Spartans earn 2 seed; 12th Consecutive Year in the Tournament

MSU opens their road to the Final Four in Minneapolis, Minnesota where they will take on the 15 seed Robert Morris. Robert Morris comes out of the Northeast Conference where they won the conference tournament. Robert Morris is led by Jeremy Chappell, who averages 19.6 PPG, and is the Northeast Conference Player of the Year. MSU should beat the Colonials in blowout manner and advance easily to the second round.

In the second round, the Spartans will face off against the winner of the 7/10 game which features 7 Boston College and 10 USC, who won the Pac-10 tournament. The Trojans finished 5th in the regular season in the Pac-10, but have won their last 5 games, including wins over Cal, UCLA, an Arizona St. I have in my bracket the Trojans upsetting BC, setting them up with a game against the Spartans. Again, the Spartans have too many offensive weapons and are solid on D. Spartans should easily advance to the Sweet Sixteen with a possible matchup with defending national champion, the Kansas Jayhawks.

In the top bracket in the Midwest Region, I have the Wake Forrest Demon Decons upsetting the Louisville Cardinals. I think Louisville, along with Kansas, is the most ovverated team in the country. The Cardinals did not win into the number one top seed, other teams lost their opportunity to get to the top seed. Louisville also has some bad losses against good teams and some bad losses. For example: 51-68 loss at home against UConn, 59-90 loss at a struggling Notre Dame team, and losses to Minnesota, a bad UNLV team, and a bad loss to the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers. They should have lose to Syracuse in the Big East final, but 'Cuse was too fatigued from plating 7 OT's in two games. The Demon Deacons should beat Louisville and play the Spartans in the Elite Eight.

For my complete bracket, click here.

FINAL FOUR: Michigan State, Memphis, Villanova, Syracuse

TOP FIRST ROUND UPSETS: Western Kentucky over Illinois, VCU over UCLA

Michigan State: Big Ten Champions

MSU finished off their championship season with a 62-51 victory over No. 19 Purdue. The Spartans ended up winning the Big Ten by 4 games over Purdue and Illinois. It's their first outright championship since 1999 and their first title since 2001. MSU clinched a share of the title last week with a win at Illinois and clinched the outright title with a win over Indiana, but Izzo wouldn't let the players celebrate until the end of the regular season.

Four seniors made their final appearance at the Breslin Center: Travis Walton, Goran Suton, Idong Ibok, and Marquise Gray. Suton lead the seniors with 11 points and 10 boards. The Senoirs ended their Spartan career with a regular season record of 97-38. One of the best sights last Sunday was the senoirs kissing the S at half-court.

Kalin Lucas lead all scorers with 21 points, again showing his ability to completely take over games. If Lucas continues to step up, I belive he will lead us to Detroit.

Monday, three Spartans were givin major awards in the Big Ten. Izzo was given Coach of the Year, as voted by other Big Ten coaches. Travis Walton was awarded the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year, and Kalin Lucas was the Big Ten Player of the Year.

The Spartans play on Friday in the Big Ten Tournament.

Better Than I Thought

After a dissapointing loss at home to Penn State, the Spartans are rolling with three straight wins, including impressive wins over Minnesota and at Michigan. I expect MSU to win most of their games, but now they are playing without Raymar Morgan, argueably MSU's best player. I have been impressed by how well the Spartans have played without Ray, but I belive it also helps the team. Guys are getting minutes that don't normally play as much, like freshman Delvon Roe. Delvon has really stepped up to the pressure with 14 points at Michigan and 9 points against Indiana.

Who has really impressed me the most is sophmore guard Kalin Lucas. Without Morgan, he has really put the team on his back and carried them to some key victories. Izzo says is Lucas can step up more and be a leader like he is now, the Spartans will make a run in the tournament.

Michigan State looks like they can make a long run in the tournament, and Izzo is one of the best tournament coaches ever. They have the tools to make a run, they just need to cut down on mistakes.

MSU face a big test next tuesday at West Lafyette, playing at 19 Purdue. Last year the Spartans were upset by the Boilermakers and seek revenge this year. If they win this game, there is no doubt in my mind that they should win the Big Ten tournament in March.

