76 possessions
21 turnovers
Turnover percentage: 27.6%
I don’t think this North Carolina team was going to be beaten under any circumstances tonight, but I sure would have liked to see the MSU team that played with such poise and precision in the two previous game give the Tar Heels a run for their money.
A disappointing finale to an otherwise superlative season.
More tomorrow.
They had a great run and exceeded expectations. A lot of bright spots on this young, deep squad. Looking forward to next season. Go Green!
If I had been told at the beginning of the year how well we would do I would not have believed it, so I’m not going to be bummed about last night. Sure we could have played better in that game, but it was a fantastic season and one I really enjoyed watching.
Special thanks to Travis Walton and Goran Suton for playing their guts out and reminding the team and us what Antonio Smith and Mateen Cleaves started. I hope the Spartan message continues to get out and I am confident we will remain one of the top ten (or better) teams in the country year in and year out.
Thanks again kj for all of the effort you put in, and let’s all remain positive. Go Green!
What a fun, special season. I wish Drew Neitzel could have been a part of this. My wish list for next year: Delvon Roe providing more offense and shooting 65% from the free throw line. Raymar Morgan having a healthy consistent year. Continued improvement of Summers, Green, and Lucious. Chris Allen transferring (I just don’t see him being a siginificant contributor.) Izzo finding a way to cut down our turnovers against aggressive man to man defense. Suton somehow finding another year of eligibility. Walton teaching some of his defensive skills to our guards. Not playing an NBA team twice.
A dissappointing loss but a great season. This team exceeded my most optimistic expectations so I can’t feel too bad about the loss, although I am getting pretty tired of losing to UNC. It would have been nice if we had played our best in this game so it was competitive for a while, but UNC came out with purpose and we came out tight. We were rushing everything on both ends of the court. On offense that lead to an epidemic of turnovers. On D it lead to people helping too much on guys that were not their primary responsibility, which got us out of position and lead to open looks for them and a failure to box out for us. Not that boxing out would have helped much because they could not miss. Green and Ellington were both on fire from 3 point land, and if they are both hitting from downtown there is no way any team is going to beat UNC.
We did not shoot particularly well, and they could not miss in the first ten minutes. Basically they looked like a team on a mission, which they have been since the end of last season. We looked like a team that had never been on that stage before – you see that dynamic all the time in major sporting events like the NCAAs, the Superbowl, etc. This will be a learning experience and should we make it back this far next year I’m confident we’ll handle the situation better. They had the same experience last year against KU and used it to propel them to this year’s title.
Kudos to Suton and Walton for great careers. They got to hang two banners in their senior year and it doesn’t get much better than that. Both players improved markedly over the course of their time at MSU and gave us fans everything they had. They will be missed next year. I know people are penciling us in as a top 10 team next year, and with what we have coming back I can see why, but we figure to take a step back on D without those two guys, and I’m not sure who will make up for Suton in the post. He was our best post player on both ends of the floor. Walton was absolutely a lockdown defender. The guys that are staying will have to have some major improvements to make up for the losses. Maybe Herzog will finally have added enough muscle to give us good minutes next year.
Ibok provided some valuable spot minutes over the course of the year, especially in the Illinois game, which he was instrumental in helping us win. Gray’s career didn’t quite work out like it was supposed to but he never pouted, always played hard, and did what he could to help make us a winner. He provided some valuable minutes early in the year while Suton was out with the knee injury. Neither player has anything to hang his head about.
What more needs to be said about Izzo at this point? 5 final fours in basically a decade. He’s received some criticism for not winning a Big 10 title since 2001, but he has won 4 titles in 13 years – basically one in three titles he had a crack at. In an 11 team league that’s a pretty good batting average. He is more than just a good tournament coach, but he is a great tournament coach. Why that should be considered a somewhat backhanded compliment is beyond me – the tourney is what it’s all about. He is in rare company at this point with guys like Pitino, Coach K, Ol’ Roy, and Jim Calhoun. The thing I admire most is his willingness and ability to do things the right way – he gets good kids who keep their noses clean for the most part, play hard, and almost all of them graduate if they stay for four years. There are no recruiting scandals, felony scandals, domestic abuse scandals, or scandals of any kind. To win at his level without that baggage is hard, especially at a school that has, until now, not had the tradition of the true basketball blue bloods to smooth the path. What program other than those aforementioned tradition rich programs has matched the success he’s had over the past decade plus? Maybe Florida, and possibly UConn, but that is it. He has done special things here and deserves high praise.
I have to quibble with the crack about Allen transferring, Chris. He has played hard all year – he is no longer a liability on D and has shown a willingness to battle for rebounds and make hustle plays. All he needs is to find his shot and he will have no trouble cracking the rotation.
I agree with Mark in DC about Allen. I don’t know him, but can you think of anyone who will be more motivated next year? He seems very willing to change his game and I see him, Lucas and Lucious as next years backcourt (Summers being more of a wing guy).
