Big Ten Semi-final Open Thread

Valentine is the king of using his off hand to push off on drives. And the king of ugliness.

Broadcasters brought up a good point.  How many times will you have two Kaminski's in one game?

I hate both of these teams with the heat of one thousand suns. 

Don't want to play Staee tomorrow. They are going to be out for blood.

Anybody else have shoddy audio on the CBSSports online feed? 

MSU is rolling

but Branden Dawson being in there seems to make a difference. Lots of put backs.

Ouch - MSU playing well thus far.

How does Payne get the and 1 on that?

Wisconsin is only 4-18, including 2-7 from three point land. Yuck. That means they are 2-11 from inside, so I suppose this means that Bo Ryan will need to draw up some sort of hex to slow down the Spartans. I sense an appearance of the Rebounding Wraiths at some point if things do not improve for the Badgers. 

Schilling and Byrd in? Time for a Wisconsin run... that is if they could make a shot.

Tom Izzo having a conniption

Izzo freaked out there, for naught

Sparty is balling right now.  Wisconsin isn't exactly playing great*, but damn.

*Edit: Actally 'Scansin is playing like poo.

3 steps must not be a travel anymore. This game and ours.

keeps playing like this.

We were supposed to be seeing all year. Yikes.

State is hot and I'm worried

WTF? Does that annoying bitch go to every single MSU game? 

State is playing good but Wisconsin isn't.

It's sp much more fun when Brust punks other teams at the buzzer.

so they don't get  to rest their starters.

Big spurt here by 'Scansin, actually.  If they can play a little defense and get this back to 9-12 before half, all is not lost for them.

Guys haven't we watched enough basketball to know this stuff? As long as the lead is around 10 points at half it's absolutely a game.

Payne just trucked a dude hard. If Jordan Morgan were on either end of that play, he would have picked up a foul.

then what?

And a run by Sparty here, back up 18.  1:00 left.

Appling carried twice on that fast break

MSU super impressive today - dont think they can shoot better than today, 70% lol

When we beat Sparty the first time, at the Breslin, had the injury bug bitten them yet, or were they at full strength? That was back in January, and I'm not sure what their roster status was, but we won by 5 on their floor . . . 

If this is how Staae plays tomorrow we're going to have our hands full for 40 mins.

Scary shit right now.

Wisconsin starting to play like they did during that rough stretch they had at the beginning of the B1G season. If anything this game makes me question how far I'll have them go in my bracket.

With a little luck, Payne will have another altercation with a table. /s

MSU shot 66% in 1st half, Wiscy 28%.

It's looking more and more like Michigan's going to have a shot at Jeri Ryan tomorrow.

That's right.  7 of 9.

Double

Sparty, come out to plaaaaay...............

Looking like their rounding into typical March form.

Wiscy certainly isn't done but I like M getting a firmer hold on a potential one seed.

Wiscy is susceptible up the middle and staee is fairly athletic, certainly more so that staee.  Unless things change, I can't see Wiscy coming back.

Wiscy is susceptible up the middle and staee is fairly athletic, certainly more so that staee.  Unless things change, I can't see Wiscy coming back.

I cannot stand Doug Gottlieb.

Apparently, the TV Guy consensus is that State will win the national championship. Amazing where half of a game and Izzo hype will take you

Did anyone else see this CWebb BK commercial? Interesting he's representing the fake U of M jersey while trying to "distance himself" from anything Fab 5 related.

The big 7'er going to work now. Can make this game interesting if MSU starts getting into foul trouble. 

Please do that tomorrow as well

Floor Slap! Please go on a run Wisky

Good job of Sparty lowering their defensive PPP when slapping the floor there. Fouling can only bring down their 2.4 defensive PPP. Idiots.

Man, even though MSU looks good right now, Wisco still scares me more for some reason. Probably shell shock from recent memories.

CBS giving a serious BJ to MSU right now. "I dont think there are four better teams in the country - when healthy - that are better than MSU". Good grief shut up. They've been healthy enough that they can't make these dumb excuses

So sick of these fucking announcers. I hope we do get another shot at State. Let's shut their fucking mouths.

Whoever the #1 is that draws MSU as a #4 or whatever, is really going to be unhappy with life . . . 

MSU shooting 61.5% thru 3/4 of game

'Adreian's Payne: Learning to Read'

Downtown!!!!! holy shit.

They are right about the experience thing with MSU - most high rated 5 stars are gone post sophomore year so MSU has experience most teams don't due to slow development.  Most 5 stars go to the NBA after 2 years. MSU retains them forever... Dawson and Payne lol... Appling was a HS All American to boot.  Payne is a 23 year old 5 star - big men are a premium.  Compare to Vonleh who is a top 10 mock draft guy after 1 year in NCAA. 

Only Gary Harris is someone on a normal path for a high end 5 star.  Izzo spends the first 2 years breaking down players and then trying to rebuild them back up in their jr and sr year - that calendar is not working for most high end recruits now.  Harris is one guy he never did try to break down.

Wisconsin scares me more than MSU. Good to see Sparty putting the beat down. 

Michigan has a better chance of bashing Staee than Wisconsin, who has actually beaten Michigan 

MSU is hitting almost 60 percent of their shots, including 3's.  How likely are they to shoot the same way tomorrow?

If that's a blocking foul, I'm Barack Obama.

If that's not a charge then there is no more charge call

Both Wiscy and MSU are really working....could help us tomorrow.  Wishful thinking?

It amazes me how the offensive player can push off and bump and get the call now.

Or are they just doing a Sparty rah-rah informercial. These guys are unbelievable.

Izzo may need a BeatsPill suppository if this game gets any closer.

Rooting for a triple overtime game

Wisconsin is clawing away. Should be a good finish.

to make up for it. Do you think that's fair?

Think it's going to be too little too late for Wisconsin. Hope I'm wrong.

Counted 10 references to injuries for Sparty so far....over under was 14...

Kaminsky is a beast

Wisconsin just can't get a stop. Oh wait they did, and then fouled.

We have state supremacy right now. I don't like Sparty getting a shot at putting a dent in it. We'd have less to lose against Wisconsin.

Kaminsky is NBA-ready.

When State was up big the announcers said, "This is MSU at full strength." Then it got closer, "MSU has all their guys back but they're not at full strength." Now that they held on, "MSU finally at full strength."

Well, Sparty fans finally have their wish. They are still convinced their team is better, so we shall see tomorrow. Even with a loss, I won't be upset one bit because M has the real conference title and we still beat them twice.

It's like Izzo is in the booth with the annoucers reminding them about Michigan State's injuries every five seconds.  I mean if I didn't follow the B1G I would think that half of State's players were in the hospital at any given time.

Let's beat 'em three times this year!

Looks like we get all 3 of our Rivals in this tourney

It's gonna be tough tomorrow, but if we do win every msu fan's head will explode.