Live Chat: Michigan State @ Michigan

Big night in college hoops as Manny Harris comes back for Michigan to take on their hated in-state rivals Michigan State.  This is a good chance to check in on the improved Spartans, who are once again atop the Big 10 standings.

Live Chat Link–Click Here

Breakdown: Power Conference Strength of Schedule

Here is a graph displaying the average strengths of schedule (SOS) of the Big 6 power conferences to date. Individual team SOS for teams within each conference were cumulated and then divided by the total number of teams in the conference.

Some obversations and thoughts:

–I’m a bit surprised that the Big 10 SOS is not better.  They already played the ACC in the ACC/Big 10 challenge, which no doubt improved the league SOS as a whole.  What this suggests is that outside of that challenge the Big 10 has pound-for-pound played weaker competition than perhaps any conference outside the Big 12.
–Vanderbilt of the SEC has the best SOS as of December 8th–26. Georgetown of the Big East has the worst–335. (Georgetown improved with the Butler game last night, however).
–I couldn’t help but notice a bad trend from the Arkansas Razorbacks. Not only was their SOS #329, but they have a 4-5 overall record. At present, their sagarin ranking is #200, one spot ahead of Arkansas- Little Rock and only 6 spots in front of Arkansas State. Yikes.
–Say what you want about the Duke Blue Devils, but they are yet again high up in both the sagarin rankings (#1) and SOS (#29). They are 7-1 to start the season and on the short list of title contenders. Should be a good year for Duke.
–The Big 12 conference has the worst SOS to this point. Kansas and Texas are two of the best teams in the country, but their leaders should get this conference to play some people. With the Big East and SEC set to play in the Big East/SEC challenge this week, it’s going to put the Big 12 further behind.

Penn State 38, Illinois 33

Honestly, and this is no lie, I brought up the ESPN scoreboard last night at around 9:15, saw this final score, and without any hesitation said to myself “nice job fellas, you put down final instead of halftime” and moved on. Never missed a beat. Never thought twice.  And then I watched Sportscenter.

The box score is brutal.  I don’t know who got it, but I suppose the Player of the Game honor (honor??) went to Penn State’s Talor Battle who was the only player to score in double figures with…..11.  And he played all 40 minutes to do it.  In the process he shot 3-11 from the field (1-5 from 3’s), had 4 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal and 4 turnovers.  Every high school game I ever saw had a more impressive player of the game.

Did you know that Penn State had a lower field goal and three point field goal percentage than Illinois? Did you know that Illinois did not have a single free throw attempt? Maybe the most puzzling did you know is this: there wasn’t a single technical foul in the game. Were these coaches abducted with happy gas? How do you manage a game that is 17-15 at halftime and not be so pissed that you try absolutely anything to get your team to respond!? Even if you held it all in in the first half, after five minutes of futility in the second half I would have dropkicked a chair or head-butted a referee. I don’t know–something–but anything to let my team know that I care about this win “so stop playing like s&*^t!!”

Every year we see this in the Big 10. It’s not a league with a reputation of high-flying run-all-over-the-court basketball. Coaches are rigid. Running set plays is a premium. Could you ever imagine a guy like John Calipari coaching in the Big 10??? He’d be asleep by the time Tubby Smith’s ball-line defense forced it’s first trap. It’s just not surprising that this clunker occurred on a Big 10 court. It doesn’t mean that the Big 10 can’t win big with these styles. Michigan State won the title in 2000. Illinois made the finals in 2005. Mike Davis had a miracle run to the finals with Indiana in 2002. It’s just that it, at its worst moments, generates painful-on-the-eyes basketball. Never more so than last night.

 

Defense Lifts Purdue Over Michigan State

In an important game Tuesday night in the Big Ten, the Purdue Boilermakers used a stifling defense to hand the Michigan State Spartans their 5th loss of the year.  The Boilermakers defeated Tom Izzo’s squad 72-54.  The victory moves Purdue to within one game of the Spartans.

Big Ten Conference Standings
Team	Conf. W-L	Tot. W-L
Michigan St.	10-3	20-5
Illinois	9-4	21-5
Purdue	9-4	20-6
Ohio St.	7-5	17-6
Minnesota	7-6	19-6
Penn St.	7-6	18-8
Wisconsin	7-6	16-9
Michigan	6-7	16-10
Northwestern	4-8	13-10
Iowa	3-10	13-13
Indiana	1-11	6-18

I must admit, I’ve been high on Purdue this year.  Especially after their surprise season last year where the “Baby Boilers” earned a 6 seed in the Tournament and won their first round game.  They returned 10 of 14 players, including all of the top 3 scorers, E’Twaun Moore (SO), Robbie Hummel (SO) and Keaton Grant (JR).  Coach Matt Painter, the reigning Big Ten Coach of the Year, has done a marvelous job since taking over in 2005.

Perhaps Purdue’s strongest asset is their team defense.  It really is a joy to watch, but opponents don’t like it, and Michigan State certainly didn’t like it!  If you watched the game last night, did you notice how when the ball went into the post, it was like a pack of hyenas on a fresh carcass?  It sort of reminds you of Tubby Smith’s ball-line defense, only more exciting.  A quick run-down of Michigan State’s stats will show you just how effective Painter’s defense is:

– MSU scored only 54 points
– MSU shot 32.7% from the field
– MSU made only 2 3-point baskets
– MSU committed 22 turnovers

This game may just be the confidence booster that Purdue needs.  They’ve been bothered by injuries this year, notably their emotional leader, Robbie Hummel.  If he can remain healthy, and the Boilermakers maintain their defensive intensity, I like their chances of making a run in the Dance this year.