Yet what disappoints – frankly, embarrasses – me now is that I failed to see Michigan State coming.
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It’s only the Big Ten tournament semifinals, but Maryland and Michigan State played a championship-level game Saturday.
A team I picked to finish fifth in the Big Ten – behind Maryland, Indiana, Wisconsin and Purdue – turned out to be not only the best in the conference, but, I believe, the best in the land.
Instead, the Spartans are a second-seed in the Midwest. The Boilermakers are allowing 31.1 percent shooting from deep and are grabbing 41 rebounds per game. “Denzel made an incredible shot and they made a few more plays”. Valentine had another All-American-type game, scoring 18 points with 10 assists and seven rebounds.
Twelve hours after his team returned to East Lansing from Indianapolis, where it won the Big Ten tournament on Sunday night and learned its NCAA Tournament draw shortly thereafter, Izzo was able to give his initial impressions of the Spartans’ first opponent.
Michigan State: Is 5-1 in Big Ten championship games and tied Ohio State for the most tourney titles.
And now the Spartans will enter the NCAA Tournament in a familiar spot: a trendy and logical pick to advance to the Final Four.
The game should be a battle of strength against strength, as the high-powered offense of Michigan State (fourth in the nation with an offensive efficiency of 119.6) takes on the top-notch defense of Purdue (eighth in the nation with a defensive efficiency of 95.4).
“This feels really good right now”.
The Purdue Boilermakers look for another win after beating MI on Saturday. You know what? We wanted a one seed, didn’t happen. “We felt if he got 40 and we could shut down the other guys we could still maybe win the game”.
Justin Roberson had 17 points for second-seeded Louisiana-Monroe (20-13), which entered the final on a 10-game winning streak and having won 14 of its last 15 after a 6-11 start. He also pointed out the team’s depth, with nine players averaging double figures minutes.
The Wolverines were outscored 16-5 in the final 7:35, with Purdue extending its lead to as many as 19 points. The Boilermakers lost at home to Iowa, at IN and twice IN Indy….
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Derek Willis’s 3-pointer with 1:01 left in overtime put Kentucky ahead to stay, and the 16th-ranked Wildcats beat No. 17 Texas A&M 82-77 in overtime on Sunday for their second straight Southeastern Conference Tournament championship and 29th overall.
There was much speculation this week about whether the Michigan Wolverines had a good enough resume to be selected into the tournament as an at-large team.
Deyonta Davis answered with a dunk on the next possession to give Michigan State a 58-57 lead and the Spartans never trailed again. After two impressive wins – over IL, which was nowhere near NCAA consideration, and MI, which barely made the cut and will play a “First Four” game in Dayton – the Boilermakers almost upset the No. 2 team in the country.
Senior forward Matt Costello blocked one shot early in the second half to tie him for MSU’s career block record of 142 with former MSU forward Branden Dawson.
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The Spartans have length inside, depth and a top 3-point shooter in Bryn Forbes.
