When it comes to the Big Ten, there are a few tiers of similar teams. Illinois and Purdue are similar. Iowa and Indiana are similarly bad. There's a big amoeba in the middle where every team is on the bubble. Then, you are left with Michigan State. They are in a class all by themselves.Sunday we received another reminder, as they turned Purdue away despite a sub-par shooting performance.The pressure defense and the quick-paced offense were just too much for the Boilers.
Kalin Lucas -- who will be named Big Ten Player of the Year very soon -- paced the conference champs with 19 points. Goran Suton, on his senior day, recorded his fifth double-double of the season with 11 points and 10 boards.
As for Purdue, they shot even worse than the Spartans. You can't expect to win in the Breslin Center when you shoot less than 30 percent from the floor. Robbie Hummel couldn't hit the broad-side of a barn, while Chris Kramer, Lewis Jackson and several others did their part in the mason's convention.
The main story of this game, though, is just how much better Michigan State is than everyone else in the conference. Their main competition in the upcoming Big Ten Tournament would likely be Illinois or Purdue -- both of whom enter the conference tourney on two-game losing streaks -- but Michigan State is just a much better basketball team than both of them.
Should the Spartans not win the conference tourney, it will have been a huge upset. They should be plenty motivated, as they still have an outside shot at a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament. I believe the Big Ten Tournament will be one of the most exciting conference tournaments in the nation, as long as you are only looking at the first two or three rounds. In the championship, I just can't see anyone hanging with the Spartans.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
3-08-2009 @ 4:44PM
Joe said...
Final four team? Makes me think Mich. St. is flying under the radar in the Big 10, especially with intense competition in the Big East and ACC. On the other hand, are they that good, or is the lack of competition in the Big 10 making them look better?
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3-08-2009 @ 6:54PM
homebasedworker4 said...
Michigan St. is overrated and so is the Big 10 in basketball. Who has Michigan St. beaten this year outside of the Big 10? They got hammered by both Maryland and North Carolina, so that tells me right there they would be middle of the pack in the ACC at best. I think they should be rated somewhere between 10th and 15th in the polls. There are a lot of teams with 6 and even 7 losses that are behind them in the polls that are better then they are based on how they have fared out of conference. I dont have anything against Michigan St. but the reality of it is there is a lot of bias for the Big 10 by both the sportswriters and sportscasters. If you went to one of those schools or live in that area, then you wouldnt think there is, but I live in the south and personally I get tired of hearing about how great the Big 10 is. I will give them their props in football but as far as a power conference in basketball goes, they should be rated 5th worse out of the 6 power conferences in B-ball only ahead of the weak SEC, but for some reason they say they are 3rd behind the Big East and ACC and some say they are 2nd behind the Big East. That is a bunch of balogna.
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3-09-2009 @ 1:57PM
tkwoodhouse said...
What makes you so knowledgeable about the Big Ten? Regardless of what you think about the caliber of the Big Ten Conference, Michigan State earned its first place finish!
3-09-2009 @ 2:48PM
Matt Snyder said...
Is the RPI biased? Because the Big Ten is second in conference RPI, ahead of the Big East. Michigan State went 15-3 in the 2nd ranked RPI conference.
I don't think it's fair to judge MSU on that loss to Maryland. It was in November -- before Kalin Lucas really emerged -- and Suton didn't play.
Since then they won in Texas and easily handled Kansas.
The UNC game, well, that was ugly. But that was one game and it was UNC.