Region of Doom: Pick Izzo and #3 MSU in the Midwest

It's March Madness... and the ES has been AWOL for travel across the country the last few days. Sorry for the delayed response, Spartan fans. 

But, it was nice to see MSU get a #3 seed in the Midwest, in the "Region of Doom."  When you think about how close MSU was in its two losses to Indiana, its loss at Michigan, and its loss to Ohio State in the tourney... well, the Spartans really had NO bad losses and are good enough to make a deep run. We'll see if Gary Harris' potential shoulder issue hampers Michigan State, but the bracket is a good one... let's take care of business in the first stanza, and potentially oust Duke and Louisville to advance to the Final Four.  That would be a nice capstone to a great season in an outstanding conference.

Nice to see the Spartans end the regular season polls in the top 10, at #9 - they certainly earned it.  And, the ES is enjoying the amount of publicity Tom Izzo and the Spartans are receiving, with Izzo being the dean of B1G coaches and having a great team.  Particularly loving this quote: "I'm looking forward to playing anybody [else]," Izzo said. "I'd play the Lakers tomorrow instead of some of the teams I've played recently."

Previews: a Mid-Major preview of MSU vs Valpo here; the Chicago Tribune preview picks MSU as a 72-58 winner.  A quick preview from Bracketologyexpert.com is here.

Here is the ESPN preview of the Midwest region.  And, Jay Bilas picks MSU to beat Duke, and for Michigan to bow out early.  The ES hates Pitino, and everything about him.  He is a poor ambassador for college basketball.  Thank goodness Kentucky didn't make it - Calipari is just as bad, if not worse.  In this tourney, the ES will be rooting for MSU and rooting against Michigan and Louisville.

Can't wait for tipoff -- for once, MSU gets the early game, this Thursday at 12:15 pm against little ole Valparaiso University... with the game right here in the state of Michigan.  The Palace will be crazy this weekend with Spartan Green and White.

ES has MSU picked in his bracket to the Final Four, and put down $20 in Vegas for the Spartans to win the whole damn thing.  NEVER PICK AGAINST IZZO IN THE TOURNAMENT.  Never.  And, is the Big Ten for real?  We should find out.  It was certainly interesting watching college hoops all year, and certainly Michigan  State, Wisconsin, Ohio State, and Indiana pass the eyeball test - they've looked GREAT all year long, even as they beat each other up. 

Here's the bracket. 

B1G Ten Tourney.... Gholston HOF Cafe Watch Party... Vegas Title Odds

ES is all jacked up for the B1G Ten Tourney championship.  At around 3:30 today, ES was in a meeting with several colleagues today who figured last Sunday a few of us Spartans were pulling for the Wolverines to beat Indiana to get MSU a share of the regular season title. NOT!!!!  We SOUNDLY denounced his sacrilege and referred to the new Pope maybe needing to forgive our sins in tone and language.  At 3:30, we may have been the first to ask this Pope Francis for forgiveness... but NAHHH.

What is hilarious is the scUMbags get to play an extra game. Thanks, Francis, God is good.  ES could care less about the performance of those wearing stupid yellow-glow-in-the-dark blinding uniforms.  Bumble-bee uniforms in football, and blinding yellow high-lighters in basketball.  They may be great engineers and doctors, but they are color-blind artists in Ann Arbor.  We'll still kick their butt and their extra game.

JOIN GHOLSTON AT HOF, FRIDAY, 7:45
As for the tourney, well it shall be fun - the ES will be at the Spartan HOF Cafe with his fam and work colleagues at the Spartan HOF for a Mid-Michigan Spartan Alum watch party.  Wanna come out for some brews, food, auction items, and fun while we kick Iowa or Northwestern's bootie?  Game time, tipoff is ETA 7:45 pm on Friday, on BTN.

We'll be hangin' with William Gholston if you're interested...  Need to contact SRothw@aol.com if interested...  GO GREEN!

