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.

Football women's clinic scheduled for April 14

From MSU:

EAST LANSING, Mich.  – Michigan State head coach Mark Dantonio and his wife Becky invite female fans, 18 and older, to attend the Spartan Football Women's Clinic, scheduled for Saturday, April 14 from 2-6 p.m. at the Duffy Daugherty Football Complex.

The program includes strategy sessions covering all three phases of the game (offense, defense and special teams), position drills and instruction as well as an equipment demonstration. The clinic will conclude with a panel discussion and Q&A session, featuring members of the football coaching staff and their wives, and hors d'oeuvres.

Some current and future basketball honors

One day after being named Big Ten Player of the Year, Draymond Green was named to the Sporting News All-American team.

Here is SN's Mike DeCourcy's reasoning for Green being on the team. Expect these All-American honors to keep coming in. The last Spartans to earn first-team All-American honors in some form were Jason Richardson and Charlie Bell in 2001. The last Spartans to make multiple All-American teams were Mateen Cleaves and Morris Peterson in 2000. Green has a good chance of making every All-American team, and would be the first Spartan since Shawn Respert in 1995 to earn that.

Green also is one of 15 finalists for the Wooden Award.

Future Spartan Gary Harris was selected to play for the USA junior national select team. The group of 10 high school seniors will play a world select team on April 7 in Portland, Ore., for the Nike Hoop Summit. Harris is the first incoming Spartan to earn this honor since Zach Randolph and Marcus Taylor in 2000. Harris also will be in the McDonald's All-American game in March and and the Jordan Brand Classic in April.

Harris' half-court buzzer-beater from a few weeks ago is close to becoming a four-time Best-of-the-Best on Sportscenter's Top-10 plays.

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.

A look back at MSU Senior Night

via MSUAndyHRCMB on YouTube

Will Draymond Green's number be retired? (And other Senior Night stuff)

A year ago, the question of whether or not Kalin Lucas' No. 1 deserved to be in the Breslin Center one day was a hot topic.

It wasn't quite a consensus, but the majority believed that Lucas's number would go up there some time. A year later, we're not really hearing that question regarding Draymond Green and No. 23.

Why is this? Is it a no-brainer? Are there other storylines right now that are more important? This year, senior leadership is the biggest reason the Spartans are being described as Final Four-caliber. A year ago, it was the lack of senior leadership that had MSU on the bubble.



Green's stats give him a chance. He currently is fourth all-time in rebounds at MSU, and likely will finish second. The current top two — Greg Kelser and Johnny Green — both have their numbers in the rafters. As for scoring, he's currently at 18th, but likely won't get into the top 15.

Right decision made regarding Roe, Senior Day

The question of whether or not Delvon Roe would be able to be a part of MSU's Senior Day activities picked up some steam today.

If you didn't know, Roe retired from basketball before the season after three seasons filled with knee injuries. Basketball had taken such a toll on Roe that, with pro basketball likely not in his future, Roe decided to step away, focus on school, health and his acting career.

Early today, Rob Dauster of "Ballin is a Habit" tried to get the #LetDelvonPlay hashtag going on Twitter, which it did. Tom Izzo had said MSU was working with the NCAA on figuring out something. Later in the day, Mark Hollis revealed what that would be. Hollis sent out the following tweets.