Superpowers Good for NBA

Much has been made lately about the superpowers forming in the NBA. It all started with the Boston Celtics acquiring Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen to go along with Paul Pierce, which created the first Big 3 in the East. The Los Angeles Lakers have put Kobe Bryant, Lamar Odom and Pau Gasol out on the floor for a few years now and the result has been two championships to date. This summer, Miami re-signed Dwyane Wade and plucked LeBron James and Chris Bosh from the free agency market while Chicago was able to sign Carlos Boozer to help Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah. Before the deadline the Knicks traded for Carmelo Anthony and Chauncey Billups and those two have teamed up with Amare Stoudamire to become a legit contender in the East. Out West there is the Thunder, Spurs and Mavericks as well and it is clear that the competition in the NBA is the best it has been since the mid-1990s.

To fans this is the best thing for the NBA because interest in the league was dwindling. After the Jordan-era, fans turned away from the NBA because the stars of the 90's were retired but now a new generation of superstars is in their prime and viewership has spiked. Also, there are finally a number of teams who have a legit shot at the title, whereas in recent years there have been few contenders. In both leagues there are four or five teams that have a chance to advance to the Finals. Boston, Miami, Chicago, Orlando and New York look strong in the East and out West the Lakers, Thunder, Spurs and Mavericks will fight for the conference crown. It is this intense competition that brings fans to their television sets because there are a number of can't-miss games. For example, Miami played Orlando last night, San Antonio tonight and then Chicago on Sunday and all those games are/will be on national television. These matchups of power teams have rekindled interest in the league.

Like the NFL, the collective bargaining agreement expires for the NBA after this season and there could potentially be a lockout next year. Enjoy this season while it lasts because owners are going to try and make the league more balanced, in hopes that every team will have a shot at winning the title. That's exactly what the league doesn't need though. What the NBA is creating now is good because they actually have competition and that creates so much more for them. It means more people tune in to watch, rivalries are created, stars go head-to-head every night and the playoffs are buckle-your-seatbelt action from start to finish. The NBA had become so watered down in the early part of the millenium because there are too many teams and stars were spread out. It made for a lot of bad games that nobody was interested in. Now, the stars have joined forces and the quest for the championship should be the best it's been in a long time.

It's hard to pick a Finals matchup because of how evenly teams match up and that's what makes the games fun. Nobody wants to see Charlotte play Toronto because the starpower just isn't there but almost half the league has players and teams worth watching. I would imagine the playoffs should get the highest ratings it's had in awhile. Also, many stars have free agency coming up and that will mean more alliances being formed. It's an exciting time for the NBA and one that they should cherish, not try to destroy.

Can the Big East Win the Big One?

Since the Big East grew to 16 teams a few years ago they have dominated the college basketball landscape, put the most teams in the tournament and churned out NBA lottery picks in mass numbers. The only thing lacking is a national championship, something the conference has not won since 2004, which came before expansion. In 2005 several teams from Conference-USA joined the Big East and many had quality basketball programs. Louisville, DePaul, Cincinnati, Marquette and South Florida made the league 16-strong and with their addition the conference the Big East boasts 40 Final Four appearances and 10 national championships. Of the 16 teams, South Florida is the only one who has not reached a Final Four, an incredible feat for any conference. Despite all these stats, the Big East has not won a title since their expansion and that leaves many pondering the question, "Why?"

The number one reason no team has been able to win the big one is because the regular season is too hard. Think about it, with so many teams playing at a high level and numerous teams ranked, they beat up on each other. I saw a stat a few games ago that said Villanova was 4-5 against ranked teams in their conference. That's nine conference games against ranked opponents with more to come, especially in the conference tournament. By the time the tournament rolls around everybody is wiped out from the competition in the regular season. They have just played potentially 4-5 games in their own conference tournament and then they are trying to win six more games against quality opponents in order to win the national championship. That's hard for a team to do.

