I’ve made a couple minor site upgrades:
- Added an Archives page, with collapsible listsings of posts by month.
- Added user-enabled editing of comments. You now have five minutes after you make a comment to go back and edit it. This is intended for those obvious typos/errors you notice immediately after you click “Submit Comment.”
OK, let’s get the conversation rolling. Here’s an ice-breaker question: What’s the first word that pops into your mind when someone says, “Iowa.”
The word is definitely “corn”.
“Go the distance”
Bonus points to NoPo for the Field of Dreams reference.
The technical upgrades continue at the SW household. We’ve got wireless now, so I can comment from the living room.
Once again KJ – welcome to 5 years ago
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Haluska
not the start i wanted from Durrel.. he should have shot the ball!
Wow… That was an embarrasing collision.
That collision was pretty hilarious.
Suton is playing nice and aggressive – good to see.
The Durrell Summers Spartans Weblog Open Game Thread
Anyone hoping MSU remembers to defend the league’s best 3 point shooter?
How is this not the halftime score?
Is Summers the final piece of the puzzle?
When Allen finally gets a decent shot off, he gets no love off the rim.
Good to see Summers realize he has ability and put it to use. Allen is just in a funk… i just don’t have much hope for him this year…. glad Kalin isn’t waiting until the second half to show up tonight.
If not for a few defensive lapses – MSU is dominating this game so far.
It’s looking more and more like Summers is… Defense, 3-point shot, transition game… More Sumers!
AHHHHHH… Bench Allen for the game. Put in thornton if they need someone to fill minutes.
Allen still in a funk. Foul with 2 second left on shot clock doesn’t help his case.
Durrell Neitzel!
Wasn’t that Gray? At least the announcers said it was Gray.
Lot more offensive fouls on both sides of the ball. Noticed that at Ohio State, too.
That’s why I was saying Roe cannot get more minutes. 2 off fouls.
lol, Durrell Neitzel. Roe has 8 rebounds? Ridiculous.
Wow.. rebounding is nuts tonight.. Wish Roe had some offensive game – his rebounding is insane though…
Great to see MSU come out and play with a _ton_ of energy.
17-5 rebound advantage so far. Yikes.
Draymond or Roe… not Gray, please.
Allen back in the game, let’s see what happens to the lead…
When’s the last time Allen hit a shot? He has to hit one here, right?
wow… falling apart real quick here. That was a wretched minute or so.
I think allen hit his first shot of the NW game. Not one since. Why play Raymar if he’s not going to be aggressive
Ugh.. sit Allen!
Agreed on Raymar. We may be bad on free throws, but how many front ends of the 1-and-1 do we hit? Seems like we do well on those.
Allen… Tell me your back! Is it really you?
Glad Allen finally hit one.. his defense has been pretty suspect so far though.
Finally Raymar!
Way too easy to drive past Allen.
Lucas makes the sublime look routine.
I wish Kalin would play just a tiny bit worse. I’m starting to worry about his draft status.
Is that really a possibility? Just say ‘no,’ please.
38 points in 31 possessions, despite 9 turnovers.
I’d love to say no. But I have two words. You ready?
Marcus Taylor
Edit: Clearly Lucas is muchmuchmuch better. But that sure set the program back.
Wow, they’ve outscore last year’s total at the half!! Let’s do that for another half!!!
Man is Lucas good… good energy this half.. much better than last year
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Looking, good. Those offensive fouls (Especially you, Roe.) need to go.
Hopefully Kalin knows how that Marcus Taylor story ends.
I’d really like to see some Suton offense early in the second. Two fouls on all three Iowa big guys. If a couple of them get into foul trouble, game over.
When Marcus left we didnt have Lucious.
I like Lucious – but he’s not anywhere near the same league as Kalin.
I went to school with Marcus. If you knew how he was treated you would understand the cockiness. It’s easy to critize but you have no idea how hard it is to keep a level head as a star athlete.
We had Alan Anderson at point, right? He was born to play point guard.
I understand Lucious in not as good as Kalin. But he’s a better PG than Allan Anderson.
The University Of Iowa: Look at all them white folk.
True…
. Kalin needs to stay all four years though.. too small to go early… (i’m gonna keep telling myself that 
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Roe’s letting me down. Walton’s 2-point shot drastically better since last year? Or is it more freedom/confidence?
