" title="Spartans Weblog">Spartans Weblog

MSU’s Izzo: Pick up the purpose
100 three-point makes for Chris Allen after every practice.  For whatever reason, he’s never really looked like a Respert/Neitzel-like shooter to me in terms of consistency.
Green Lenses Takes Izzo and the Pistons Under the Microscope
Spartan Nation takes Tom Izzo to task for Wednesday’s loss.  Agree they didn’t attack the [...]

Some good news for a rivalry week Friday: Russell Byrd has chosen Michigan State over Kentucky and Michigan.  What we know about Mr. Byrd:

Junior out of Fort Wayne.  Becomes MSU’s second commitment of the 2010 class, joining Keith Appling.
6′7″, 190-pound forward known for his perimeter shooting ability.
Ranked as a 4-star recruit by both Scout and [...]

Per Jerry Tipton of the Lexington Herald, Russell Byrd will choose between Kentucky, Michigan State, and Michigan on Friday:
“He felt he had enough information,” Kelly Byrd said about his son. “He’d seen enough, heard enough. He wanted to take this week to pray and discuss this with his mother and father.”
Is this a good sign [...]

Here’s a blow-by-blow account of the practice session for MSU media members held last week.  Do you think they’d let a loyal Spartan blogger in next year?
(I will now use this lame segueway to talk about my Breslin Center glories of days gone by: As a sophomore, I attended walk-on tryouts just for the heck [...]

The MSU beat guys all participated in Tom Izzo’s second annual practice day for media types yesterday:
Steve Grinzcel wants to know why anyone would need to learn how to dribble two basketballs at once.
Eric Lacy reports that Delvon Roe is “ahead of schedule” in recovering from his two knee surgeries.  Also, he’s definitely a true [...]

Basketball Links

Russell Byrd is down to five schools: Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Michigan State, and Ohio State (subscriber-only link; article was free when I first accessed it, for whatever reason).
Raymar Morgan is the #4 NBA prospect in the Big Ten (among non-freshmen). Harris, Turner, and Lighty are 1-3; Hummel is 5.  (Hat tip: UMHoops).
From the Barn [...]

Izzo is reportedly in the hunt for 6′7″ shooting guard Russell Byrd out of Fort Wayne (a 2010 recruit), as is John Beilein. Byrd’s father indicates Iowa is currently the leader, though. This quote from Mr. Byrd is enlightening regarding Izzo’s plans for the next two recruiting classes:
“They said they had three scholarships [...]