Pittsburgh is the winningest team of the 2000s and they have never even made a Final Four. This year could be their year but they have already started to tail off in the last week of the year. A team who must endure that many tests is weaker at the end of the year and that is why we have not seen a Big East champion since the expansion. UConn, led by Emeka Okafor and Ben Gordon, won down in San Antonio in 2004 and since the next year the five C-USA teams joined. Since then the Big East has had five Final Four teams (Villanova, Georgetown, UConn, West Virginia and Louisville) and every single one of those teams lost in the semi-final game. Before expansion the Big East had titles in 2004 and 2003. Obviously, the additions make for great conference play but the league can not reap the benefits in postseason play.

This year the Big East could break their own record of eight teams getting NCAA bids this year but none of them seem to be a formidable national title contender. Pittsburgh has the best shot but no one else could go up against Kansas, Duke or Ohio State and expect to win. I would guess that none of the Big East teams will even make the Final Four this year because a lot of them are good but not great and that has been the theme in the Big East since expansion. Reality is, they need to divide into divisions or something to lighten up the schedule because, even though it makes for great television, the top 25 matchups every night aren't helping in the postseason. It's one thing to be battle-tested, but it's quite another to be worn down.

So to answer the question in the headline, no I don't think the Big East can win the big one anytime soon because they hurt their own chances with the regular season schedule. It would take a great team to do that and one that is very mentally and physically tough. I think the only team out of the Big East who could do that would be Pittsburgh but they should focus on getting to the Final Four first. For this year I would shy away from picking any team from the conference to hold up the crystal ball in Houston.

The Youth Sports Nation Has Gone Soft

Exactly one month ago I wrote an article titled "The Never Ending Argument on Running Up The Score" about Coach Phil Washington of Highland Junior High School and his team's blowout victories. The 8th grade team was repeatedly beating teams by 20 or 30+ and ended the year 26-2 with an 6th place finish in the state of Indiana. Highland administration was unhappy with Coach Washington because they said he was running up the score and trying to win at all costs. I argued that instead of complaining they should enjoy the season and be happy that they have a good coach for their team because a lot of people, myself included, didn't have that back in junior high. Rarely does a team experience success like that and, instead of cheering for the team, it seems like administration scolded them, specifically Washington.

Before I go on I want to admit that I have little knowledge of this specific situation but I do have strong feelings from what I have learned. As stated before, the Scots finished the year with only one loss and earned a third place trophy at the state tournament. However, next year they will take the floor without Coach Washington on the sidelines because he was fired. The school said they would like to move in another direction from the "win at all costs" direction Washington was going. I went to one of the team's games and I saw Washington coach those kids. What I saw was a young coach who had total control of his team and had obviously coached his kids well because every single one played hard, ran the offense and put forth the required effort on defense. I think these kids will definitely have success at the next level because they have been taught to play the right way. As silly as that sounds, there are few junior high coaches who can teach their players that. I know that my 8th grade team won games but we weren't as good in high school because we lacked fundamentals and we had low basketball IQs.

It bugs me to see this man fired from his job because his team won by too much. Since when did winning not matter in sports? I understand that winning the game doesn't matter when the kids are young and first learning the game but this is 8th grade basketball and they keep score for a reason. That state tournament isn't just there for fun, it's there for the best teams. But, then again, that's not how American youth sports works anymore and that's not how kids think these days. We have made kids think that winning doesn't matter that much that I think the skill and effort has declined greatly.

I hate losing.

I hate losing more than anything in the world and it doesn't matter what sport or game it is. If I could beat the other team or player then of course I would do it. It doesn't matter by how much but I would get it done. I know alot of my friends and teammates think that way too. Every athlete should hate losing more than they love winning. Nowadays, we get mad because teams score too much, some kids didn't get named to all-star teams, and only one kid was named MVP. We want everybody to be a winner and a champion and that's fine...when the kids are five years old. Once they are in junior high it's a competition and they keep score--no more of the feel-good-here's-your-trophy stuff. The Highland kids were taught the right way because they were taught to compete and to give full effort for the entire game. What coach wouldn't want that from his players? Because these kids were taught to play the right way in junior high they now have a chance to do some special things in high school.

