First Blemish

Sorry for the long gap between posts. Work has been busy. Let's get to it.

Although its not football season, perhaps some of the biggest news of the football season came on Wednesday. For those that don't follow recruiting, Wednesday was national signing day, when high school seniors are allowed to sign a letter of intent to accept an athletic scholarship in football. Getting good recruiting classes has shown to be the key to success on the football field -- teams that normally recruit well generally have better records and are better teams. There are schools who don't recruit at the top of the pack who are still successful, such as Boise State, TCU, BYU, but its almost a given that Texas, Oklahoma, Ohio State, and Florida recruit well.

For MSU, all players that had verbally committed to Michigan State signed their letters. This includes star player William Gholston, who has generated a plethora of press over his abilities on defense. Dantonio has stated Gholston will play a combination of Outside Linebacker and Defensive End. Other highlights include QB Joe Boisture from Saline, RB Nick Hill from Chelsea, and CB Mylan Hicks from Detroit's Renaissance High School. The recruiting class has been rated around #30 in the country, which isn't great, but definitely a step up from past years' classes.

It's interesting to note that Boisture's and Hill's HS are right in Michigan territory -- both are within 30 minutes drive of Michigan Stadium. Additionally, Saline HS (where I went, woohoo!) now has a scholarship QB at both Michigan State (Boisture) and at Michigan (remember Nick Sheridan?)

BUT WAIT, WHAT ABOUT BASKETBALL?!?!?!

The Spartans traveled to rival Michigan last week, which pretty much was seen by every basketball fan in the state. To summarize, it was close all game, and Kalin Lucas drained yet another big-time shot with 3 seconds remaining in the game. On the other end of the court, with 1.5 seconds left, forward DeShawn Sims tried to tip in an inbounds pass for the win, but it rattled off the rim. There was debate about a foul that should have been called on Durrell Summers for grabbing Sims' jersey on the way up (that did happen) but Sims also pushed off barely before the shot. Additionally, Lucas was pushed, with two hands, by Manny Harris on the other end of the court before his game-winner. I'm not trying to justify anything, but it would be grasping at straws to expect the refs to call a foul on that final play.

MSU played Wisconsin on Tuesday at Madison. To summarize, it was miserable. Wisconsin under Bo Ryan has developed a reputation for playing a slow, time-control style of basketball. The players are coached not to try to make a play until there is 10 seconds left on the shot clock, unless the defense leaves a man open. They have also developed a reputation for "flopping" on defense -- meaning slightly overreacting to contact to make a shove or elbow look worse than it actually is. More times than not, the refs will give them that call. As much bad mouthing as I have now given them, their style of play is within the rulebook of basketball. Bo Ryan knows how to run this system as a science and is one of the most successful coaches within Big Ten play. However, that has come at the expense of the respect of most fans in this league outside of Wisconsin state borders.

Michigan State went down by double-digits early and couldn't find anyone on the offensive end to answer Wisconsin's great shooting. Wisconsin ran rampant on the Spartans, improving Bo Ryan's record against Tom Izzo to 12-5. Izzo has not won in Madison since Bo Ryan took over. Adding injury to insult, Kalin Lucas sprained an ankle early in the second half and didn't return. He was questionable for tonight's game against Illinois, but Tom Izzo has said Lucas will see minutes. How many he can take on that ankle is to be determined on the court.

My take on the team: The Spartan's were bound to lose one sooner or later, after seeing their play at Minnesota and Michigan. It seems almost every Tom Izzo team gets a butt-kicking once a season or so. Last year, it was North Carolina -- that loss had a lot of people saying we were not a top ten team last year, which was proven false during the tournament. It is clear MSU will not run away with the Big Ten as it did last year -- road games remain at Illinois, Penn State, Indiana, and Purdue, with home games against Purdue, Ohio State, and Michigan. The schedule is back heavy and I think we will see at least 2 more losses in Big Ten play. My guess would be tonight at Illinois due to Lucas' injury and at Purdue. Wisconsin, Purdue, Ohio State, and Illinois are all tied for 2nd with 3 losses. The race at the end will be interesting.

Again, the basketball team takes on Illinois in Chambana tonight at 9, ESPN national coverage. Next game is on Tuesday against no. 7 Purdue -- same time, same channel.