Respect

As any follower of this blog surely knows, I am about a big of a Michigan Wolverine slappy as there could possibly be.  I wake up every day and devour information like Wheaties about Michigan football, basketball, and hockey.  The anticipation before any Michigan athletic contest is equal to a kid on Christmas Day.  The satisfaction after a win is comparable to Shawn Kemp after a weekend at the Bunny Ranch in Nevada.  The anger and disappointment after a loss is like Travis Henry after a girl asks him if he is going to use a condom.  The hatred that I feel for any of Michigan's rivals cannot really be described with words.  It is with this preface that I write the following entry...

I respect the hell out of Michigan State basketball.  It all starts with Tom Izzo, who I feel is the most underrated basketball coach in the NCAA.  Izzo is often left out of the conversation of big name coaches that includes guys like Williams, Calipari, Pitino, K, Donovan, and Calhoun.  Yet all he has done is win.  Maybe it is a Big Ten Bias, maybe it is the fact that Michigan State just is not that sexy of a program; the fact is that after todays win against Louisville, no 4 year player has ever attended Michigan State under Tom Izzo and not gone to a Final Four.  How is that for a recruiting pitch?  Come here and we guarantee you a Final Four.  

As a Michigan fan, I have watched the growth of Izzo's program that is built on talent within the state of Michigan.  Until this year, State has run unopposed in the NCAA Tournament in the state of Michigan.  It started with the Flintstones - Mateen Cleaves, Morris Peterson, and Charlie Bell - who led the Spartans to an NCAA Title.  That team laid the foundation for the Zach Randolph/Jason Richardson team.  Then it was Paul Davis, Kelvin Torbert, Chris Hill, Shannon Brown, and Maurice Ager who continued the Spartans dominance in the Big Ten and their continued success in the NCAA Tournament.  Now, the mix of youth and experience on Izzo's Spartans has led them back to the Final Four.  Kalin Lucas, Raymar Morgan, Delvon Roe, Goran Suton, Draymond Green, and Darrel Summers make up the backbone of this team.  They all play hard nosed defense and rebound the basketball.  The Big Ten might get beaten up by the pundits for low scoring games during the year, but their style of play has proven very successful year in and year out in the NCAA Tournament.  If there was one thing that really impressed me today, it was that Michigan State completely dominated Louisville without Morgan or Roe making any notable impact.  These are two of the most talented players on their roster, so to do what they did without the best from these guys just shows what type of talent and depth that they have.

If there is one staple of a Tom Izzo team, it is execution.  Time and time again, Izzo's teams come out of a timeout and execute a set play to perfection.  Their offense runs seamlessly, which is aided by the tremendous play of Kalin Lucas, who is about as underrated in the national spectrum as you can get.  Still, even with average point guards like Drew Neitzel, Izzo got the most out of his team through execution and hard work.  You can't say that Izzo's teams do anything overtly bad, which is something that you really can't say about 99% of the programs in the NCAA.  

As I was driving back to BG today, I was listening to the post game coverage on 760 WJR, the Spartans flagship station (Screw you, Bill Martin.  Losing WJR to MSU was one of the biggest mistakes you have ever made) and one thing really jumped out at me.  Kalin Lucas came by to do an interview, and he talked at length about the Spartans family.  He talked about how the former players like Mateen Cleaves, Mo Peterson, Alan Anderson, Shannon Brown etc. take every new MSU player under their wing like a little brother.  Lucas talked about how "Mo Cleaves" would call him after every big win to congratulate him and encourage him to lead the Spartans further.  This is the type of atmosphere that I hope Michigan football and basketball gets to.  The continued support of former players can add some great elements to a program.  

So it is very rare that I do this, and it is with utter contempt for myself that I even say this...but congratulations to Michigan State on making the Final Four.  I may hate you like hell, and hope that your program falls into shambles in order for Michigan's success, but I respect your program.  

Now I will go puke and wash every inch of my body to get the MSU love off of it.  

Never Run The Toss Sweep 

Coach Deuce