RPI RATINGS
OK, we'll be throwing some smack at Bracketology all week long if Lunardi doesn't give the Spartans props with at LEAST a #2 seed (and maybe a #1 if they win the B1G tourney?)  But real-time RPI ratings, which are significant in determining NCAA tourney qualifications, so far place the Spartans at #9. should be a great week in March, as is always!!!!  It is IZZO TIME.
FAVORITES?
Check out VegasInsider.http://www.vegasinsider.com/college-basketball/odds/futures/  Spartans are 12-1 to take the title, Michigan is 10-1, and Indiana is 9-2... ES likes our chances, and the $20 he put in the Spartans in Vegas in November.  Here are the full lines below:

Indiana	9/2
Duke	5/1
Louisville	6/1
Florida	7/1
Michigan	10/1
Miami, FL	10/1
Gonzaga	10/1
Georgetown	12/1
Michigan State	12/1
Kansas	15/1
Ohio State	20/1
Syracuse	25/1
St. Louis	30/1
New Mexico	30/1
Arizona	40/1
Pittsburgh	40/1
UCLA	50/1
Kansas State	50/1
Oklahoma State	50/1
North Carolina	60/1
Wisconsin	60/1
N.C. State	60/1
Marquette	75/1
VCU	75/1
Minnesota	75/1
Field (any other team)	100/1
Missouri	100/1
Butler	100/1
Kentucky	100/1
Memphis	100/1
UNLV	100/1
Notre Dame	100/1
Colorado State	100/1
Creighton	100/1
Wichita State	200/1
Illinois	200/1
Oregon	200/1
California	200/1
St. Mary's	200/1
San Diego State	200/1
Colorado	200/1
Belmont	200/1
Alabama	300/1
Oklahoma	300/1
Temple	300/1
Villanova	300/1
Davidson	500/1
Arkansas	500/1
Mississippi	500/1
Virginia	500/1
LaSalle	500/1
Iowa State	500/1
Tennessee	500/1
Vanderbilt	500/1
Baylor	500/1
Xavier	500/1
Cincinnati	500/1
Maryland	1000/1
BYU	1000/1
Purdue	1000/1
Seton Hall	1000/1
St. John's	1000/1
West Virginia	1000/1
St. Joseph's	1000/1
Drexel	1000/1
Stanford	1000/1
Southern Miss	1000/1
Mississippi State	1000/1
Providence	1000/1
Oregon State	1000/1
Ohio	1000/1
Northern Iowa	1000/1
Texas A&M	1000/1
South Florida	1000/1
Washington	1000/1
Dayton	1000/1
Clemson	1000/1
Rutgers	1000/1
Texas	1000/1
Florida State	1000/1
Long Beach State	1000/1
Northwestern	1000/1
Iowa	1000/1
Murray State	1000/1
LSU	1000/1
George Mason	1000/1
Marshall	1000/1
Virginia Tech	1000/1
Georgia	1000/1
Harvard	1000/1
Ole Miss	1000/1
Richmond	1000/1
DePaul	1000/1
Utah State	1000/1
Nevada	1000/1
USC	1000/1
South Carolina	1000/1
Georgia Tech	1000/1
St. Bonaventure	1000/1

 

Spartans to the Promised Land! Go GREEN!

COME ON BIG GREEN!  Take us to the Promised Land!  National Title, case A:  Long Island U at  Brooklyn...This is OUR YEAR!  We know it, we can feel it!

The ES hasn't been this JACKED for an opening round Michigan State game since 2000.  You can feel it.  Green, Appling, Nix, Payne, Thornton, Wood, Trice, and Kearney are the BEST TEAM, the BEST DEFENSIVE EIGHT in America. 

Can't wait to watch this TEAM ROCK THE WORLD TO THE PROMISED LAND! 

Michigan State hoops 2009 & 2010 - a collage

How good were the past two years? Michigan State finished in the final polls, #2 in 2009 and #4 in 2010. Chock, out in San Francisco, was kind enough to pull together a pair of collages from each of the past two years. Click on each of the images to enlarge. Thanks, C.

