Now that the Top 25 has come out, it is time to preview some of the best college teams in the 2010-11 season. The key to having a successful team is having the perfect blend of athleticism, fundamentals and chemistry. Last week, we broke down the No. 1 ranked Duke Blue Devils. This week’s profile will be on Tom Izzo’s Michigan State Spartans. Read More »

Everybody wants to make the Hoosiers comparison, but the best movie for Butler‘s surprise run to the NCAA championship game might be Invictus. Yesterday’s win over Michigan State was like part basketball and part rugby. It was ugly, it was grimy, it was gritty, but the Bulldogs pulled off the upset despite shooting 31% from the field, enduring a 10-minute stretch in the second half where they didn’t make a shot, and trying time and time again to give the Spartans the game … Read More »

For all of those haters and “experts” who have been crying from moment the original NCAA Tournament seedings were announced weeks ago (and there were many) that Duke was handed a cakewalk to the Final Four, know this: when the smoke clears, Duke will have absolutely earned their stripes by battling through what has quickly become the most difficult road to a national championship faced by any team in the field. Read More »

Why will Michigan State win the national championship? As I sat down and thought about what to plug into the blank document in front of me, I really believed I could finish this post and still feel completely vindicated with a mere two words: Tom Izzo.

Izzo, in my opinion, is arguably the best coach in the nation — a tier accompanied by only a few other greats — and prepares his players like no other. Read More »

College basketball’s Decepticons are back. Duke is in the Final Four for the 11th time during Coach K‘s reign (and the first time since ’04), so if you’d been missing Krzyzewski’s scowl, the army of three-point bombers, the goofy big guys, the smug grins, the confident swagger, and Dick Vitale re-enacting an Extenze commercial with every TV cameo (“I’m bigger!”) you’re glad to see the program the rest of us love to hate back on the biggest stage … The Blue Devils trailed Baylor at halftime, as their turnovers led to transition buckets, and it looked like LaceDarius Dunn outside (22 pts) and Ekpe Udoh inside (18 pts, 10 rebs, 5 blks) might be able to carry the Bears to the win. Read More »

If Tom Izzo really does have an underground Lord of the Rings-style factory where he builds his Michigan State army from scratch, he wasn’t even being creative when he made Korie Lucious as the eventual successor to Kalin Lucas. Similar name, similar game, and if you saw the spin move and floater that Lucious (10 pts, 6 asts, 4 stls) hit last night to stick the dagger in Northern Iowa and send the Spartans to yet another Elite Eight, you couldn’t help but remember Lucas’ similar shot that iced Kansas in the tourney last year … Read More »

After the first three days of the NCAA Tournament belonged to lovable underdogs like Jimmer Fredette, Ali Farokhmanesh, Cornell and the St. Mary’s Hoosiers, Day 4 belonged to the big dogs — a.k.a. the Big Ten. Thanks to Korie Lucious and Chris Kramer‘s clutch play and Evan Turner‘s overall dominance, we’re headed to the Sweet Sixteen with the Big Ten having more teams still standing (Ohio State, Michigan State, Purdue) than any other conference, including the much-hyped Big East … Michigan State was trailing Maryland by one with six seconds left after Greivis Vasquez (26 pts, 8 asts, 3 stls) hit a tough shot in the lane. The Spartans got it to Lucious (13 pts), and the sophomore calmly found his spot and drained a three at the buzzer. Read More »

OK, so I was wrong. While I had the right reasons, I picked the wrong team. But after watching Michigan State maraud through the Midwest bracket and take out my pre-Tournament pick, Louisville, along the way, I can say this now: The Spartans will take the ’09 national championship. And they’ll do it for a lot of the same reasons I originally picked the ‘Ville: Read More »