Monday, January 09, 2006

Spartans Disrespected in ESPN/Coaches Poll

Explain this to me. I’m confused.

Michigan State’s men’s basketball team fell in the polls from number seven to number fifteen after two poor losses to two ranked teams, Illinois and Wisconsin.

I have written about how poor MSU has played. However, do they deserve that drop in the ESPN/Coaches Poll?

The Spartans have played four teams that were ranked in the top ten, Illinois was number six, Boston College was number six, Gonzaga was number three and Arizona was number eight. Furthermore, State has played four of the top six teams in the RPI, Illinois, Arizona, Wisconsin and Gonzaga. Michigan State after all of this is 12-4 and 2-2 against top ten teams. Oh yeah, none of these games were at the Breslin Student Event Center.

In the meantime, Illinois stayed at number six in the polls. Illinois lost to an unranked Iowa team by fifteen on Saturday and Dee Brown scored six points after dropping 34 of his teams 60 against MSU on Thursday.

Indiana is 10-2 and now ranked eighth, jumping seven spots from fifteen. Excuse me? Indiana has played three ranked teams, including number one Duke. Indiana is 2-1 in these games two of which were at Assembly Hall. Indiana is a good team, but they should not be ranked eighth.

Moreover, how is Boston College ranked ahead of MSU? The Spartans beat the Eagles in the Jimmy V Classic.

Ohio State lost to Indiana and jumped two spots to number sixteen. Ohio State has only played one ranked team, Indiana, and lost after blowing a seventeen-point lead. The OSU is 11-1 and has played nine of those games at Value City Arena. The Buckeyes are a strong team, but not deserving of that ranking.

Florida moved to number two and stayed unbeaten this week. They have played no ranked opponents (and may not all year because the SEC is so weak) and have played eleven of their fourteen games at home.

MSU has looked awful in their last two games. But this ranking is disrespectful. Teams like Indiana, Ohio State, Illinois and Florida are good teams but have played weak schedules with most of their games at home. It will be interesting to see how these teams handle the road games in the Big Ten and the SEC. My guess is, at the end of the season the road games will take a toll on these teams and their inflated records will look a lot different.

Indiana’s first true test is Wednesday at Michigan State. It is a must win for the Spartans. If Indiana wins they deserve of this ranking, but not until they win a tough game on the road against a quality opponent.

5 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Calm down. The basketball rankings mean nothing. It's January. We have a long way to go. Save your disapproval for March when Ohio State and Indiana are seeded higher in the Tournament.

7:37 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

i know the polls don't mean anything. but this shit always happens to msu.

msu is good at one thing. it's the only time i get to be happy about msu athletics. i want to be happy. not sad.

and they better not be seeded higher in the tourny because there is a long way too go.

8:10 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

You and jc (Jon Cooley not Jesus Christ), although they may be one and the same, can split the six-pack. I may even splurge and get a 12 pack and drink with you.
Andy, I may have beaten the head coach at Cleveland State but it was when he was a JV coach at Belleville High School. ("Beat Belleville, Beat Belleville, Beat Belleville!") He was young and inexperienced but I would like to think I might have taught him a few lessons along the way.

9:01 PM  
Blogger JC said...

I like the 12 pack idea. I am a little glad that this is how it is going down. It is January, it should be motivation to right the ship. No harm, no foul. I think that the Coaches ranked it that way, because they saw MSU dropping their next two games. If Izzo was smart, he would use this in his favor and FINALLY get his team fired up.

The ball is in MSU's court (no pun intended) on Wednesday night. MSU has a chance to prove themselves and gain back the respect that they didn't necessarily deserve to lose.

It will be a big game and remember, it is the beginning of January. At this point it's no harm no foul.

By the way, your word verification thingy is getting harder, did you turn the level up? (dzhczhda)

9:39 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

i like the 12 pack idea too. and it is interesting how jon's initials are jc.....

well i did see garland do the 1-2-1-1 press against state this year. is that something he picked up from your classic battles back in the 80's?

i like the idea that msu may be under the radar now. hopefully, they can get a couple of wins and begin working out of this whole. i see them as 10-6, maybe 11-5 in the big ten. i don't think they can win it. i think indiana, wisconsin or ohio state (darkhorse) will win the big ten. but maybe a lower ranking will create a few more wins.

sorry about the word verification. mine was tidpz. i don't know if you could up the level. i'll check it out.

6:32 AM  

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