The worst part about this whole situation is that, after one of the greatest seasons the school has ever experienced, the administration twisted it into a bad situation and fired their coach. I hope that wherever Coach Washington ends up he coaches the same way and teaches his players to be competitive and give full effort because that's really what sports is all about. Losing is part of sports and sometimes you get your tail kicked, but we play because we love the competition. If only more people thought that way...

I Support Coach Washington.

The Future in St. Louis Looks Dim

This post originally appeared before the 2011 MLB season. It's an interesting read now due to the fact the Cards won the World Series and Albert Pujols just signed with the Angles. Feel free to comment with your thoughts on St. Louis' future.

The news broke about Adam Wainwright's elbow and in the blink of an eye the St. Louis Cardinals' season outlook didn't seem so optimistic. After finishing second in the National League Central division last season behind the Cincinnati Reds, the Cardinals looked poised to recapture the division crown and possibly win a playoff series. They were unable to sign Albert Pujols in the offseason because, quite frankly, the man was asking for too much money. That put a cloud over the beginning of Spring Training and the team will try to sign him again after the season. A few days into camp their other superstar, Wainwright, injured his elbow and will now have season-ending Tommy John surgery.

It is a blow to a rotation that isn't that deep to begin with. Wainwright burst onto the scene during the Cardinals World Series championship in 2006 when, as a rookie, he shut down the opposition from the closer's role. The past two seasons he finished second in Cy Young voting and was sure to be right up there again this year. Now, the Cardinals will turn to Chris Carpenter and Jaime Garcia to get the job done. Carpenter has battled injuries throughout his career so who knows how much his body will be able to take and Garcia is still young. Kyle Lohse and Jake Westbrook are 3-4 in the rotation and the word around the league is that the Cards will try to sign Kevin Millwood or Pedro Martinez to fill the gap.

It is bad news on top of bad news for the Cardinals who, as mentioned before, failed to re-sign Pujols before spring training started. Pujols decided to cut off negotiations so that he would not become a distraction and that is a good move on his part but no one can deny that the contract extension will loom over the season. To make matters worse, it is rumored that the Chicago Cubs are going to make a run at Pujols after the season and they certainly could pay him the money he is asking for. Hopefully he is willing to take less cash to stay with the Cardinals but athletes these days are all about their money. As always, he should turn in another MVP-type season and he will have too because without Wainwright the pitching dominance won't be as great.

One thing is for sure: the Cardinals are a winning franchise and despite Wainwright's injury, they should be in the top two in the NL Central and in the talk for the playoffs. Pujols will have another great year and will worry about his contract after the season. As for Wainwright, he will go through surgery and doctors say he should return to form. There have been pitchers who have come back from Tommy John better than before and if that's the case here, good luck hitters. However, the immediate future doesn't look good in St. Louis and it could be a bad calendar year for Redbird fans.

Photo courtesy of waiversharks.com

Jersey Gets Their Superstar

More trade news from the NBA and I'm not a fan of this move at all. Deron Williams, star point guard of the Utah Jazz, was sent to the New Jersey Nets and, in return, the Jazz received point guard, Devin Harris and a promising rookie in Derrick Favors. Williams is clearly one of the best point guards in the NBA today (see past post on NBA point guards) and many teams have coveted his services. The Nets pulled off the move less than 24 hours after Carmelo Anthony was traded to the New York Knicks and it almost seems that the Nets wanted a superstar on their roster so badly that they didn't think through this deal very hard before executing it.

It's no secret that New Jersey wanted LeBron James in the summer and that they desperately tried to make a trade with Denver to land Carmelo. Now they have Williams, but the problem is that they gave away two young players that had loads of potential. Harris and Favors along with center, Brook Lopez, made up a pretty good, young core that could have led the Nets back to the glory days of the early 2000s. Without a doubt, Williams is an improvement from Harris but he really has no one to pass to. He and Lopez could have the same success that Williams had with Carlos Boozer in Utah but there is no supporting cast. At first glance it appears that the Nets have a pretty solid roster of young talent but it really isn't. At 17-40 they are 4th in the Atlantic Division and have no shot at the playoffs this season. After Williams and Lopez the Nets have an overrated, overpaid and injured player in Troy Murphy. Sasha Vujacic has a decent jumpshot but other than that all he has going for him is Maria Sharapova. Damion James's best basketball days were in Austin, Texas as a Longhorn and Travis Outlaw got a hefty contract in the offseason and has produced very little. Williams is stuck with a bunch of players that will not win.

