Thoughts on MSU basketball's 2011-12 season and looking ahead

It started with President Obama on the sideline and ended with Muhammed Ali watching from the stands.

In between, the MSU men's basketball team turned in one of the most improbable seasons in a long time. It ended with a thud, but it was full of surprises and memories.

We tend to look at any MSU season that didn't finish in the Final Four and consider it a failure (That's what Drew Sharp did before later changing his column). Sure, when a No. 1 seed doesn't reach the Final Four, it should be labeled a disappointment. But this was an MSU team that overachieved all season, and when Branden Dawson went down, the margin for error was extremely thin. It got them against Louisville.

But who saw it getting that far? Two championships and a Sweet 16, not bad for a team that began the season unranked.



It actually started in the offseason. Garrick Sherman transferred shortly after the 2010-11 season ended, joining Korie Lucious, who had been kicked off earlier that year. Then Delvon Roe announced his retirement in the summer. The Spartans were going to be shorthanded. Freshmen were going to be relied upon. The goal wasn't a Final Four. It wasn't even a Big Ten championship. It was play as well as you can and get better as the season goes on. No one knew what to expect.

Thoughts on MSU's 57-44 loss to Louisville, Draymond Green's career

(Box score here)

Kalin Lucas' eyes were starting to water.

The guard's career had just ended after he committed a traveling violation at the end of MSU's first game of the 2011 NCAA Tournament. It was MSU's worst season in more than a decade and the Spartans were bounced in the round of 64 because he had a terrible night. From the playing at the highest level, to coming back from a ruptured Achilles, Lucas had been through a lot. But his brilliant career had ended in a wreck.

The first question in the postgame press conference was asked to Lucas, and he couldn't hold the tears back any longer. He put his head down, so no one could see him. Tom Izzo was tearing up as well. After a few seconds of silence and sniffles, Draymond Green spoke up. 

"I know it had to be rough for him. I mean, I'm just going to answer from my perspective. I feel like he had a great career, and he hasn't had many games where he just couldn't get anything to fall. You know, they did a great job defensively on him. They pretty much keyed on him the whole entire defense, and he did a great job of still getting everybody else involved. He still had five assists and he did some great things for us and got me some open shots. It hurts me. You know, I'm a big fan of my guys reaching milestones, and the loss hurts me, but I think I'm kind of hurting because he came up four points short of 2,000. And for everything he did for this program, you know, I get to come back for another year so I can be sad about the loss later. I think I'm hurting more about him not getting them four points."

When reporters ran out of questions, Green let everyone know how Lucas had told him to keep his head up during his freshman year and helped Green throughout his career.

It was never about him. Over four years, Green always stuck up for his teammates, kept them involved. It was his emphasis on keeping this year's team together that helped them overachieve to heights no one expected. While Green's career also ended in a heartbreaking way, it still wasn't about him. He was the last MSU player to leave the court, congratulating all the Louisville players and high-fiving kids on the way out.

Actual thoughts on MSU's 68-64 win over Ohio State

(Box score here)

OK, I cheated you out of my thoughts on the game yesterday. From all the hoopla following the game, to the NCAA seeding, to actually working to driving home to Michigan in the middle of the night, I didn't really have a chance to reflect on the Big Ten Tournament championship.

Here is my game recap and here is my story on MSU earning its first No. 1 seed since 2001 for The Oakland Press.

So back to Sunday, what a game that was.

Previewing Ohio State in the Big Ten championship

INDIANAPOLIS — We were in this position eight days ago.

MSU vs. Ohio State for the Big Ten championship (preview story here). On March 4, MSU jumped out to a 15-point lead in the first half, but the Buckeyes hung around, chipped at the lead, eventually got even and William Buford hit the winning jumper with one second left, stunning the Breslin Center fans and players.

The game changed when Branden Dawson tore his ACL midway through the first half. At that point Buford had scored just four points, all on free throws. He scored 21 points the rest of the way.

And that will be the biggest key in this game. Who can stop William Buford? I'd expect Austin Thornton to start out on him, but Brandan Kearney might see some time on him too. On the other side of that matchup, MSU will need Thornton and Brandon Wood to hit shots, like they've done in the first two games here. Buford also has been known to shut himself down, but he's been on a tear recently.