GO GREEN!

Butler & poor Spartan shooting ends MSU season

Oh, well. A 52-50 loss to Butler to finish the season.

Bottom line: 1) Raymar Morgan foul trouble made it more difficult for MSU to flex its muscles down low. 2) MSU really missed Kalin Lucas and his ability to slice & dice defenses; unfortunately, too many stupid turnovers, something that the Spartans corrected the rest of the NCAA tourney. And, 3) if you can't hit shots, you'll lose. MSU had plenty of open shots, but just couldn't hit the broadside of the barn in the second half.

Anyhow, congrats to MSU on a great season and congrats to Butler -- one helluva good defensive team. I hope they beat Duke. The ES hates Duke.

On to football season - a spring report will be posted this week.

Predictions & Previews: Michigan State to defeat Butler.

#5 Michigan State (28-8) vs #5 Butler (32-4)
NCAA Final Four
Saturday, 6:07 pm
CBS Sports

Odds: Butler is a 1 point favorite.

Weather: OK, the game is indoors... but, outside in Indy it will be 70 degrees with a good chance for thunderstorms.

Best preview: With all due respect to the Free Press, the Detroit News outdid them in today's paper leading up to the game... including using the Sparty "S" for the "s" in News on their website, and better articles about the whole state pulling for MSU, and Wojo's excellent 64-60 prediction of an MSU win.

Predictions: LSJ/Rexrode (MSU 64-59), Chicago Tribune (MSU) Lions Den (Butler), Associated Content (MSU), New York Post (Butler 74-72), Gottlieb/ESPN (MSU), Dick Vitale/ESPN (MSU), Bet Firms (Butler), Midwest Sports Fans (MSU 63-61), CollegeHoops.net (Butler), Cappers Picks (MSU 67-61), Bet US podcast (Butler), Bleacher Report/Kevin Berger (Butler by 6), Bleacher Report/Sam Kline (Butler 66-63), Raleigh News Observer (MSU), Freep (Albom: MSU 72-64, Rosenberg: MSU 68-62, Sharp: MSU 61-59, Snyder: MSU 65-60), DetNews/Wojo (MSU 64-60), NCAA preview

ES Prediction: Forward Gordon Hayward of Butler (18 ppg) has come alive in this tournament as one of the best players in the nation; guard Shelvin Mack is a steady ball handler and a top-notch defender at the point. Matt Howard is a foul-prone, yet solid center in the post. Unfortunately for Butler, after these three, the offense tails off rather considerably. Butler is a GREAT defensive team, as demonstrated by their shutting down Kansas State... but, that plays into Michigan State's preferred grinding style.

MSU is also a great defensive team, and they are the most physical team left in the field. MSU's bench is very deep, particularly with the bigs. Raymar Morgan and Draymond Green are having excellent tournaments, both extremely physical and shooting very well. But, it is their dominant rebounding that has MSU where they are today. Delvon Roe is having an awesome tournament defensively, despite playing 20+ minutes with bumb knees. Off the bench, Nix, Thornton, and Sherman have all given MSU quality minutes on defense. And, just wait until Butler gets a load of our rebounding... Korie Lucious and Durrell Summers are on fire offensively, and if they hit half as many shots today vs Butler it will likely be enough.

It is tough for the ES to see Butler hanging in as the game goes along, particularly with Izzo's style of throwing in waves of players at opponents to physically wear them down. Michigan State's athleticism and rebounding dominance will be too much to handle. This is honestly not the best matchup for Butler, and Tennessee was a more difficult opponent for MSU than the Bulldogs. The ES sees the Spartans pulling away in the second half and cruise to a 67-61 victory into the national title game.... and, yes, Morgan and Green will again be the game MVPs, as Butler doesn't have an answer for them.

ES sez: MSU 67, Butler 61.

NCAA Tournament Matchup Stats (over four games). Offensive stats favor MSU, Defensive stats favor Butler.

