AARGH

I just got done reading 3 Final Four preview articles and EACH ONE had a "Tom Izzo to Kentucky" reference. I am sick of hearing about how we will lose him every year! How come we're not hearing about how Kentucky should go after Jay Wright or Jim Calhoun??? We are a premier program and Adolph Rupp hasn't been around for years unless you count Jon Voight! Kentucky doesn't deserve Izzo and that's that.

What Else

I think that was the most exciting, perfect game of basketball I have ever seen from MSU. They played stellar defense, avoided the press with good ballhandling skills and deep passes, drained 3 point shots they had no business making, and uncharacteristically kept the game locked up in the last 10 minutes. I am a little ashamed to say it because it is just a game, but I almost cried I was so happy. And I was watching it on tape delay! Before, I was convinced Louisville's easy game against Arizona would leave them well rested, but it actually weakened them. I don't think they came ready to play their ass off the whole game and our tough defense visibly frustrated them. Suton was great in the post, from deep, on defense, and I think he even sang the national anthem. Let's look a little deeper into what went wrong, though.

2 Pts, 2 Reb, 1 Ast, 6 Fouls
6 Pts, 10 Reb, 3 Ast, 3 Fouls

The first numbers are the combined stats for STARTERS Delvon Roe and Raymar Morgan. The second are Draymond Green's, who played the same amount of time as Roe and Morgan combined, 24 minutes. What in the heck are we going to do with Raymar? I know he's gotta be out of playing shape after dealing with being sick for a few weeks. Also, where was Idong Ibok? He only played 1 minute, which had to have been in junk time. Were Green and Suton so good we didn't need to use him? Luckily, we have great depth, which Louisville was also supposed to boast. However, they only had points from 6 players, 2 of which scored in double digits. (We had 9 and 3 in comparison). McGee and Samuels both played more than half of the game without recording a single point.

So now onto the Final Four. This season, the two things that would leave me happily satisfied with the season were a regular season championship (something we have been without for too long) and a Final Four berth to keep Izzo's streak alive. And now we have both. Did someone tell UNC, UConn, and Nova that the fairytale ending belonged to us? Thirty years after our first national championship, the most watched college basketball game ever, we get to play in our home state, which has been reeling from the worst unemployment rate in the country. Oh, and if we make it to the finals, we have a very good chance of playing a revenge game against the team that beat us by more than 30 points in that very building earlier this year. If the lack of Cinderellas in the first few rounds made finding a story difficult for sportswriters, we will make their jobs a piece of cake.

Do I think we will beat UConn? Possibly, even though they have NEVER LOST A FINAL FOUR OR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME EVER. Thabeet will have to step out on Suton, leaving us open to drive into the paint. On the other end, I think Suton will be able to contain Thabeet. He hasn't been committing a lot of fouls, so that isn't an issue. We will have to have a fantastic shooting performance like we did tonight. If we shoot like we did against Kansas, we'll lose. We were able to win before because we were good, and as they say, if you want to win beginning in the Elite 8, you need to be good and lucky.

Bracket Remorse

I just got done making my final edits to my bracket and I must say - I hate it. Now let's see where I've gone wrong:

-Trouble picking a 6/11 upset. The teams are a lot closer in talent and abilities than you'd think. But I really like Arizona St, WVU, and I think that VCU over UCLA is too obvious of a pick. I resigned myself to selecting 11 Utah St to beat 6 Marquette due to their injuries and the fact that I'd pick Mizzou to beat both of them - so who cares if I get it wrong. In fact, I am overrated the 6 seeds so much, I had all 3 of my surviving 6 seeds advancing to the sweet 16 until I thought better and gave Syracuse the nod over Arizona St.

-Easiest bracket to select: South. I like UNC and Oklahoma, I don't like Illinois or Gonzaga. I am probably making a mistake by putting Arizona St into the Sweet 16

-Most difficult bracket to select: East. I like Pitt all the way, but I don't really like anyone else. I made the mistake at first with selecting too much chalk.

-Best upset pick: Arizona over Utah. I think this will work opposite from the "team snubbed by the BCS loses their bowl game" principle. People don't think they should be in the tournament, so they win.

-Upset pick I was too chicken to make: Ohio State over Louisville. It was too risky for not enough pay off (I have Wake Forest going to the Final Four regardless). Plus, I think my judgement may be clouded.

-Conference I am overrating: Big East. Pitt! UConn! WVU! Syracuse! Louisville! You're all invited to my sweet 16!

Conference I am underrating: All of the mid-majors and minors. Western Kentucky is the only team from a non-major conference in my sweet 16. Ooops.

-Pick I am happiest with: Pitt wins the National Championship. I really like this team. They're fun to watch and they are very talented. I think they have the least amount of blemishes compared to the other top contenders.

-Best first round matchup: OSU vs. Siena. It seems like everyone is expecting Siena to win, but I think OSU proved a lot at the end of the season and in the Big 10 tournament.

-Most boring first round matchup: Missouri vs. Cornell. ZZZzzzzZZZzzz

-One final note: Did you catch the women's bracket? MSU is a #9 seed and, somehow, gets to play their first two round games. If they win game 1, they most likely face #1 seed Duke. They're going to let us play Duke, Joanne P's Duke team, at home?!

Ways to Improve the Lions

Since players are now "forgetting to show up to the combine in shape" in order to avoid having to play for the Lions, I have come up with some improvements on how to turn things around.

1. Officially change team name to "Devil Lions". Then, days before the season, remove "Devil" from name.

2. Sign Allen Iverson and bench him. Instant improvement.

3. Hold ceremony to mark the end of the Bobby Layne curse. Did he say they wouldn't win for 50 years, or IN 50 years? Either way, he was right.

4. Print a fake memo titled "QB Trade Possibilities" on Bronco letterhead and let it "accidentally" find its way to Jay Cutler. Then stock up on insulin.

5. Send expensive "wedding gift" to Giselle Bundschen-Brady.

6. Lobby NFL to expand the back of the endzone by 5 yards so "trick" QB rollout play will work.

Team Poisons

There is a poll up on ESPN right now - "Which of these players would you want as a teammate: Alex Rodriguez, Terrell Owens, or Manny Ramirez?" To me, this is a VERY easy decision. I was surprised, however, because my pick was not the top national selection.

By now, I'm sure you've selected your option. I would pick Manny, even though he caused Boston some headaches. Alex Rodriguez, however, was the top choice with 50% of the vote (Manny had 42% and TO received an unsurprising 8%). I am guessing because Manny and TO are thought to be more poisonous than A-Rod to team chemistry. While he may be immature at times, Manny is a winner. I am not sure that Boston would have won 2 championships without him and I'm not sure the Dodgers would've made the playoffs without him. He is by far one of the best sluggers in the league right now and hasn't faced steroid allegations. A-Rod's offenses may seem to affect his teammates less, but he doesn't contribute anywhere near as much as Manny. Plus, there are the reports that his Yankee teammates initially hated him and created the nickname "A-Fraud". Manny, on the other hand, has really good relationships many of his teammates (although I concede, not all). While Boston may have had to deal with "Manny being Manny", they also must thank him for 2 championships.

Hope

The last year Michigan State had 5 losses in the regular season was 2004-05. That was also the last time we went to the Final Four. In fact, every year, for the past 10 years, when we have had 5 or fewer losses in the regular season, we've made it to the Final Four.