King Leonidas Leads His Boys To Battle

Alright so maybe I am biased but I’m getting a little sick of hearing about Butler being a Cinderella or an underdog in this year’s final four. They are a #5 seed people! (For those readers who don’t know, my Spartans are also a #5 seed) This is as close as the competition can get but I do think MSU has an edge and here is my back-up.

First point of argument is Sophomore Draymond Green. Not many people realize that Green is in fact a sixth man. (Nix being Izzo’s usual choice for power forward). Green is not only great at finishing underneath but as of late he seems to be channeling the outside range of the greatly missed Spartan, Goran Suton. Green’s knowledge of the game is arguably the best in the NCAA. His one-handed dish underneath to Raymar Morgan to draw the foul and ultimately win the game against Tennessee was not luck or an accident people. It’s knowing the court. It’s seeing not only your next move but the next move of the nine other guys out there. Green does just that and that’s why he leads his team in assist to turn-over ratio, steals, blocks and rebounds. Now obviously, as a post, leading the team in blocks and rebounds is not an anomaly, but very few non-starters lead their team in anything let alone four important aspects of the game. He is second only to Kalin Lucas in assists, 3.1 to Lucas’s 4.0 and this Big Ten’s sixth man of the year averages 25.4 minutes a game. Because of his deep understanding of the game he is teaming up with Korie Lucious (whose fade-away jumpers and outside shooting are things of beauty) to fill the bronzed shoes of the injury laden Kalin Lucas.

Then we have the bench as a whole. When healthy, it’s easily a ten deep bench. State has seven men who average over 20 minutes a game whereas Butler is wearing out their big five with 25+ minutes and the next highest being only 15.8. You’ll hear it all the time, MSU is a second half team. Well readers, that’s because we wear the other team down before the end of the first 20. My boys will still be coming off their screens full speed and getting the backdoor while the other team has their hands on their knees and just praying their coach will sub them out.

Michigan State has struggled this year with giving up too many offensive boards, not finishing underneath and the Achilles heel (no pun intended Kalin) TURNOVERS. But I have faith. State is a tournament team. They love the pressure. They learned what it’s like to be humiliated in a championship game and I can tell you right now those boys won’t let it happen again.

Sure, Butler has home court advantage but they don’t have Tom Izzo.