LIU Gives Extra Motivation to "Heavy Set" Spartans!

It didn’t take long. It is nice that LIU has made the NCAA tournament two years in a row. Have they forgotten that they have yet to win a game? It sure sounded that way from the LIU camp. I scanned through the team presser for LIU. It started out smart, respectful and above board. About midway through the conference, the competitive spirit started to rear its ugly head and then came the… ‘we feel like we were disrespected ‘cause we only got a 16 seed soapbox.’

There is little question that LIU has some talent. They play a fast paced game. They play with a ton of effort and intensity and they know how to win. Do they know how to set themselves up for a win? We all know from the famous biblical passage where David beat Goliath, I don’t recall David trash-talking Goliath before the battle ensued.

Here are some of the LIU highlights:

Jamal Olasewere: “Michigan State, they have 6'10", 6'9", 6'7". Most of their bigs are heavy-set. Like I said on the phone, with me and Julian, with the mobility of us, I said they couldn't catch us with our quickness and speed.”

Jamal Olasewere: “To answer your question, yes, I feel like, for the committee, I guess, to understand mid-majors can play with big-time schools like Michigan State. An upset like this would have to be pulled off. I guess they would -- after that they can reconsider how they do their seeding.”

Julian Boyd: “For me, I agree with Jamal. That is something that I feel we would have to do. But at the same time just like Coach Ferry said, it's not about seeding, it's about matchups.
 And for us this year being a 16 seed, it's not something that we want to be, but being that we're a 16 seed matching up with Michigan State, I feel it's a much better matchup than if we got a 15 and played like a Missouri or something like that.”