Thoughts on MSU's 92-75 win over Iowa

INDIANAPOLIS — Dawson who?

Without the small forward who would create matchup problems, MSU rolled to a 92-75 win that only got that close late when MSU had pulled most of the starters. MSU had 10 offensive rebounds and a 36-24 total edge on the glass.

Here is my game story for The Oakland Press and here is a notebook on Travis Trice, Adreian Payne, Indiana natives and Izzo's rant on Bruce Weber.

Some quick thoughts:

Iowa holds off Illinois, will face MSU next

Despite not making a field goal in the final 9:16, Iowa was able to survive a late rally by Illinois for a 64-61 win in the first round of the Big Ten tournament. The eighth-seeded Hawkeyes will face top-seeded MSU on Friday at noon.

Ninth-seeded Illinois entered Thursday having lost 11 of its last 13 games, but the Illini's only win since the beginning of February was against Iowa.

The first half was back-and-forth, with the teams within one or two baskets of each other the entire time. The Illini led 31-27 at halftime. A few minutes into the second half, Illinois extended its lead to 40-33 and looked like it was starting to pull away. But Iowa answered with a 22-8 run to take a 55-48 lead. The teams then traded buckets, and Iowa didn't score another field goal for the rest of the game.

The Hawkeyes went cold, but Illinois could only muster a few buckets. The Hawkeyes started missing some free throws, keeping the Illini around. Joseph Bertrand made a tough three-pointer with 20 seconds left to make it a one-point game. Matt Gatens made two free throws and Illinois' last shot was off. It may have been Bruce Weber's last game as Illinois coach.

Gatens scored 20 points on 7-for-12 shooting. Bryce Cartwright had seven assists to no turnovers running the point for the Hawkeyes.

So Iowa faces MSU on Friday at noon. These teams met once in the regular season, with the Spartans cruising to a 95-61 victory in East Lansing — one of MSU's most-lopsided wins in Big Ten history. The Spartans shot 61.7 percent, while Iowa shot 36.7 percent. MSU will be without Branden Dawson, who tore his ACL in the final regular season game, but Dawson wasn't a major part of the first win, scoring six points and grabbing four rebounds in 21 minutes.

MSU might have some early struggles playing without Dawson, but I don't see enough scoring threats for Iowa to make this a tough one for the Spartans.

Prediction: MSU 75, Iowa 63

Previewing the Big Ten tournament — Does MSU care?

(My preview originally appeared on Just Cover Blog) 

I am against the idea of conference tournaments. 

I think they devalue the role of the regular season, especially for mid-majors, where, in many cases, a team can win its regular season crown (by any margin), but has to win its conference tournament or else an NCAA tournament berth won't happen. For bigger conferences, the top teams have no incentive to play well, plus it always brings the chance of injury (Edit: I know it's about money, which is important for mid-major conferences).

That being said, I'm extremely excited for the Big Ten tournament to get underway on Thursday (bracket here). As a fan of basketball, and specifically Big Ten basketball, it's an incredibly fun event to attend. I recommend it for any Big Ten fan. (I'll be heading down Thursday night and covering MSU and Michigan for The Oakland Press)

This year, the conference was as good as ever. It was expected to be Ohio State head and shoulders above everyone else, but ended up with a three-way tie at the top with solid teams behind them. There really were four tiers of teams: The first being the three champions (Ohio State, Michigan State Michigan), the teams solidly in the tournament (Wisconsin, Indiana, Purdue), the teams that are or were close to the bubble at one point (Northwestern, Minnesota, Illinois, Iowa) and the bottom-feeders (Nebraska, Penn State). But everyone was vulnerable. Penn State beat Purdue, Nebraska beat Indiana and Iowa beat Michigan and Indiana, to name a few upsets.

This has shaped up to be perhaps the best Big Ten tournament since it began in 1998. Ohio State has the most titles (4), including the last two. Interestingly, only three seeds have an all-time record above .500: 1, 2 and 6. The No. 6 seed is 25-12 all-time in this tournament and go through some picks.

