State's men's hoop team smoked Wisconsin by 15 points last night, And Michigan State has an outside shot to a four-way tie for the Big Ten regular season title with Indiana, Ohio State and Michigan?... but only if Michigan beats Indiana.

The ES is 100% in line with coach Izzo's comments to ESPN in the pending Indy v Rodents matchup: "Izzo said his mentor, former Michigan State coach Jud Heathcote, wouldn't want him to root for rival Michigan to win in any circumstance.  'I'm going to pull for Michigan State,' Izzo said."

"Our defense was unbelievable," Izzo said.

Right.  These Spartans, who outplayed  Indiana and Michigan but folded very late in their losses, have the defense and the grit to make a deep run in the tourney.  If Appling comes to play from this point forward, the ES's $20 bet on the Spartans in Vegas to win it all may make the ES a rich  man for a day.

Joe Lunardi's Bracketology has the Spartans as a #3 seed in the tourney... but methinks this team has as much grit and determination as any Spartan Final Four team in recent years, and a win in the Big Ten championship tourney could make MSU an outside #1 seed....