Comments on: Illinois Game Recap (1/17/08)

By: Illinois Game Preview | Spartans Weblog

Illinois Game Preview | Spartans Weblog — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 17:52:10 +0000

[...] to playing teams with aggressive man-to-man defenses. And Illinois is one of those teams. In the first match-up, Illinois forced us to give the ball up 18 times in 66 possessions (27.3%), as the three point [...]

By: Emily

Emily — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 21:50:20 +0000

I’m pretty sure we went WAY overboard on the camping out, but we had gotten hosed the year before (ended up in the upper deck) so we weren’t going to risk that happening again.

“He was an unheralded player out of high school who signed up to play for an unheralded coach at a school that had been relatively unheralded for the last 15 years. He worked his butt off, overcame some adversity along the way, and became an all-American.”

I forgot to say in my first comment that truer words could not be spoken. Mo was the antithesis of Jon Garavaglia (who by contrast was Mr. Basketball and a total disappointment at the college level – in my opinion because he didn’t want to work for it).

By: kj

kj — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 21:19:01 +0000

Second row in the corner by the visitor’s bench. We must have been pretty close.

Somehow, I managed to get those seats without any great feats of strength. I think I just got to Jenison an hour or two early.

By: Emily

Emily — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 21:14:06 +0000

Where were your 1999/2000 season seats? We were 5th row behind the visiting bench (before it was Izzone, but we camped out for 3 days to get those seats. The cops actually made us collapse our tent in the rain, so we were sleeping with our heads hanging out the door like a giant sleeping bag).

I’m with you, wouldn’t trade that experience for all the money in the world. I only wish I’d begged my parents to loan me the money to go to Indy. $1000 was Trump change to me back then.

I thought it was fitting that Mo’s jersey was retired before the IU game since they were our biggest rivals in those years. The Big 10 tourney that year was wicked (Chicago will always be best).

Thanks for the recap, I’m very jealous that you got to go (and for Cleaves’ too). These are the times I wish I hadn’t moved so far away.

By: kj

kj — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 17:31:54 +0000

Is that like “Let the Wookie win”?

Here’s the youtube video Seer posted in one of the comments I accidentally deleted:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jj_s73PTq5I

By: witless chum

witless chum — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 15:50:14 +0000

To future opponents: Word to the wise, just let Draymond Green have the ball.

By: Sparty Basketball

Sparty Basketball — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 13:24:04 +0000

The subtitle “Return of the turnovers” is great. I thought the same thing. It wasn’t the actual number, it was the quality of turnovers. 18 total turnovers when Illinois only had 5 steals confirms the careless basketball that we saw. It took me back to the days when Alan Anderson was running the point.

By: SpartanDan

SpartanDan — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 08:09:59 +0000

Seer: Next time Maracich is one of the refs, I’ll bet it happens. He’s either got a real quick trigger or is incompetent enough to get Izzo really ticked off on a regular basis, because he’s given Izzo four technicals in the last five MSU games he’s worked.

By: Seer

Seer — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 08:07:25 +0000

I really thought this would be the game where Izzo would go off on the refs in his post game. The way things are going it’s inevitable to happen.

By: GroundZeroEastLansing

GroundZeroEastLansing — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 06:28:33 +0000

That game took a couple years off my life, but the Spartans are 5-0 in the Big Ten at the end, and that’s what matters.

Two thoughts: the first…to answer anyone who thought that Walton almost blew the game at the end with his foul shots (and granted, they were U-G-L-I UGLY), they didn’t see the plays that made up for it on the defensive end, where he almost single-handedly stopped the Illini from scoring.

Second…you need another moderator on Wednesday? Because I’d be happy to lend you a hand.