Dawson undergoes successful surgery

Tom Izzo told reporters today that Branden Dawson underwent successful surgery on his torn left ACL on Tuesday night, confirming some players' tweets. 

Last night, Brandon Wood tweeted: "Lil bro @219MadeMe (Dawson) surgery went real well Everybody pray for him to come back stroger than before!"

This morning, Dawson tweeted: "Surgery went well. Thanks for all the support from family, friends, & my #SpartanNation family. My recovery is so far so good."

Because there wasn't much swelling on the knee, Dawson was able to get surgery sooner than many others. The LSJ reported that the ACL was completely torn, but there was no cartilage damage.

Check out my earlier post on what this injury means for Dawson and MSU.

Green, Izzo earn Big Ten top honors

To no one's surprise, Draymond Green was named Big Ten Player of the Year by both the media and the coaches on Monday. He beat out Ohio State's Jared Sullinger. Green becomes the seventh Spartan to win the award, joining Jay Vincent, Scott Skiles, Shawn Respert, Mateen Cleaves and Kalin Lucas.

Tom Izzo won his third Big Ten Coach of the Year award, notably over Michigan's John Beilein and Indiana's Tom Crean.

The All- Big Ten first team was:

Draymond Green: 16.2 pts, 10.3 rebs, 3.5 asts, 1.5 stls

John Shurna (Northwestern): 19.8 pts, 5.3 rebs

Jared Sullinger: 16.9 pts, 9.3 rebs

Robbie Hummel (Purdue): 16.8 pts, 7.0 rebs,

Jordan Taylor (coaches, Wisconsin): 14.6 pts, 4.1 asts

Tim Frazier (media, Penn State): 18.6 pts, 4.8 rebs, 6.3 asts, 2.3 stls

Keith Appling was named to the third team by coaches and media. Branden Dawson was named to the All-Freshman team by the coaches and All-Big Ten honorable mention by media. Dawson joins Shannon Brown, Drew Nietzel, Raymar Morgan and Delvon Roe among Spartans to earn the honor, which began in 2003.

Green was also named to the conference's All-Defensive team. Austin Thornton won the team's Sportsmanship Award.

What Branden Dawson's injury means

When MSU lost back-to-back games at Northwestern and Michigan in January, who thought the loss of Branden Dawson would look crippling to MSU fans? And who thought the biggest reason could be because of his defense?

But with Dawson tearing his ACL in Sunday's loss to Ohio State, MSU's expectations have changed in the eyes of many. Dawson had become an elite rebounder and solid defender. He was playing good defense on Ohio State's William Buford, who scored 21 of his 25 points after Dawson left the game. It was going to be fun to see what Dawson could do in the open NCAA tournament, but we're going to have to wait another season for that.

Before we look ahead to what this means for Dawson's career, let's look at the effects on MSU's 2012 season.

In losing Dawson, MSU loses the tall, athletic wing player the Spartans were missing last season. Raymar Morgan was always underrated throughout his career for his matchup ability. In Dawson, MSU had its new Morgan, but with more athleticism. Statistically, MSU must replace its No. 2 rebounder and No. 3 scorer, as Dawson averaged 8.4 points and 4.3 rebounds per game.

Most notable of those stats is Dawson's offensive rebounding. An incredible 48 percent of Dawson's rebounds came on the offensive end. He had the same number of offensive rebounds as Draymond Green, while playing nearly 400 less minutes on the floor. MSU had just six offensive rebounds Sunday, while Ohio State had 11. Derrick Nix and Adriean Payne must step up in that aspect of their play.



What I expect to happen is that Austin Thornton will move over to the three spot, and Brandon Wood will move back into the starting lineup as the shooting guard. Thornton has seen a good amount of time at small forward when Dawson has been on the bench. Wood has scored at least seven points in three of the last four games and had 15 points Sunday — a season-high for him in Big Ten play. He came to MSU to play in a postseason, and that time has arrived.

Thoughts on MSU's 72-70 loss to Ohio State

(Box score here)

What a difference expectations make.

Before the season, if you told MSU fans they'd win a Big Ten championship they'd be ecstatic. If you said Ohio State would have to win its final game to get a share of a Big Ten title, they'd be shocked. Yet when MSU lost Sunday, there was disappointment.