Wow.. MSU is playing some inspired ball.
Ball handling and control better this game. Keeping the TOs down. However, latest stat (MSU – 11 turnovers and IA – 7) still troublesome given the way we are playing and the current lead.
Kalin is still too small with not enough experience to step in the next level. He doesn’t have the raw size to make it an attractive first rounder now without more experience. He and Izzo will have that figured out with the NBA’s pre-draft services. I could see him declare to play in the camps but not hire an agent and come back setting up for next year. But he hasn’t yet played at this level consistently to make it a real threat of leaving, I don’t think. Another 2 months like this, a 2 seed, a deep tournament run, then perhaps we’ll be talking about this again.
I was at MSU when guys would routinely go to Taylor’s high school games and talk about it at pick up games at IM East. Not good times.
I actually played against Taylor a couple times at IM West, when I was a college freshman/sophomore and he was in junior high.
Open question: Knowing what we know about Iowa’s inferiority compared to MSU (lead is at 22) and Tom Izzo’s style of coaching, is this one of those games where he has the team convinced that if they don’t throttle the Hawkeyes by 30, they’ll have to hitchhike home?
Mrs. SW is calling for Austin Thornton.
Ibok/Green front line. I don’t think Izzo wants to win this one by 30.
Dear Idong Ibok: If you can’t reach the rim, please don’t shoot.
Thornton after next timeout.
@ Saltwater: don’t think that’s Izzo’s style.
We need to run up the score for so the BCS will give us a #2 seed.
Four guards?
Wow – that was a heck of play by Kalin.
Let’s hope Lucas gets better guidance than Marcus Taylor did…
What was up with that double dribble that never happened????
Well Jesus, not LITERALLY by 30. Just treat them like they don’t belong on the same court.
A team like this needs a semi-recent rout win as a reference point later in the season.
wow.. this is awful.
Iowa was gonna get hot at some point.
Relax SPartan fans….
Summers will deliver!!
Any questions?
Summerstime!
(Technical note: Izzo has Suton, rather than Roe, guarding the 4th opposing perimeter guy tonight.)
Man – Summers looking great tonight…
Nice steal by Durrell.
Stupid three-shooting teams. Always making it interesting for like two minutes.
Offensive rebounding has disappeared in the second half. We’ve been stuck on 10 offensive boards for a while now.
Yup… forgot how to rebound this half.. weird.
kj just inspired Suton to grab that board.
two steps is not a travel.
Man did Carver-Hawkeye Arena empty out fast!!
Over/Under:
5.5 Big 10 teams in the tournament.
I don’t get how Walton was so clutch at the line last year.. and is so bad this year. Whacky.
Over. MSU, Illinois, Purdue, Minnesota, Ohio State, Michigan.
3 games at home now. Gotta take care of business.
I’m not sure if both Ohio State AND Michigan will make it into the Tourney this year.
5.5 is a good over/under. Either Wisconsin or Michigan will come back to make the Big Dance–but not both.
Why does Fran Fraschilla hate us? He is always ripping State.
Michigan plays at UConn in just over a week… Another top 5 team going to lose to the Wolverines?
No love for Penn State? They ARE 5-3 in conference, and losses to URI and Temple don’t look so bad now.
Anyone else impressed by the rock steady emotions of this team? No dropped heads or whining about whistles. Very business like.
KJ….Wisconsin?? Really?? Have you seen them play lately?
My thoughts on Marcus Taylor:
I didn’t know him, never met him, but the comparisons to Magic Johnson must have been a huge burden for him. My guess is Marcus thought he was the next Magic and was going to follow in his footsteps, and thus leave after his sophomore year. Just a hunch, though.
Very solid effort tonight. I thought Roe was really hustling on the defensive end but struggled catching the ball in the post. He is a beast on the boards, though. Nice to see Suton have an impact even though he didn’t score a lot. A ton of rebounds and solid work defending the post. Another nice game for Summers, and with him going that makes us incredibly tough to defend. Hope he can stay consistent with it. IMO the missing piece is Chris Allen, who has been dreadful at both ends for the last few games. If his shot is falling and he’s not getting smoked at the other end, State is a Final Four team. They can make it without a big contribution from him, but they are deadly if he’s playing well.
Raymar needs to get healthy, right quick.
Agree with Ryan on Penn state. I think they got what it takes.