Sunday, March 28, 2010

Spartan basketball: the magic continues

We're less than an hour from tip-off of Michigan State's Elite Eight matchup against Tennessee. Is there still magic left? Do our guys have enough left in the tank to get past this game and on to another, most improbable, Final Four?

MSU basketball continues to amaze me. Tom Izzo's brilliance as a coach continues to bowl me over. This is a team that lost it's starting point guard for the season, has a forward (Delvon Roe) whose knee is in excruciating pain, a guard (Chris Allen) who is still nursing* a sprained arch. The team is getting valuable minutes out of a walk-on from Okemos High School (Mike Kebler). It's essentially a team that is seemingly held together with duct tape (or, maybe more appropriately, athletic tape). Yet, somehow, they've continued to win gutty game after gutty game in this NCAA tournament. Korie Lucious has exceeded most everyone's expectations and has been brilliant at point guard. Draymond Green has established himself as the team's emotional leader, Raymar Morgan and Durrell Summers, two players who have confounded fans and media with their inconsistent play during the regular season, are now playing their best basketball of the year. It seems that the injuries have united the team, rather than hurt them.

After a regular season in which the team was plagued by suspensions, incohesion, and spells of uninspired play, these guys have gotten it together at the best possible time and despite all logic, are on a roll. Now they go up against a very good, extremely athletic, if inconsistent, Tennessee Volunteers team. I don't know what's going to happen, but I have a feeling that this MSU team may be a team of destiny. Whatever happens, it will be an exhilirating ride, and whatever this MSU team has left will be icing on the cake.

*I have no idea why this word is showing up like this, but don't click on the link--I had nothing to do with it leading to this site.

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