We entered the day with both teams in surprising positions. After Michigan took care of Penn State, there was a shot at a three-way tie if MSU couldn't win the title outright. The Spartans jumped out to a big lead early behind a rocking Breslin Center, but Branden Dawson went down with a left knee injury midway through the first half. When Dawson went down, the player he was guarding, William Burford, went off, eventually hitting a game-winning jumper with one second left as the Buckeyes defeated MSU. The end result was a three-way tie, with only two of those teams being happy.

(UPDATE: Dawson tore his ACL, ending his season.)

Not sure why there is no "s." The other banners
have them. (via @diamond83)

It was MSU's first loss on Senior Night since 2006, an especially tough one for Draymond Green, who moved into third place in rebounding in MSU history, but battled foul trouble late and missed two shots in the final minute.

Thoughts on MSU's 76-62 win over Purdue

(Box score here)

Two years ago, MSU went to Purdue one game after Robbie Hummel had suffered his first season-ending knee injury.

The talk from MSU before the game was that sometimes a team rallies in the first game after something bad happens. The Spartans won the game 53-44 en route to a Big Ten championship. The talk leading into Sunday's game was similar, as Purdue had dismissed Kelsey Barlow and suspended D.J. Byrd for one game.

It almost worked this time. The Boilermakers led the Spartans at halftime behind some hot shooting, but MSU locked down defensively in the second half, coming away with a 76-62 win at Mackey Arena.

With the win, the Spartans (22-5 overall, 11-3 Big Ten) are alone atop the Big Ten standings, one game ahead of Michigan and Ohio State. It was MSU's first regular season sweep of Purdue (17-10, 7-7) since 2004-05.

(ESPN.com highlights)


Draymond Green led MSU with 20 points, along with 10 rebounds and seven assists. It was his fifth game this season with 20-10-5. No other player in Division I has more than two.

Austin Thornton turned in a career-high 17 points and is becoming a well-rounded scoring option for MSU. Thornton shot 6-for-10 and 1-for-3 from three-point range. It was even more impressive since he was sick and threw up in the first half.

Harris named McDonald's All-American

For the third straight season, MSU has an incoming freshman named a McDonald's All-American. This time, it's guard Gary Harris.

The last two seasons, Keith Appling and Branden Dawson have represented MSU at the game, which will take place on March 28 in Chicago.

Harris is rated the No. 11 recruit in the nation, according to Scout.com, which has MSU's incoming freshman class ranked No. 10 in the country.

To illustrate how important the game is, in 2010, Appling took 15 shots in 17 minutes, including nine three-pointers, finishing with 10 points. It's pretty much every man for himself showing off in front of people.

The first McDonald's All-American team was named in 1977 and included future Spartan Earvin "Magic" Johnson. MSU has had 15 McDonald's All-Americans all-time.

Thoughts on MSU's 77-57 win vs. Penn State

(Box score here)

It's OK to talk about Saturday's showdown with Ohio State now.

As bad as Penn State has been this season, this still looked like a trap game. After going up big early, Penn State cut the lead to five in the second half. But MSU finished on a 20-6 run en route to a 77-57 win, matching last year's win total with its 19th of the season.

(ESPN.com highlights)

The game was ugly early as MSU (19-5 overall, 8-3 Big Ten) started 1-for-9 from the floor. But Penn State (10-15, 2-10) started 0-for-8 and didn't score its first points until nearly eight minutes into the game. MSU defense was stifling, taking a 33-19 lead into halftime. 

Thoughts on MSU's 64-54 win over Michigan

(Box score here)

Draymond Green was the story before the game for multiple reasons, including his poor performances against Michigan and his injured left knee.

As it turned out, Green was the story of the game for different reasons, tying the U-M team in rebounds and leading the Spartans to a 64-54 win over the Wolverines.

"Draymond didn't want to go out losing four in a row to them," Tom Izzo said. Hopefully we switched the trend and it will start going the other way again."

The day belonged to the senior, as Green backed up his guarantee with 14 points, 16 rebounds and four assists to move to 4-3 against U-M (17-7 overall, 7-4 Big Ten) in his career. Before the game, he said he hated the Wolverines, and only death would keep him out of Sunday's game. The grim reaper was nowhere in sight.




