Random Ramblings....

I promise that not every post will revolve around Michigan State.

Most of this post will though....so sorry, but bear with me.

~As much as I have faith in my Spartans, I'm really concerned over the pattern I've seen so far this season. In close, late-game situations, they seem to be disorganized, out-of-control and tentative. This leads to silly mistakes, bad shots, careless turnovers and in 2 of 3 cases, a loss.

Exhibit A: MSU-Wisconsin. Michigan State was somewhat in control and just needed to run out the clock for their first victory at the Kohl Center since basically the dawn of time. However, that comfort slipped away in the waning seconds after Wisconsin hit a number of random 3s. Thankfully, Ryan Evans' last-second 3 at the buzzer was ruled no good and MSU escaped. But it shouldn't have ever happened. That shot was a REBOUND off another desperation 3 heave. As Izzo said, "all I saw was a missed shot that we didn't get the rebound." AMEN BROTHER!

Exhibit B: Draymond Green's weird lane floater thing against Michigan...I won't go into that game again. I'll just leave it there.

Exhibit C: Michigan State vs. Illinois: Keith Appling's weird lane-driving floater and then no MSU rebounds.

I realize a lot of this can be chalked up to inexperience and that's fine--it's a young team and I know they'll learn from it. I'm just wondering how long it will take. Does this need to happen 5 more times before they break through? Or is it something that will see dividends come March? Or will we have to wait until next season after one more summer of seasoning? I don't really know, but I HOPE it happens sooner than later. My heart can't handle this all the time.

~The technical foul on Draymond Green: Silly? Yes--but understandable. It's been made very clear that the coordinator of officials, John Adams, wants refs to crack down on the disrespect from players and coaches all around. And that's fine. The rules should apply to EVERYONE, even a kid like Green who is rarely criticized for anything by anyone. He needs to watch himself just like all the rest of them. Which begs the question..

~Did anyone else notice the ridiculous amount of time Dan Dakich and Mike Tirico spent talking about Draymond Green's technical foul against Illinois? I mean, I get that the game was horrible and they were struggling for subject matter....but they seriously spent 15-20 minutes of real time discussing the memo from John Adams. At one point I actually YELLED AT THE TV and was like, "OK! We get it!! There was a memo! MOVE. ON." There were even a few times that I THOUGHT they moved on and were talking about something else and then Tirico would be like, "So back to that memo..." This happened FOUR TIMES. FOUR TIMES. And in case you're wondering, yes, he DID read the memo in its entirety. I normally enjoy Dakich and have no particular feelings one way or the other about Tirico, but last night they were getting on my last Polish nerve.

~I'm obsessed with Mizzou. OBSESSED. Their guards are insane, in the best possible way. They're lighting quick in transition, can slice through the lane and then just when you think you've stopped them, they pass it out to a different guard who hits a 3. They all seem to be pretty unselfish as well--they have great court vision and always seem to know where their teammate it and whether or not theirs is the best shot. It's awesome to watch. I also feel the national media jumping on my Flip Pressey bandwagon. Please see other blog entries from the past season where I declare my love for him. Climb on up people! There's still plenty of room!

~Speaking of Mizzou...I cannot WAIT for Mizzou-Kansas on Saturday. Can. Not. Wait.

~In other Big 12 news, Texas has a lot of young players and are in a sort of "down" year...but I bet that's not the case in 2012-2013.

~While we're talking Texas...pay attention to how much the announcers like to say the name "Myck Kabongo." I want to know if I'm the only one who thinks they all love his name and so they use it WAY more than necessary.

~Also, can anyone explain to me the recent trend of players spelling their name M-y-c-k (pronounced "Mike")? I'm not trying to be sarcastic, I just haven't seen it before.

~Sigh. Oh Xavier. What happened to you?

~Not to be critical, but Anthony Davis' unibrow has GOT to go. Please. It's so distracting I almost forget how good he is. Almost.

~My friends and I used to keep a running tally of number of times that Tyler Hansborough was mentioned during a broadcast, even when UNC wasn't playing. I'm thinking of modifying this to fit the Zeller brothers. I feel like this would be an amazing game during March Madness...you could, you know, take a sip of water or something...every time they talked about them....

~People are already talking about bubble teams. Isn't a little early for that? Let's wait until the end of February at least...