Can the Spartans finish off the season with a win on Senior Day?
My favorite game of the season is tomorrow. No, I am not talking about the rivalry game against um. Rather, I am talking about Senior Day. This will be my third consecutive season being in the Breslin for this game, and it is always special. This season, there are a trio of Spartans playing their final season in East Lansing. Two joined the program this year as transfers, Frankie Fidler (I can’t believe how many of you are still spelling it as “Fiddler”) and Szymon Zapala, and the third is four-year player Jaden Akins. As Tom Izzo has said on several occasions, players come to MSU to hang banners. And tomorrow, a banner will be going to the rafters, as this year’s team has already secured a Big Ten championship.
For the Spartans, Sunday’s season finale has no ramifications in terms of Big Ten position or conference tournament seeding. It may or may not have an effect on MSU’s seed for the NCAA Tournament, depending on if you believe MSU still has a chance at being a 1-seed. Really, the greatest things MSU can do in this game are not have anyone go down with an injury and get the end of the bench some playing time late… because the win has been secured.
On the other hand, this game could have some implications for um. At the time of publishing, um has a one-game lead over Wisconsin and Maryland. Those two teams have home games later today against opponents they are favored to defeat. If they win, and if um falls to MSU on Sunday, those three teams will all be tied for 2nd place three games back of the Spartans. Purdue had a chance to make that a four-team log jam, but fell at Illinois on Friday night, helping with the tiebreaker scenario. The tiebreakers, as determined by Big Ten rules , will be settled based on the record of these three teams against each other this season. So if we have a three-way tie among them, Maryland would be the 2-seed as they were 2-0 against these other two teams, um would be the 3-seed at 1-1, and Wisconsin would get the 4-seed after losing once to each of them with no wins.
Just a few weeks ago, um was sitting in 1st place in the B1G. Since then, they have lost three of their five games, three of which were home games, and they were a buzzer-beating deep three from having lost four of five. And when um has not been losing games, they have been barely winning, having to rely on games coming down to the wire to secure a win. In fact, you have to go all the way back to January 12 to find a game um won by more than four points. That is 14 consecutive games where they have either lost or have won by 2, 3, or 4 points.
In their most recent game, a loss to Maryland, um committed 16 turnovers. At one point in the game, um had four consecutive possessions where they had a pass intercepted. I had never seen anything so ridiculous in a basketball game. In their previous loss, a 20-point stomping at the hands of Illinois, um gave up 19 offensive rebounds and were outrebounded by a total of 11 boards. That discrepancy allowed the Illini to attempt twelve more FGs over the course of that game. Right now, um is a team that is not playing well. Their recent losing may have begun with the first game against the Spartans, but anyone who had watched them barely escape against lesser teams ahead of the 1st MSU game should not be surprised by this skid.
Speaking of not being surprised, that is how you all should have felt watching MSU come back against Iowa on Thursday night. For getting this right, I am even going to give out a “Reader Of The Week” award to Steven Weiner:
Mr. Weiner, I hope you have permanently turned over a new leaf. But many of you in the game thread were in full-blown panic mode as the Hawkeyes opened up a double-digit lead in the first half and then reattained that early in the second (though the griping about the officiating was legitimate). It was as if some of you have not been paying attention to the formula MSU has used to earn seven wins in their past eight games. Other teams know they need to come out with their A-game if they want to take down the Spartans. MSU has the target on their back and our opponents are coming in with increased adrenaline, and that is helping them play above their true selves as they get out to early leads. But it is not sustainable for a full forty, and MSU is built to weather the storm, come back from the deficit, and then ultimately blow the opposition out in the second half. I mean, in three straight games, MSU gave up a total of 1 FG in the final four minutes of those contests.
Now, to be fair, Iowa did give MSU more trouble than we expected. There were the repeated slip outs for easy dunks and layups. There was the zone defense that took MSU a little while to solve. And there was Iowa trimming a 17-point deficit with four minutes left down to a seven-point final margin (and a few tenths of a second from getting it down to four). To all that, I say it was Senior Day for Iowa, and they may have had some extra adrenaline working in their favor. The talent discrepancy, though, was always on display in that game, and that is how I, and Steven (and hopefully more of you than was apparent from the game thread), always felt safe watching that game.
I will go a step further and say I am glad that Michigan State was tested as much as they were in their most recent game. I am glad Tom Izzo found instances where he had to “enthusiastically coach” Jaden Akins. I am glad Tre Holloman got fouled hard enough that he felt the need to release his inner dog. I am glad that there were enough negatives in the game that this team should have some great film sessions and focused practices leading up to our Senior Day.
Because here is what I am expecting on Sunday. Michigan State is going to be the team that comes out with a higher level of adrenaline. Michigan State is going to be the team with something to prove. Michigan State is going to be the team playing like they are trying to get right for the postseason. Jaden Akins is going to play like a man on fire, as will his teammates. And MSU will send their seniors off with one last victory on the Breslin floor.
It’s Senior Day in East Lansing. Who of you am I going to see there (for real, it’d be cool to meet some of you)? Time to put an exclamation point on the end of this championship-winning regular season!