It looks like those in Spartyville are trying to lower expectations for Wednesday's game against Minesota. The Lansing State Journal is writing about a Michigan State team that is "battle weary."
Ohhh, poor Sparty. Losing back to back home games is tough, but this whining might be why the Spartans are on a little skid. Just read what senior Travis Walton has to say (and I think his English teacher would cringe).
"We've got seniors on this team, ain't got no rings, ain't got no championships," MSU senior guard Travis Walton said after the loss and a lengthy team meeting. "Either we're gonna come together and get a ring, or we're gonna go away from each other and the same things are (going to happen) that happen every year."
This "whoa is me" attitude from the Spartans has to be troubling for Tom Izzo. And if you read the article, you'll see Kalin Lucas is saying "We need Raymar real bad."
I was expecting the Spartans to be mad on Wednesday. But if they are simply feeling sorry for themselves, then that might actually bode well for the Gophers.
- We'd be remiss if we didn't give a shout out to three Golden Gophers who are no Super Bowl champions. Gary Russell, Matt Spaeth and Tyrone Carter all played significant roles for the Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers.
- A nice article here by Doug Lesmerises of the Cleveland Plain dealer looking at the troubles for Tom Crean in Indiana. Lesmerises rightly concludes that it's all Kelvin Sampson's fault, goes on to note that Sampson is appealing his NCAA suspension. I agree with Lesmierses, the suspension should be extended, not lessened.
- The Manny Harris/Chris Kramer incident has bloggers on both sides sticking up for their players. For a round-up of the discension in the blogosphere, head over to Boiled Sports, who we think has just about every base covered with this post. I tell you, this is what makes blogs fun. And it's the type of incident in a basketball season that speaks to the tension in the conference.
- Brian at MGOBlog puts Jay Bilas in the crosshairs regarding the Manny Harris situation. Do people here like Jay Bilas? I tend to think he's all right.
- The Big Ten Network Web editor just put out a quick midseason awards list for the Big Ten and it was painful to read. His defensive player of the year? Yep, Chris Kramer, thanks to reputation. Damian Johnson is his runner-up. But I ask the writer to look at Ken Pomeroy's defensive stats for block and steal percentage to see which of the two is the more dominating defensive player. The writer, Brent Yarina, also says DJ Swat is a candidate for the conference's most improved player. What are you talking about? DJ is the same player now as he was last year, except you know his name now because the team has been ranked and you see his highlights on ESPN.