MSU 2009 Recruiting Class

Coach Dantonio brought in a strong class this year with 23 commits and 10 of them are 4-star recruits. MSU dominated the state of Michigan with 12 of the 23 from Michigan. Topping the list is running back Edwin Baker (right) out of Oak Park, MI. The 5'10", 204 lbs. RB looks like he could be another Javon Ringer. He has blazing speed running a 4.4 40 yard dash. He hits the hole hard and once he is in the open field, he is gone. Baker is ranked #11 in running backs by espn.com.

Another solid recruit is offensive lineman David Barrent. MSU was thin on the offensive line, losing Mike Bacon, Jesse Miller, and Roland Martin. Barrent shows good size (6'8" 290 lbs.) and has great leg drive. He plays a little high, but the coaches will fix that in the off season. Barnett will help open holes for the backs and give Cousins/ Nicols time to throw. Barnett is ranked #8 in offensive linemen.

MSU is in the top 35 in recruiting, ranked 16th in the nation. With top recruits coming in, the sucsessfull seasons are not going to be a two year thing. Dantonio achived a lot with 2 and 3 star recruits, not he is getting 3 and 4 star recruits. For a complete list of MSU's recruits, click on http://rivals100.rivals.com/commitlist.asp?Year=2009&School=45.

Saturday Wrap-Up

After watching MSU lose big to Ohio State and Penn State, I have cme to the conclusion that there is a HUGE gap in talent from OSU and PSU to the rest of the Big Ten. Iowa beating Penn State was a big fluke. MSU was just slower than PSU and more thletic on the line. PSU protected Daryll Clark extremely well which led to great passes, and ultamately touchdowns. Another key factor was Penn State stopping the run, Javon could barley break the line of scrimmage. Penn State forced MSU to air it out. This is when Hoyer needed to step up and be the Senior leader, but he overthrew a lot of players and did not let his receivers try to make a play. One of the bright spots wa MLB Greg Jones. HE had 15 total tackles and currently leads the team in tackles with 115 tackles. The great thing is that he is only a sophmore. He is one of the many underclassmen that I see will help MSU is the next few years. With Coach D, MSU success will not end this year. Another thing I liked was Coach Dantonio calling his last two timeouts at the end of the game in retaliation to Penn State throwing the ball deep when the game was already out of hand. Some can argue that it was unsportsman-like, but wasn't PSU throwing it deep unsportsman-like? I thought it kind of loosend up the players let them think back on what a great season they had.

Even though MSU did not end their regular season on a high note, they still have a great bowl game to look forward to. They are projected to either play Georgia in the Capital One Bowl on January 1st, or South Carolina on January 1st. Personally, I hope they play South Carolina because I can't see MSU beating Georgia, but, you never know! The good thing is that both games are in Florida, a nice and warm place. I hope Spartan fans will travel down to support their team. They had a great season and they deserve our support.

Michigan State Basketball

MSU opened up their Men's Basketball season with a 100-62 blowout over Idaho. Chris Allen led the scoring with 21 points, 13 of which were in the second half. MSU looked like a new team from last year. They looked a lot faster than last year with some help with freshman Korie Lucious. With Lucious and Kalin Lucas in the backcourt, the Spartans boast the fastest backcourt in the Big Ten and possibly in the country. I know Idaho is not a good team, but MSU put up 100 on the board, the first time in 20 years the Vandals have given up 100. Their next real test will be on November 28th when they will most likely play Gonzaga. Then on December 3rd they have their big game against number 1 North Carolina. For the full MSU Men's Basketball schedule go to http://msuspartans.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/sched/msu-m-baskbl-sched.html .

BIG TEN CHAMPIONSHIP

This weekend, MSU will travel to Happy Valley to try and capture a share of the Big Ten Championship for the first time in 18 years. It won't be easy though. The Spartans will line up against the 8th ranked Nittany Lions. MSU's chances looked slim untill the unranked Iowa Hawkeyes upset PSU with a last-second field goal. For MSU to come out with a W, Brian Hoyer needs to have a great game. With the Nittnay Lions keying off the run with Javon Ringer, play-action passes should work. MSU's receivers need to catch the ball to help out Hoyer. Two weeks ago the receivers dropped at least 4 passes. The Defense needs to come out on fire like they did against Purdue. PSU has a high powered spread offence, but if the defensive line can put pressure on Daryll Clark and force him to make bad throws, I think the secondary will come up with some big plays. The D just needs to hold PSU to little points and give the offense time to make some plays. The bye week will do wonders for MSU, especially for Otis Wiley who is nursing a bum knee. MSU should be at almost full health this week.