While I am aware that the second game hasn’t been played yet, I am still too amped from the first game, Michigan State versus Connecticut, to not start writing right away. Plus, I spent the majority of the day laying in bed for no real reason and I just wanted to be productive. As I have stated before I have left my humble home in the midwest and now live in the New York, in fact very close to Connecticut, so the hype surrounding this game was high all week. I was lucky enough to pick Michigan State to win the game and was more or less scorned for it but such is the nature of the NCAA basketball tournament. Now let me preface this and say I am not a big MSU fan at all and, in fact, as an IU alum and someone who bleeds cream and crimson, I pretty much hate every other team in the Big Ten. However, that game was too, for a lack of eloquence, awesome to not throw support behind MSU.
As anyone who has been within earshot of me during a sporting events know that I am curmudgeony grumpy 22 year old and I can find fault with just about anything. I was expecting to get angry calls from the neighbors complaining at my yelling at the refs through the TV, but alas I agreed with almost every single call that was made tonight. On top of the great reffing, I absolutely loved the way the game was played tonight. Both teams were physical, strategic, athlectic, and played some damn good defense. Having nothing to blame in the game I just have to get behind both teams for playing well.
Michigan State won the game the only way they could have being faster and smarter than UConn. I was impressed to see a six foot four inch Summers out jumping Thabeet and grabbing amazing rebounds. While I don’t have the official tally, I can guarantee that MSU won the rebounding battle on the offensive boards, which, after a week of analysts raving about the UConn frontcourt, is astonishing. Rebounding and athleticism aside, MSU was pinpoint accurate with their shooting, taking open shots square to the basket. In addition to shooting, MSU played absolutely agressive defensive and ran their half court sets to perfection. Michigan State was definitely a sleeper this year, I was surpised at the depth of the bench and aggressive play they displayed. I really did think the Big Ten had a down year this year, though that just may be due to my Hoosiers not playing well.
Though I can fawn over the great MSU play tonight, I can’t stay that UConn didn’t shoot themselves in the foot a little bit. Calhoun waited way too long to switch to the full court press. With more than half of the MSU team in foul trouble putting some pressure on MSU could have only made the situation better for UConn. Also, UConn, hit some free throws! If they had even gone 80% from the line tonight they would have won this game easily. It was rather evident that UConn was just not as into this game as MSU was from the beginning. I know that MSU was basically playing a home game being only a hour away from East Lansing but I have seen plenty of teams play energetic basketball in hostile environments. The only real fire I saw from the UConn team was in the scuffle that erupted early in the first half and that dissipated quickly.
Some kudos definitely have to go the hated (by me) Izzo. Whether it was a byproduct of aggressive defense or sloppy play, fouling a lot and early broke the UConn stride especially since they tend to play a smaller number of players. Izzo coached teams are known for their speed and athleticism and his constant turnover of players was critical tonight. The fast up and down of the MSU offensive definitely broke the slow frontcourt of UConn. With the excellent coaching and play of the MSU team I saw tonight, I would not be surprised if they won it all this year.