On top of all that, Williams is a free agent at the end of this season and I would be surprised if he stays in New Jersey. Unless they can pull together some pieces and convince him that they have a shot at being a contender he will most likely leave for a better team. I have thought that he may want to go to Los Angeles to play with Kobe. Yes, Phil Jackson is leaving and there certainly will be some changes to the Lakers but Williams could run the point and have Kobe, Gasol and Odom to pass to. Derek Fisher is on the way out and LA will need somebody to run the Lake Show. It's definitley a place where he can win a championship or two and cement his legacy as an elite point guard. A friend of mine also brought up the idea of Dallas. Jason Kidd, like Fisher, is almost done and the mavs will need a point guard. Williams is from Dallas and could play in his hometown with Dirk Nowitzki and work for Mark Cuban. What player doesn't want to play for Cuban? Point is, there are going to be many destinations more popular than New Jersey at the end of the season. The Nets could only have him for half of a season and then he will be gone, but Utah has Harris and Favors for a long time.

Another thing that bugs me about this trade is Utah's timing. A few weeks ago williams and former Utah head coach, Jerry Sloan, reportedly got in an argument and when all was said and done, Sloan resigned. He was one of the NBA's best coaches and had been with the Jazz for 20 years. However, Williams got the best of him or the franchise picked their point guard over their coach and told Sloan to resign. What ever it was, Jerry Sloan is now at home. Williams is no longer in Utah either. Why didn't the Jazz tell Coach Sloan that if he waited just two more weeks Williams would be gone? That's no loyalty to a man who has been around for a long time. Jerry Sloan deserved better than that.

With this trade it is obvious that the power of the NBA has shifted to the East. For years the West has won all the championships and had most of the star players but with Carlos Boozer going to the Bulls, Amare and Carmelo to the Knicks and now Deron Williams to the Nets the East should be dominant. The Celtics, Heat, Bulls, Magic and maybe even the Knicks could take on the top teams in the West and beat them any night and I will say right now the champion will come out of the East this season. No one knows yet how long Deron Williams will be in New Jersey but, for now, the Nets have their superstar and they are hoping it means a few more "W's" in the win column.

Photo courtesy of financebehavior.co.uk

Melo's New York State of Mind

The deal is done and the drama is over. After months of speculation and rumors, Carmelo Anthony has been traded from the Denver Nuggets to the New York Knicks. The trade, which also involved the Minnesota Timberwolves, was completed late Monday night and involved 12 players, draft picks and 3 million dollars in cash. New York is getting Melo, Chauncey Billups, Anthony Carter, Shelden Williams and Renaldo Balkman from Denver while the Nuggets are receiving Danilo Gallinari, Raymond Felton, Wilson Chandler, Timofey Mozgov and draft picks from the Knicks. New York also sent Anthony Randolph and Eddy Curry to Minnesota for Corey Brewer. Anthony is a bona fide superstar in the NBA and Billups is a steady point guard who is a proven winner. The Knicks did sacrifice young talent but no one can deny that superstars win championships in the NBA and the Big Apple now has Melo and Amare Stoudamire in blue and orange.

