The MSNBC Beyond the Arc blog asserts that MSU has vindicated itself from the Grand Valley loss with the Texas win and is now a clear national title contender (along with UCLA and Texas, with whom MSU is now caught in an infinite transitive property-defying superiority loop).
I’ve broken my self-imposed holiday blogging moratorium to post this, as Beyond the Arc blogger Mike Miller was kind enought to link to my game recap. This is the first appearance of the Spartans Weblog in the mainstream media. It’s a Christmas miracle!
Of additional note: Mr. Miller points out that, despite Izzo’s reputation for being a defensive-minded coach, MSU has actually been better on the offensive end than the defensive end the last several years. I’d argue this team is more Izzoesque than the 2004-2006 teams, though, as the biggest factor in their offensive aptitude has been offensive rebounding–which, even more than lockdown defense, is the calling card of great Izzo teams.
Congratulations! We really enjoy this website and you must feel like the author of a book being quoted on national TV
The ability of this team to lock down on defense (an absolute necessity last year to continue the NCAA tourn streak) is huge, along with having the numbers to really teach the freshman how to play defense.
The freshmen also seem pretty coachable. Their body language when talking with Izzo or a teammate on the bench doesn’t seem defensive and hostile.
My husband coached youth soccer and the worst thing a player could say back to him was “But I was . . .” If you can listen to constructive criticism and just simple coaching without being defensive and making excuses, you can really learn and grow.
When Hill, Torbert, and Anderson were freshmen, they were such an integral part of a very small team that their defense really suffered. Like being part of a very large family, these 4 freshmen get help and a different perspective from their fellow players.
Close games are usually won at the end by locking down and stopping the other team. Abrams 3 point shots made us all sick in that last minute. Hard to fault the defense as they were so far out and different defenders on him. Morgan’s block was crucial.
Add efficient offense to their defense and rebounding and it certainly does seem to be a final four team. The encouraging thing is the large majority of the turnovers we have are coming from the bigs, Morgan, not Neitzel, Walton,
or Lucas. Plus it seems as if Lucas has been making better decisions overall and turning the ball over less in the last few games as compared to earlier games.
Merry Christmas and go Spartans!
Congratulations on the site recognition!
I’ve grumbled about the GVSU loss ever since it happened. I suppose it smacks of excuses, but those two exhibition games were nothing more than opportunities for experimentation with line-ups and plays. Izzo said as much after that loss, and said that he wasn’t really going to do anything differently against Michigan Tech. And for this team to come out on an 11-1 opening tear, winning tough games at Bradley and effectively at Missouri and at BYU, before controlling and defeating an undefeated Longhorn team, with their sole loss coming against No. 2 UCLA — anyone still pointing to Grand Valley as meaningful obviously has no knowledge of college basketball beyond a cursory scan of teams’ win/loss record.
The biggest thing going against the Spartans in the near future is a lack of competition in the first half of the conference season. One last patsy remains before league play begins, and you’ve got to get well into February before any matchups begin looking more even. This team could, quite realistically, be 22-1 before running through a pretty tough conference wrap-up. Hopefully this group is able not only to maintain its focus and intensity through this stretch, but take advantage and improve its game in order to meet its late-season challenges in preparation for the March tournaments.
I’m pretty surprised that someone who wasn’t a desperate fan of some other school even brought up GVSU.
2003-04, they lost to the Harlem Globetrotters. In 2002-03, they lost to the Magic Johnson All Stars.