Unwarranted MSU/Izzo love

Submitted by Franz Schubert on

ESPN has posted the latest video of Seth Greenberg and the crew talking about MSU's Final four possibilities with Brandon Dawson in the lineup. This is really unbelievable, Dawson has always been a headcase who has no jumpshot whatsoever and turns the ball over a ton whenever he actually tries to dribble. He rebounds well and plays good on ball defense but is actually not very good off the ball. Hardly the difference maker he is being made out to be. Why so much love for MSU which is 2-5 against the top half of the conference. Even more telling, MSU has zero wins in regulation against the top 7 teams in the conference.

4godkingandwol…

February 25th, 2014 at 12:22 PM ^

... as a new parent, it made me laugh.  Those little buggers are quite resilient, and a cell phone dropped onto his chest from that height isn't going to do any damage.  maybe just startle the little guy.   It would still make me feel super guilty.   If it hit him in the head, it may be a different story.   

Evil Empire

February 25th, 2014 at 1:53 PM ^

I dropped my son on his head when he was about 10 months old.  I feel compelled to clarify that I was holding him, upright, with my right arm when he made an unforeshadowed and swift backward lean, and I was able to slow him down but was unable to stop him.  The back of his head hit the linoleum (thank goodness we didn't have tile) and suddenly everybody in the kitchen was screeching except for me.  My son is now three and a half and doing just fine.

socrking

February 25th, 2014 at 11:18 AM ^

Check out terry fosters article on draymond green in the Detroit news. There are lots of excuses couched in between claims that MSU doesn't make excuses. It's gold, jerry.

dahblue

February 25th, 2014 at 11:34 AM ^

That was a tough read.  Poor Draymond, not only does he have a goofy name, but he seems to be the last guy to truly buy into the Tom Izzo legend.  It'd be one thing if this were just a down year with lots of recruits en route, but that sure isn't the case.  

At least that's the only rah-rah MSU press post-game.  No Drew Sharp, no Mike Valenti...just silence.  It's nice.

Evil Empire

February 25th, 2014 at 2:10 PM ^

Green is a guy who loves his former coach and has fond memories of when MSU beat UM all the time.  It might make sense if MSU was tearing it up against everybody else and had lost a fluky game on the road to a bad UM team.  Instead it reads like Pravda.

 

Draymond Green 1, Straw Man 0.

socrking

February 25th, 2014 at 11:18 AM ^

Check out terry fosters article on draymond green in the Detroit news. There are lots of excuses couched in between claims that MSU doesn't make excuses. It's gold, jerry.

MGoCombs

February 25th, 2014 at 11:19 AM ^

I do think a truly healthy MSU is a serious tournament contender, but truly healthy to me doesn't mean Dawson vs no Dawson, it means full strength Appling and Payne as well.



However, that's no excuse, since plenty of teams can make that same point (we know personally). I do think given zero injuries, MSU has a better record over those 7 games you mentioned, but I don't think that's an excuse, since that's just part of the game.

MGoCombs

February 27th, 2014 at 12:58 PM ^

Really late here, but I completely agree. I don't think the points are mutually exclusive. I just think MSU (who is already a fringe contender) would be a legitimate contender at full strength. I'm not sure why that's a controversial point. That probably goes for a lot of teams, which is why the excuse they use is stupid. I think it's equally stupid to pretend that they wouldn't be better if everyone was healthy.

brewandbluesaturdays

February 25th, 2014 at 11:22 AM ^

Coming into the season I honestly thought MSU was clearly (in my mind) the likely team in the B1G to contend for a NC. I personally thought THJ and Burke leaving would be too much of a loss for M. But, the sympathy they get for their injuries is maddening. Their players to me, didn't develop nearly at all since last year and the games they lost haven't been depth issues. They've been out coached and out worked. I'm not saying M is going to win it all (please?) but the players at M have clearly developed their game and have over come significant losses to the roster. What would they be saying if M were getting McGary back?

JHendo

February 25th, 2014 at 11:24 AM ^

Seeing as it's a known fact that MSU probably would've beat Michigan by around 30 or so points if they were healthy, it's obvious that once Dawson's table smash hand is back, they're going to be an unstoppable force in the tourney.  I mean, all you have to do to is look at their manhandling of U of M this weekend and how much more dominant they've been in general since they got Payne back.  Oh wait, Michigan was still better than them with Payne back.

Yo_Blue

February 25th, 2014 at 1:42 PM ^

Appling's floor slap to start the second half cost them ten points and helped to re-re-re-injure his wrist.  That, plus the resulting Stauskus layup is a dozen points right there.

And if Izzo had longer arms he could have gotten to the pass to end the first half - there's another three points.

jtmc33

February 25th, 2014 at 11:26 AM ^

I'm okay with this.   Let MSU make a tourney run.   I want every Big 10 team to do well in the tourney.

At the end of the season, even if MSU is an Elite 8 team* we still own them in 2013-2014.

*I say Elite 8 because while I want them to have a tourney run, let's not let another Final 4 go to their heads.

WolvinLA2

February 25th, 2014 at 11:31 AM ^

This is the sort of stuff ESPN talks about.  Saying "Kansas is good" or 'Syracuse is good" only goes so far, so they bring up stuff like "If team X can get player Y back by the tourney, expect them to go further than previously expected" or something like that.

And he's not too off base.  MSU is probably a Sweet 16 team.  Dawson is a good player, and having him play in place of Costello makes them a better team.  That way Costello can come off the bench and give Dawson and/or Payne a rest, rather than those scrubs they have coming off the bench now.

ClearEyesFullHart

February 25th, 2014 at 11:35 AM ^

None of these guys have made it past the sweet 16 yet...What makes them think this year will be different?

I've got a bet with a sparty co-worker that MSU will NOT make the final 4.  I feel pretty good about my chances.

In reply to by ClearEyesFullHart

Franz Schubert

February 25th, 2014 at 11:43 AM ^

When you consider they have not improved individually, in fact Harris has certainly regressed, this team even healthy is not as good as last years team with Nix.

antidaily

February 25th, 2014 at 11:32 AM ^

Why did Dawson break his hand?

Because he was frustrated by how bad he's been (and Dakich pointing it out). So, yeah, I wouldnt expect some miracle boost from him coming back.

gwkrlghl

February 25th, 2014 at 11:34 AM ^

but they and their slappies need to man up and give us the credit we deserve for the season sweep. We've been without Mitch McGary for months and we still a) swept MSU and b) lead the Big Ten without the guy who was supposed to be our best player by far.

So everyone can shut it. We're better than you without (arguably) our best returning player. Your tears are delicious

jmblue

February 25th, 2014 at 11:39 AM ^

I'm surprised Izzo's getting a free pass for what looks like pretty gross mismanagement of Appling's injury.  He could have shut Appling down back in December and let him make a full recovery.  Instead he's been trotting out Appling all these weeks and Appling has been neither effective nor getting healthier.  It's probably going to come back to haunt them in the tourney.

 

 

kehnonymous

February 25th, 2014 at 11:47 AM ^

So, serious question...

between Terry Foster, Mike Rosenberg, Mitch Albom, Rob Parker and Drew Sharp, is it fair to say that Detroit is pretty much the 1992 Dream Team of bad sportswriters?

(edit:  D'oops.  This was in reply to comment #10 about Terry Foster)

lilpenny1316

February 25th, 2014 at 7:16 PM ^

Said a couple former Spartans were at a game together when they actually weren't. They told him in advance that they'd be there, but they weren't.  He wrote this feel good article about the encounter.

Mitch is not an idiot and I think he's a great journalist, but he pretty much skated without much reprimanding.