Since the offseason, trade talks have swirled around Anthony and he made it no secret that New York was his preferred destination. He tried hard to end up in his chosen city without tarnishing his image like his buddy down in South Beach did and, for the most part, he was successful. Carmelo Anthony is back where he wants to be, the East Coast. Melo was the superstar in Denver and led them to the Western Conference Finals in 2009 but despite the success of the Nuggets, it was clear they were never going to win a championship. It became imminent that Anthony was on the way out, whether it was via trade or free agency, and now he will be playing in Madison Square Garden, the greatest arena in sports. The Knicks signed Amare Stoudamire in the offseason and he has lifted MSG's spirits, leading the team to a 28-26 record which is second in the Atlantic Division. Already much improved from last season and second in the league in scoring with 106.2 points per game, New York added Melo who averages 25.2 points. Stoudamire puts up 26.1 per game and the two average over 16 rebounds combined.

What will be interesting to see is how Anthony and Stoudamire mesh. Amare left Phoenix because he was tired of playing in Steve Nash's shadow and he wanted a team to call his own. He has been the star of New York City for the first half of the season and carried the Knicks so far but now Carmelo enters the picture. Can the two coexist and will Melo respect that this is Amare's team? I think they can do it and I believe they will produce. However, to say the Knicks are favorites to win the East is ludicrous. At best they will be the 5th seed behind Boston, Miami, Chicago and Orlando but they could make some noise in the postseason. It will be hard to win playoff games with little supporting cast. Landry Fields and Billups are reliable but after that there is little talent. Ronny Turiaf and Renaldo Balkman can defend and rebound but the scoring will be hard to come by off the bench. A few years from now the Knicks could be an Eastern Conference powerhouse but not this year.

I say they could be in a few years because they will be able to assemble a supporting cast and another summer of superstars in free agency will have gone by. Chris Paul has mentioned before that he would like to go to New York and team up with Anthony and Stoudamire and the idea of that should be scary to other teams in the East. Deron Williams and Dwight Howard are also approaching free agency so there are options out there. It is my assumption that Paul will end up in NYC to run the point for the Knickerbockers which would make Spike Lee and the Gang go nuts at MSG.

The Knicks have not been a good team since the new millenium hit and they haven't had a superstar since Patrick Ewing. Stoudamire has filled that role and now Anthony is with him. Ewing never could win the Big Apple a championship but it looks like these two should. This year expect nothing better than perhaps a first round win in the playoffs but in the years following, beware of the Knicks. Those are words we haven't heard in awhile. But then again, basketball is back in New York City.

Photo courtesy of ice-dotcom.com

It's An All-Star Game, Not A Popularity Contest

This weekend, the Staples Center in Los Angeles will be taken over by the NBA's greatest players in the annual All-Star game. It's a weekend of festivities, starting with the Celebrity All-Star Game on Friday night, (it is always great to see which celebs can actually play some ball). The Dunk Contest, 3-point Contest, and Skills Challenge all take the stage Saturday night, followed by the NBA All-Star game Sunday. The game showcases East versus West in a showdown of the game's best players this year. At least that is what it should be.  In reality, it's a game that highlights who the fans feel are the most popular players in the league. Every year, true fans of the game cringe when they see that Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady have been named All-Stars, despite having bad seasons or not even playing due to injury. That's the consequence of allowing fan voting. It's a flawed system that doesn't give the best players their due.

Fans only vote for the starters and then the coaches vote for the bench players which is good. If it weren't for the coaches who knows what the rosters would look like. Now, I give the fans credit for their selections this year because they all seem right to me, except for one. The East starting lineup will feature Derrick Rose at the point, LeBron James and Dwyane Wade on the wings and Amare Stoudamire and Dwight Howard in the post. All five players are in the running for the MVP award at the end of the year so they are very deserving of the honor. In the West Chris Paul will run the point guard position with Kobe Bryant as his shooting guard. Carmelo Anthony and Kevin Durant will be the forwards and the man in the middle will be....Yao Ming???? Yao Ming, that guy from China who has appeared in five games of this year before being injured? Yeah, that guy. Seriously now, I know he's a good player when healthy and I appreciate that the fans in China rally around him but this is absurd. Commissioner David Stern chose Kevin Love as the replacement for Yao but it's sad that the fans couldn't get it right the first time.

