The Top Ten Performances of the 2008-09 Season
kj on Apr 9th 2009
I’ve decided not to post any commentary of a forward-looking nature until we get over to the new site. For now, let’s revel in the season that has been.
One of the things that made this season so special was the number of guys who stepped up at various times during the season to get [...]
Purdue Game Recap (3/8/09)
kj on Mar 8th 2009
MSU guts out their 15th conference win 62-51 in a 68-possession. StatSheet box score.
Raise your hand if you had us winning the conference by FOUR games:
TEAM
CONFERENCE
OVERALL
Michigan State
15-3
25-5
Illinois
11-7
23-8
Purdue
11-7
22-9
Ohio State
10-8
20-9
Penn State
10-8
21-10
Wisconsin
10-8
19-11
Minnesota
9-9
21-9
Michigan
9-9
19-12
Northwestern
8-10
17-12
Iowa
5-13
15-16
Indiana
1-17
6-24
In a conference with 8 teams deserving of an NCAA bid–and a 9th team that will probably end up a couple blown leads away from the Big [...]
Iowa Game Recap
kj on Feb 26th 2009
MSU scoots by Iowa 62-54 in a 59-possession game. StatSheet box score.
The reflexive thing to say after you’ve beat a vastly inferior team by just 8 points at home is to say the team “lost focus” or “didn’t keep their foot on the pedal.” I’m going to resist that temptation and say MSU did exactly [...]
Purdue Game Preview
kj on Feb 16th 2009
I’m back–like a bad rash.
Rankings Update
AP: #6 (up from #9)
Coaches: #5 (up from #9)
Blogpoll: #6 (up from #11)
Sagarin: #7 (up from #8)
Kenpom: #9 (up from #11)
RPI: #6 (up from #7)
Bracketology: #2 seed (steady from last week)
Crashing the Dance: #2 seed (steady from last week)
Crashing the Dance has us as the highest of the #2 seeds. [...]
Michigan Game Recap (2/10/09)
kj on Feb 11th 2009
The Spartans battle past the Wolverines 54-42 in a 55-possession game. StatSheet box score.
This is not the bar graph we were expecting:
Stats by StatSheet.com
They turned the ball over more than we did. And we barely outrebounded them.
In the end, it came down to creating scoring opportunities. We converted 2 more field goals and 9 more [...]
Minnesota Game Recap (2/4/09)
kj on Feb 5th 2009
The Spartans bury the Gophers 76-47 in a 65-possession game. StatSheet box score.
A very impressive start to the new home-court winning streak, to say the least. MSU did everything we thought they needed to do, and they did it in abundance:
Knocked down perimeters shots (7-12 on 3-pointers).
Controlled both the offensive and defensive glass (42-26 overall [...]
Monday Night Musings: Crashing the Glass Edition
kj on Jan 19th 2009
Rankings Update
AP: #7 (steady from last week)
Coaches: #7 (up from #10)
Sagarin: #8 (up from #10)
Kenpom: #18 (up from #23)
RPI: #3 (up from#4)
Bracketology: #2 seed (up from #3 seed)
The human voters now agree that we’re the best two-loss, non-UNC team in the country. Sagarin basically agrees (with one-loss Clemson ranked a spot ahead of us there) [...]