On last night’s game: This was the first time in the tournament that the underclassmen seemed intimidated and a bit spooked by the stage. I think Izzo should have taken a couple early timeouts to try to settle them down.
Yeah yeah, UNC is great, but I would have liked MSU’s chances if they had shot the ball half decently and had kept the turnovers down.
I will also say this: I feel confident this year’s freshmen will be in another final before they leave MSU, and the next time, they will be the experienced, tougher group.
The only silver lining? Suton has basically played himself into a real shot at the NBA these last two weeks.
As to the future: Why all the hate for Allen? he had a miserable game last night, but so did Lucas and even more so Morgan. I assume he will be 20% better next year all around, particularly his passing and defense, and his shooting will be that much more consistent, though I suspect he will always be a streaky shooter.
My main worry? could Lucas decide to go pro? the papers this morning imply he is not ruling it out, which is always a bad sign.
Lucas isn’t going pro… that would be an even worse decision than Marcus Taylor. I just can’t see Izzo letting him go through with it.
I guess I don’t have a problem with Allen, he just gets too many minutes. I think this is because he is from the South and Izzo wants to show the country that you don’t have to be from the midwest to play for State. Allen’s career stats FG% 37.0, 3 point FG% 33.0. Both shooting percentages decreased from his freshman year. Maurice Joseph’s stats FG% 37.9, 3 point FG% 36.2. MoJo averaged 16.8 minutes per game on an average team. Allen averaged 19 minutes per game for the NCAA runner up. Something is not right here. I hope he has a fantastic off season and shoots lights out next year, I just don’t see it happening. After seeing Korie Lucious break out in the tourney, Izzo will have to give him some of Allen’s minutes.
Allen will be fine. He’s getting minutes because his defense has improved dramatically this season. He’s just had some bad shooting nights. Maybe Suton should have shot more 3′s last night, he was the best shooter we had. I thought our defense would take a big hit this year after Naymick left, but it didn’t. So I think we’re going to be great next year and we should contend for the Championship again.
Were #2! Were #2. Hahahahahahahaha.
This team reached it’s potential. That’s all you can ask.
Terrific season.
We played them even for 30 minutes. The only problem was that the first ten minutes dug us a hole we were never getting out of. (And every time it looked like we were about to start a run, a cheap foul put an end to it.)
Make our free throws and quit throwing the ball away (seriously, has that alley-oop pass worked more than one in ten tries this year? you’d think they’d know better by now), and it’s a game. We had to play our best game of the year to win, and we didn’t come anywhere near that. It also didn’t help that Allen and Morgan couldn’t hit water from a boat.
Regardless, it was a great season. Nobody can be disappointed with playing on the last Monday, win or lose.
What a great run over the last few weeks. This team captured some hearts. I sat in a little bar in Naguabo, Puerto Rico where I was able to catch the second half of the Louisville game. The handful of locals there were following me in support of the Spartans. I gathered with friends for the semi-final, some who had no allegiance to any team, but they became enamored with the Spartans and were pulling for them with great emotion last night.
I hope the returning players come back with a warm glow from the experience and the knowledge and passion to make it there again next year. I think they know what they need to do over the summer to get better. This ride will pay off down the road in opening some eyes to Michigan State basketball. Maybe a few recruits will be lining up to atttend State.
KJ, thanks for providing a great forum for thoughts and comments on spartan hoops. If you ever reconsider, I’ll be here to support that effort.
Congratulations Spartans, and my best to the graduating seniors.
MSU already getting some love for the next season:
http://www.fannation.com/si_blogs/tourney/posts/60921
Sports Illustrated picks MSU as their early #1 for next year…
Damn proud of these guys. They showed heart, guts and a desire to perform for their coach (compliment to Izzo) and their University.
I wore my “S” ball cap to work today (I live in the south by the way) with my shirt and tie…and was proud to do so! (Despite everyone reminding me of the outcome….I had to remind each of them that their alma mater was not in the game).
Ok, ‘mental Cramp’ got to our team, and it is contagious, this time for the first ten minutes, and that is the difference of the game. Actually it could happen to any college team at any time, and we are just spoiled by this team to always think it could only happen to our opponents.
One observation is that Izzo might also be ‘tight’ since the start of the game. Did he always continue gather the team together for some serious discussions the very minute before the tip-off, or it is just Izzo style of coaching.
Nevertheless, great seniors, great effort, great coaching, and great outcome for this season. Next season … can not wait to follow this team again no matter what is going to unfold …
KJ, you are the best. This site makes this season more enjoyable and memorable. Thanks.
If we’d have won, what would have stopped people for declaring to go to the NBA?
Especially when I don’t think any of our players are particularly NBA-prone or seem to be that kind of player. Even Lucas would need to be a much better shooter to get into the big leagues as a 6 foot guard.
Anyway, it’ll be fun going into next season being an overdog.