Players like Allen Iverson, Yao and Tracy McGrady have made All-Star teams simply because they were popular and not because they were having the best year. A lesser known player rarely has a chance to be named unless the coaches vote him in. It's not just the NBA either. Every major sport thinks fans should have the right to vote for who is an all-star that year and every year the rosters are flawed in some way. I understand that the leagues want their fans to feel like they are part of the process but it's getting out of hand. I want to see the best players take the floor on Sunday night, not the most popular ones. Recently it has also been announced that a portion of the voting for the baseball Hall of Fame will be done by fans. This is wrong because if anyone can vote what qualifies them? Not everyone can have a say in what happens and that's life. Maybe for an All-Star game it's okay but when the fan voting starts coming to the Hall of Fame that's when I start losing interest.

Abundance of Great Guards, But Rose is Number 1

Lately my friends and I have had the great debate on who is the NBA's best point guard today and we always have come up with mixed results. Some like Chris Paul but others think it's Deron Williams. Some will say Rajon Rondo but some will answer Derrick Rose. Russell Westbrook's name comes up in the conversation and veterans like Steve Nash and Tony Parker find ways to stay relevant. There are even a few who would like to crown John Wall in his first year but, quite frankly, a coach would take any of these players to lead his team and he would be happy but for the sake of the argument who really is the greatest?

Derrick Rose is in his third year for the Chicago Bulls and it appears that he has made his team into a serious contender. Chicago currently sits at third in the top-heavy East behind Miami and Boston and much of the credit should be directed at Rose who has kept the Bulls winning despite injuries to Joakim Noah and Carlos Boozer. He averages 24.7 points which is tops on the team and among point guards. He has improved his shooting percentages and is now a threat to shoot the ball from deep, unlike his first few years when teams could sag off of him. His playmaking ability has been superb and his assist average is now at 8.1 per game. Saturday night Rose outplayed Chris Paul of the New Orleans Hornets in a 97-88 Bulls win and the game before that he outplayed Williams in another Bulls victory.

Rose, Westbrook, Rondo, Williams and Paul represent the new generation of point guards in the NBA and they are representing it well. Every single one of them is a pure point guard who can score but at the same distribute the ball to their teammates. All five average 8+ assists with Rondo's 12.3 leading the league. Three of the five also average over 20 points. Never has there been this great of a debate on this topic. Five point guards who seem to be equal. What sets Rose apart from the rest is that he is the winningest team besides Rondo and he has to do the most work for his team. He must take up the heavy scoring load, which he has done well thanks to his improved jumper, and he is expected to feed Boozer and Luol Deng. He is the face of his franchise and is also an all-star for the second time in his career.

Rondo can't say he is the face of the franchise because he sits behind the Big Three and Westbrook plays second fiddle to Kevin Durant in Oklahoma City. Chris Paul owns New Orleans but he wants out and Williams name has surfaced as a factor in the resignation of coach Jerry Sloan. Derrick Rose owns Chicago and has embraced his role as that man. Also, imagine the pressure Rose is under in Chicago. The last player drafted by the Bulls in the post-Jordan era who was from Chicago will go down as one of the biggest busts ever. His name was Eddy Curry. Rose attended Simeon High and was drafted number one overall by the Bulls. He is expected to be the player that gets Chicago back to the glory days of the Jordan-Pippen era. He must play in MJ's shadow yet he has made his own name and received very little comparison. He is doing big things under immense pressure.

Rose has outplayed every one of the other contenders this season except Westbrook, who he matched stat-for-stat in their last meeting. He will also match up against every contender, except Westbrook, one more time this season. It will be interesting to see if Rose can keep up his high-level of play in the second half of the season. Of course, all five guards are excellent but Rose is steadily setting himself apart. It's his third season and he's improving every year. Now that's scary.

That's my case for Derrick Rose being number one in the league but let me hear your thoughts and opinions. Leave a comment telling me who you think is the NBA's top point guard and why.