While the Izzone chanted "little sister" as the final seconds counted down, don't expect "order to be restored," as it were. As I said before the game, this U-M program is still on the upswing, as is MSU (18-5, 7-3). The rivalry won't be like the old days, but this was an old-time performance by MSU.

The best college rivalry continues Sunday

We walked past the tailgates around Michigan Stadium.

It was 2008, and my friend and I were walking around the athletic facilities before the MSU-Michigan football game. When we neared Crisler Arena, we saw an elderly man standing by himself.

“Is that John Beilein?” I asked.

It was. So we walked over, and both shook his hand. He’s lot stronger than he looks, based on that handshake.

We talked some basketball. The Wolverines were coming off a rough 10-22 season, but were starting to make ground in recruiting. It was an uphill climb. He jokingly said that the facilities he pitched to recruits were like communist Russia compared to what MSU and Tom Izzo had.

That was a long time ago.

Thoughts on MSU's win vs. Minnesota, Izzo's 400th win

(Box score here)

You're not going to see Tom Izzo fight back tears too often.

As the final seconds ticked away Wednesday, Izzo was visibly teary-eyed on the bench. With Wednesday's 68-52 win over Minnesota, Izzo picked up his 400th win, becoming to fourth coach in Big Ten history to win 400 games with one school (Bob Knight, Gene Keady, Lou Henson). He said before the game that the number didn't mean much to him, but by the end, it clearly did.

"It's just a number, but I guess it's a milestone so I'll take it," Izzo said to Big Ten Network after the game.

(ESPN.com highlights)


Considering the Gophers are a tall team, getting one field goal out of your starting backcourt would appear to mean bad news. But MSU dominated the Gophers down low with a strength advantage. Draymond Green scored a game-high 22 points with 14 rebounds and six assists and the combination of Derrick Nix and Adreian Payne scored 16 points and grabbed eight rebounds. Nix even had a breakaway dunk. It was glorious.

Thoughts on MSU's 83-58 win over Purdue

When the difference in shooting percentages is 31 percent, it's probably not a close game.

The first half was close, but MSU (16-4 overall, 5-2 Big Ten) blew past Purdue in the second half en route to a 83-58 win at Breslin Center, breaking a two-game losing streak and moving into a first-place tie in the Big Ten.

Because of weather issues, the Boilermakers (15-5, 4-3) had to bus to East Lansing in the wee hours of the morning. It had to have an effect. Purdue shot 18-for-62 (29 percent) on the day, mising a ton of open looks. The worst performance of the day came from Purdue's Robbie Hummel, who tied a career-low with two points and shot 0-for-11 from the field. It was the first time he failed to score a field goal.

(ESPN.com highlights)


The game started off really ugly, with bad shots and passes and turnovers. The first points didn't come until just under three minutes into the game.

Thoughts on MSU's 60-59 loss to U-M

(ESPN highlights here and box score here)

What a game.

It was the most-hyped game in this rivalry in a long time — the first time since 1998 that both were ranked — and boy, did it live up to the billing.

A rough first half for MSU was followed by a back-and-forth second half. MSU grabbed a three-point lead late, but couldn't hold on. Stu Douglass gave Michigan a 60-59 lead with about 30 seconds left, then Draymond Green missed a short jumper and tip-in, as the Wolverines came away with their third straight win against MSU and their first against a top-10 MSU team since 1979.

MSU falls to 15-4 overall and 4-2 in the Big Ten, leaving Illinois as the only one-loss team in the conference.



The star of the night was U-M freshman guard Trey Burke, who had 20 points, four rebounds, three assists, two steals and two blocks — leading the Wolverines in all of those categories. He was simply incredible. MSU fans can't wait for him to leave for NBA.

Indiana natives Wood, Dawson should play big role in Michigan rivalry game

Tim Hardaway Jr. is the go-to guy for Michigan.

Tom Izzo said Monday that Branden Dawson and Brandon Wood will be matched up with Hardaway for most of the game. While basketball is a team sport, this matchup could be a big key to victory.

Here is my MLive post on the importance of Wood and Dawson tonight.