• Off rebouding margin: MSU +2.75, Butler -2.0.
• Turnover margin: MSU -2.75, Butler +4.5
• Off FG%: MSU 45.6%, Butler 42.3%
• FT%: MSU 74.5%, Butler 65.9%

• POMEROY STATS
• Offensive Efficiency (pts/100 poss): MSU 112.2, Butler 101.5
• Effective FG%: MSU 52.8%, Butler 50.4%
• Turnover% (TO/possessions): MSU 19.5%, Butler 16.9%
• Off Rebounding% (off rebounds/total rebounds): MSU 37%, Butler 26%
• FT rate (FT made/FG attempts): MSU 42.5%, Butler 44.5%
• Defensive Efficiency (opp pts/100 poss): MSU 106.9, Butler 89.6
• Effective Def FG%: MSU 50%, Butler 48.3%
• Def Turnover % (Opp TO/poss): MSU 15%, Butler 25.9%
• Opposing Rebounding%: MSU 29.6%, Butler 31%
• Opp FT rate: MSU 40.3%, Butler 24.5%

Game Stats:

MSU vs: NMSU, Md, NIU, Tenn
Butler vs: UTEP, Mur St, Syr , KSU

Butler Season Stats:

NAME	GM	MIN	PTS	REB	AST	TO	A/T	STL	BLK	PF	FG%	FT%	3P%	PPS
Gordon Hayward	35	33.1	15.5	8.2	1.7	2.3	1/1.3	1.1	0.8	2.1	.474	.827	.295	1.55
Shelvin Mack	36	31.0	14.2	3.8	3.1	2.1	1.5/1	1.4	0.1	1.9	.455	.736	.386	1.28
Matt Howard	36	25.7	11.8	5.3	0.8	1.6	1/1.9	0.6	0.6	3.5	.494	.792	.273	1.68
Willie Veasley	35	31.1	10.1	4.3	0.9	1.8	1/1.9	1.1	0.3	2.5	.498	.647	.369	1.39
Ronald Nored	36	29.9	6.0	2.9	3.7	2.0	1.8/1	1.8	0.1	2.6	.418	.612	.182	1.32
Zach Hahn	36	15.8	5.1	0.9	0.7	0.6	1.1/1	0.4	0.0	0.9	.439	.929	.420	1.31
Shawn Vanzant	36	14.5	2.8	1.7	1.2	0.9	1.4/1	0.4	0.2	1.1	.321	.735	.304	1.26
Avery Jukes	36	10.1	2.7	1.2	0.1	0.4	1/2.8	0.1	0.1	2.0	.392	.694	.379	1.24
Grant Leiendecker	14	2.5	1.1	0.2	0.1	0.2	1/3	0.3	0.0	0.4	.286	.800	.273	1.07
Andrew Smith	22	5.2	1.0	1.4	0.0	0.2	1/5	0.0	0.1	0.5	.364	.500	.000	1.05
Chase Stigall	14	3.1	0.7	0.3	0.1	0.2	1/3	0.0	0.0	0.3	.250	.500	.300	0.83
Nick Rodgers	11	1.2	0.5	0.0	0.1	0.1	1/1	0.0	0.0	0.3	.500	.000	.667	1.50
Garrett Butcher	32	5.6	0.5	1.0	0.2	0.1	1.3/1	0.1	0.0	0.8	.194	.333	.111	0.52
Emerson Kampen	8	1.5	0.3	0.3	0.1	0.3	1/2	0.4	0.0	0.3	1.000	.000	.000	2.00
Alex Anglin	12	1.1	0.0	0.1	0.1	0.0	-	0.0	0.0	0.2	.000	.000	.000	-
Team Averages	36	-	69.4	32.6	12.6	12.2	1/1	7.0	2.3	18.1	.449	.739	.345	1.39

10 Reasons why Michigan State will win the National Title

You read it here last. Michigan State will win the National Championship, and here are 10 reasons why:

1. Why? MSU is the most experienced team standing, even sans Kalin Lucas.

2. Why? MSU has Tom Izzo the best X's and O's coach in the land.

3. Why? MSU has the deepest bench remaining, with injuries, and with the best 6th man in the land, Draymond Green.

4. Why? MSU has the best mix of talent left in the field and with that can play to any style.

5. Why? MSU has more raw talent than any other team in the field.

6. Why? There was a reason MSU was ranked #2 pre-season; Duke, WVU, and Butler were all ranked below Michigan State. Funny how chickens come home to roost.

7. Why? MSU was in the Final Four last year with this same team, and has only one way to go. Up.

8. Why? MSU is the best defensive and best rebounding team left in the tourney, led by Raymar Morgan. We'll drag any of the Final Four teams into a dog-fight, and works to our favor.

9. Why? MSU just played its toughest game of the tourney, vs. Tennessee. Each of the remaining teams, with all due respect, won't punch MSU in the mouth as much as did Tennessee.

10. Why? Michigan State is playing its BEST basketball of the season right now.

ES will have an MSU vs Butler prediction later. But, GOD this is great.

62% of MSU Final Four players graduated

It must be database day. The Indy Star put out a fascinating piece today, a database of the graduation status of all the students who played in the Final Four from 1991-2007. So, the ES types in "Michigan State", and...

"Michigan State appeared in the Final Four four times during the period studied (1999, 2000, 2001, 2005). 62 percent of Final Four players received a degree from Michigan State. Michigan State ranks 12th in graduation rate of Final Four players compared to other schools in the study."

Ager, Maurice	Michigan State	2005	No		Details
Anagonye, Aloysius	Michigan State	2001	Yes		Details
Anagonye, Aloysius	Michigan State	2000	Yes		Details
Anderson, Alan	Michigan State	2005	Yes		Details
Ballinger, Adam	Michigan State	2001	Yes		Details
Ballinger, Adam	Michigan State	2000	Yes		Details
Bell, Charlie	Michigan State	2001	Yes		Details
Bell, Charlie	Michigan State	2000	Yes		Details
Bell, Charlie	Michigan State	1999	Yes		Details
Bograkos, Tim	Michigan State	2005	Yes		Details
Brown, Shannon	Michigan State	2005	No		Details
Chappell, Mike	Michigan State	2001	Yes		Details
Chappell, Mike	Michigan State	2000	Yes		Details
Cleaves, Mateen	Michigan State	2000	No		Details
Cleaves, Mateen	Michigan State	1999	No		Details
Davis, Doug	Michigan State	1999	No		Details
Davis, Paul	Michigan State	2005	Yes		Details
Granger, A.J.	Michigan State	2000	Yes		Details
Granger, A.J.	Michigan State	1999	Yes		Details
Hill, Chris	Michigan State	2005	Yes		Details
Hutson, Andre	Michigan State	2001	Yes		Details
Hutson, Andre	Michigan State	2000	Yes		Details
Hutson, Andre	Michigan State	1999	Yes		Details
Kelley, Thomas	Michigan State	1999			Details
Klein, Jason	Michigan State	1999	Yes		Details

Naymick, Drew	Michigan State	2005	Yes		Details
Neitzel, Drew	Michigan State	2005	No		Details
Peterson, Morris	Michigan State	2000	Yes		Details
Peterson, Morris	Michigan State	1999	Yes		Details
Richardson, Jason	Michigan State	2001	No		Details
Richardson, Jason	Michigan State	2000	No		Details
Smith, Antonio	Michigan State	1999	Block		Details
Smith, Brandon	Michigan State	2001			Details
Taylor, Marcus	Michigan State	2001	Block		Details
Thomas, David	Michigan State	2001			Details
Thomas, David	Michigan State	2000			Details
Torbert, Kelvin	Michigan State	2005	No		Details
Trannon, Matt	Michigan State	2005	No		Details