Sparty Has the Blues

The most surprising story of the college basketball season so far is out of East Lansing, Michigan, home of the disappointing Michigan State Spartans. The Spartans were picked number two in nearly every preseason poll and why not? They were a Final Four team last season and had everybody back for the most part, which many thought put them neck-in-neck with Duke for the best team in the country. However, a different Spartan team must have taken the floor this year as they are 14-10 and currently unranked. Michigan State has been the model of consistency under coach Tom Izzo but this year something is not right. Two key players have left the program and the ones that remain have played inconsistent basketball. Now, a team that bracketologists can always pencil in to their bracket is fighting for a spot in the Big Dance.

I sat in my seat at Lucas Oil Stadium this past April for the Final Four and I fully expected Michigan State to beat Butler. They had the advantage at almost every position, or so it seemed, and they were physically superior to their opponent. Yet, Butler came away with a two point win and many were left to ponder how Michigan State lost. In 2009, determined to win the championship in nearby Detroit, MSU lost to North Carolina. 2010 appeared to be their year but again they fell. Well, now distinguished stars Kalin Lucas and Durrell Summers are seniors so surely 2011 would be the Spartans championship season, or so we all thought. If this group of players never wins a championship it could go down in history as one of the greatest teams to not win the big one. Lucas and Summers have been to three Sweet 16's and two Final Fours but may not even make the tournament this year.

Why is Michigan State struggling? Nobody really knows to be honest. I don't have an answer but I do know this: they miss Chris Allen and Korie Lucious more than people expected. Yes, Lucas, Summers and forward Draymond Green have the potential to be stars but Michigan State is a good TEAM and they lost two key pieces to the puzzle. Allen was forced/decided that he would transfer before the year because he failed to meet team commitments and butted heads reguarly with Tom Izzo. Allen was part of the recruiting class with Lucas and Summers and in his junior season he averaged 8.2 points while shooting 40% from 3-point land. He was a vital part of the team with his knockdown shooting but will now play for Iowa State next year. Lucious, on the other hand, will always be remembered for his game-winning three at the buzzer against Maryland in last year's tournament but he too is no longer with the program for failure to abide by team rules. He had several infractions and in the middle of the season left the team. Lucious was the definition of a great backup, averaging 6.5 points and 4 assists while also being a deep ball threat. Losing those two has cut into the Spartans scoring and their ability to spread out a defense.

Because those two are gone it has put more pressure on Summers to shoot the ball but now opposing defenses can key in on him more. While he averages more points and shoots a better 3-point percentage this season, his field-goal and free throw percentages have dropped significantly from his junior year. Green, a player who can go inside or out, has been forced more onto the perimeter in order to stretch the defense. He has been the Spartans most valuable player this year, recording a triple-double last game against Penn State and putting up the best stats. He averages 13.2 points, 8.5 rebounds, 4.2 assists and shoots 39% from deep. Those two do not get their shots off though without Lucas, the engine that makes this team go. He's the teams leading scorer at 16 points per game and also shoots a great percentage from behind the line at 40%. He dishes out almost four assists a game and now we are left wondering how Michigan State has lost 10 games?? Look at those stats listed and it's hard to imagine that team is fighting for a tournament berth.

At closer look we can find two big reasons to the Spartans demise. Lucas, Green and Summers average 42.7 points combined while the rest of the team only averages 28.3. Seven of those points come from Delvon Roe and the Spartans 71 points per game are woeful. That's good for 121st in the nation. Remember, without Allen and Lucious that's 15 points missing plus 4 assists from Lucious. A Tom Izzo team also prides itself on rebounding but the Spartans are 84th in the nation with only 37 per game. If there are two problems with this team those are it. A Big Ten team can't win without rebounding because that's what the league prides itself on.

There is still time to turn it around somewhat and this coming Tuesday Michigan State could make a huge statement if they beat current #1 Ohio State on the road. There are still four ranked teams left on their schedule plus the Big Ten Tournament and if the Spartans play the way they are capable of then they should be dancing in March. However, other players will need to step up and everyone will need to hit the glass harder or we could see something unusual, a Sparty-less NCAA Tournament. The last time that happened was in 1997. I was six years old at the time and I'm 19 now. That puts it in perspective pretty well.