The Spartan Nation Basketball Weekly

The Spartans Survived…and Somehow Advanced Michigan St. has now won more NCAA Tournament games than anyone since 1999. But the 2010 Maryland game will go

The Spartans Survived…and Somehow Advanced

Michigan St. has now won more NCAA Tournament games than anyone since 1999. But the 2010 Maryland game will go down as one of the all-time “program wins” in Spartan history. How could the Spartan Nation be any more proud of a College Basketball team? Future classes of incoming Spartans will assuredly watch highlights of perhaps, the “Spartanest” performance in team history, in order to introduce them to the identity of Michigan St. Basketball. Last Sunday, the 2010 squad took punch-after-punch-after-punch, yet somehow found enough in the clutch to survive and get through to the second weekend of the Big Dance.

The only way MSU could even stay inthe Maryland game was with a masterful, Hall of Fame Coaching performance from Tom Izzo. Days later, it’s still hard to believe that Maryland didn’t win the game after Lucas went down. After finishing off a sweet, short range floater to put the Spartans up 44-35, Lucas ruptured his Achilles tendon and was done for the Spring. And as if that wasn’t debilitating enough, Delvon Roe looked maybe 50% with a knee injury, Chris Allen was unable to go, and late in the 2nd half, Raymar Morgan got half a tooth knocked out. Though losing half a tooth wasn’t enough to draw a foul, the damage was clear. Yet, Morgan wasn’t going to let an incomplete set of “china” bring his Spartan career to an end. Not Raymar, not after these four years at MSU.

Coming into his final Dance, Morgan must have been looking forward to a Tournament run without the lingering effects of Mono, and without the plastic Face Mask he had to wear last year to protect his broken beak. He’s probably playing this best ball as he approaches his final game in Green and White. But for Raymar, just when he thought it was all good, he got wacked in the mouth hard enough to send half of his tooth across the HD screens of a National TV audience, in super slow-mo. Minus half a tooth, Morgan had to channel some Bobby Clarke magic (famous Broad St. Bully with iconic “old time hockey” teeth) to finish the game. Yea, Morgan’s career has gone exactly as he always thought it would. All kidding aside, Raymar probably deserves more credit for playing banged up during his career than he’s ever received.

As Sunday’s game wore down to the final minutes, the Spartans found themselves trying to put Maryland away with a unique lineup on the floor. Austin Thornton was thrust into the position to knock the pesky Terrapins out for good, but couldn’t quite drop the shots. His handful of shots looked good, and they flowed well, but they just didn’t fall. Thornton should play an increased role this weekend, and should only be more comfortable if called upon again in the clutch.

After Maryland came all the way back to take the lead 81-80, Draymond Green hit a clutch shot that cannot be overlooked, to put MSU up 82-81. Once Maryland Sr. Greivis Vasquez put Maryland up 83-82, the Spartans had less than 7 seconds to save the game. As you know, Green found Korie Lucious, and fortunately not Delvon Roe’s left ear, to set up the shot of the 2010 NCAA Tournament to date.

How did Lucious get that shot off in time, and how did it flow so pure and easy with all that was on the line? As Bill Raftery says…Onions! Lucious’ shot saved MSU from a “come from ahead loss,” which wouldn’t have been shameful at all given their rash of injuries. The Spartans left it all on the court Sunday, including tendons, arches, teeth, and most importantly, pride. Just when it looked like their amazing effort was not going to end up in a “W,” all the work the Spartans put in all year long paid off, and gave them enough in the end to overcome adversity.

Coach D often talks about overcoming adversity on the football field. He said in his opening Press Conference Tuesday that Tom Izzo’s Spartans did “exactly what we’re trying to (do) on the football edge of things,” in responding to and overcoming the significant adversity they faced last weekend. In still the early stages of building his Football program, Spartan Football remains a work in progress. Tom Izzo’s program has now become the product of what Dantonio is doing, but fifteen years down the road.

Take away the engine of the team (Lucas), and Izzo will find a way to patch it together with spare parts. Not enough to cruise all the way home, since that’s impossible without an engine, but he’ll get enough out of what’s left to get the car all the way into the garage. How could anyone have realistically expected the depleted Spartans to hang with a Top 25 and Sr. Guard driven team, after the loss of Lucas? It had the look of a 2nd half that was going to go anything but the Spartans’ way. In the end, it was perhaps the best coaching performance of Tom Izzo’s illustrious career.

Second Weekend… Nearly Second Nature

For the 9th time in the last 13 years, Michigan St. Basketball is preparing to play in the second weekend of the Big Dance. The second weekend is where Final Four dreams are realized, and Cinderella’s clock usually strikes midnight. First up for MSU is this year’s mid-major favorite, Northern Iowa. Calling Northern Iowa a mid-major might be a compliment in itself, as UNI is a directional school in a lightly populated state. Yet, the Panthers cannot be taken lightly.

Earlier this season, we asked Tom Izzo if we might see more of the Spartans’ offense run through Draymond Green. At that time, Izzo didn’t expect much of a change, but did say that some half-court sets could run through the “Dancing Bear.” Now Lucas is gone, and you should look for more of the half-court attack to run through Green. It’s vitally important that the Spartans run a good chunk of their offense from the inside-out. Whether it’s going into Morgan (who cannot press anymore and quickly accumulate fouls), Green, or even Nix, the Spartans must listen to the Coaching Staff and pound it down low. It will open up opportunities for everyone. Falling back into a jump shooting, perimeter team, will only serve the interests of UNI.

All the sudden we’re looking at a season in which the Spartans probably got as much out of the year as they possibly could. Look at their record, they won the Big Ten without Lucas for a group of games, and made the Sweet 16 without Lucas, Allen, one of Roe’s knees, and half of Morgan’s tooth. They even got through the most critical minutes of the season with Keebler and Thornton making plays like they were savvy vets. What else could the Spartan Nation ask for? The second weekend seems nearly a part of the annual MSU schedule now, but it should never be taken for granted. Just ask Kansas, UCLA, UNC, or UConn.

All a team can really do is make the best of what a season gives them. If a season takes away your best player early in the 2nd round of the NCAAs, the most you can make of it won’t be the same as if you were completely healthy. You can’t make players into something they’re not, and you can’t replace an All-American and extremely experienced floor general. But you can move on, and that’s what Izzo and his team have tried to do since half time, Sunday. It would be foolish to instantly count them out this weekend.

No matter what happens from this point, it has been a very good year. No, everything hasn’t gone perfectly, and everything hasn’t gone according to plan. But this team has made the most out of 2010, and Sunday established their team identity, as survivors. Someone tell Gus Johnson they need to re-cut “The Greatest Stories of Michigan State Basketball,” yet again. And these Spartans aren’t even done yet.

The Spot Up 3

Three quick thoughts to consider during the coming College Basketball weekend:

1. My 3-year old Niece filled out a bracket for the first time and picked 26 correct for the first weekend. She even had Northern Iowa beating Kansas, and making National Title game (her favorite color is UNI’s purple). By thoroughly mopping the floor with many “expert” media members (including her Uncle Jonny), she reminds us again just how overrated “expert” opinions can be during the first weekend of the Tournament.
2. Michigan St. will again be a heavy favorite to make the Final Four in 2011, obviously. But the biggest difference might not be in talent and health, but in their collective understanding and ability to manage the expectations and distractions that hung a cloud over much of the 2010 regular season.
3. The Selection Committee probably deserves more criticism then they received in this column last week based on the performance of the Big East Conference. Is anything more overrated than Big East Basketball? People outside the North East never bought it in the first place, but the suckers on the Selection Committee somehow did.