Mr. Tourney Time Tom Izzo

Man o man, how can anyone sit on a hand like that ? Tom can. When it's " Hammer Time, Izzo knows how to get it done ". What a difference officiating makes, when it comes tourney time, we play physical b-ball, period. Lets get a good lead (if possible) on Memphis, and send'em to the line. I feel we can run with the Tigers, but we need to control the tempo, and just play stellar " D " like we did against Temple. In earlier post I stated Izzo would have to do some juggling, and what a great mix he has come up with, meaning the bench. Gotta give credit for all the Key players stepping up as well. This season has been another great year for the Spartans once again, even if we loose to Memphis, this has been a fantastic year. Izzo is the man for MSU Basket ball.

Congratulations Michigan State University Basket ball Program, from the coaches to the players, and everyone involved behind the scene's.

GO GREEN GO WHITE BLEED GREEN

It's like night and day (refs) between b10 conf. and the national tourney. Izzo said Ill. and Badger land are his two toughest away games. If people would look at what the University accomplishes they would realize we're pretty dang good. Everyone wants to be champions every year and that is just so unrealistic. Good point Spartanslapshot on "Underachieving".

Now we need to win on March 28 against Colorado College.

GO GREEN GO STATE p.s. I hope we go back to back on the ICE as well.

In earlier post I stated Izzo would have to do some juggling, and what a great mix he has come up with, meaning the bench.

Don't know if it was noticed or not, but Durrell Summers has very quietly come along as a very capable provider of points, rebounds, and good defense.  He's still not getting the minutes of Lucas or Allen, but his numbers in the time he is getting are actually better than both in a multitude of areas.  He's playing only 10.7 minutes per game.  His points per minute played (18.36) are second-highest on the team behind Raymar Morgan (20.62).  Neitzel and Allen are in the mid-17's while Lucas is just over 16.  Summers leads the team in 3-Point Pct.  He is 3rd on the team in rebounds per minute played, ahead of such names as Raymar Morgan, Drew Naymick, and Idong Ibok.  He shoots free throws at the same rate as Lucas, significantly worse than Allen, as you might expect.  His struggles acome with ball distribution (assists per minute are much lower than Lucas and Allen) and especially turnovers (which probably explains why his minutes continue to remain below the other two freshmen).  You could justify the low assist numbers because when he's in the game, he's not there to distribute.  The turnovers per minute (worse than everyone except Gray and Morgan) are 3.40, which is pretty bad.  Lucas is at 3.23, but his assists per minute (6.05) outweigh this number at a nearly 2:1 ratio.  I'll take that out of a freshman PG.  Hopefully by next year it creeps up to around 3:1.  Anyway, back to Summers, I am really excited to see him get the turnover bug under control this offseason and start to ramp up his playing time as a sophomore.  The kid is pure excitement to watch.

* By the way, when I say a "stat" per minute," I am taking the per minute number and projecting over a complete 40-minute game.  Summers is obviously not actually averaging 18 points PER MINUTE.  Then he'd be putting up MY kind of numbers.    

TMadison;

I hope your right about the officials, something needs to be done! Luckily we have a coach who knows this and plays " Big Boy Rules " in the NCAA Tourney. If your team gets use to all the conf. " Soft game calls ", I can see where it will hurt you come tourney time, your players play all conf. long with soft calls, then in the NCAA tourney thier world comes CRASHING to a halt. It's really kinda funny looking back at a couple of our Conf. games we had, and the way they were called by the IMPOSING ZEBRA'S, and the outcomes they produced.

 GO GREEN GO WHITE

Spartacus where are all of these awesome pics coming from?  Great avatars lately.  Did you just get back from a fishing trip?

I agree the officiating has been much improved.  I keep waiting for the wistles but they never come.  It's a very pleasant silence compared to what we were used to in the regular season.