OrangeNehi
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A St. Louis sportswriter dished out some dirt on Michigan State, which may or may not be telling.
"Here was Michigan State, national championship finalists a year ago and ranked as high as No. 2 in preseason polls, but now staggering their way into the NCAAs as Team Turmoil. They had injuries galore and they had internal bickering that was threatening to disrupt the Spartan tradition of excelling in March Madness.
Less than a month ago, they were losers of four games in an ugly six-game stretch. One of their star players (Durrel Summers) had a two-hour, clear-the-air meeting with head coach Tom Izzo, and just before the start of the NCAAs, the Spartans had a players-only meeting because they all knew the season was at critical mass.
And as we know all too well, players-only-meetings are right up there with votes of confidence, binge drinking and lightning bolts and dark clouds on the horizon.
Something really bad usually follows.
So as the turmoil continued to boil up — particularly the sparks that flew between Summers and Izzo — a lot of the players began to wonder how this would all play out. They were supposed to be better than this. After all, my gosh, they were Michigan State, and the Spartans don't lose in March. But not only were they losing, they were self-destructing.
"You always wonder how that is going to play out," said sophomore forward Draymond Green. "It happens with a lot of us, we often fight with what coach says, but we (figure out) that coach knows best."
Izzo is not perfect. And Michigan State can wilt. If being a team makes a difference today, Pearl and Tennessee have the best chance of winning.
"Here was Michigan State, national championship finalists a year ago and ranked as high as No. 2 in preseason polls, but now staggering their way into the NCAAs as Team Turmoil. They had injuries galore and they had internal bickering that was threatening to disrupt the Spartan tradition of excelling in March Madness.
Less than a month ago, they were losers of four games in an ugly six-game stretch. One of their star players (Durrel Summers) had a two-hour, clear-the-air meeting with head coach Tom Izzo, and just before the start of the NCAAs, the Spartans had a players-only meeting because they all knew the season was at critical mass.
And as we know all too well, players-only-meetings are right up there with votes of confidence, binge drinking and lightning bolts and dark clouds on the horizon.
Something really bad usually follows.
So as the turmoil continued to boil up — particularly the sparks that flew between Summers and Izzo — a lot of the players began to wonder how this would all play out. They were supposed to be better than this. After all, my gosh, they were Michigan State, and the Spartans don't lose in March. But not only were they losing, they were self-destructing.
"You always wonder how that is going to play out," said sophomore forward Draymond Green. "It happens with a lot of us, we often fight with what coach says, but we (figure out) that coach knows best."
Izzo is not perfect. And Michigan State can wilt. If being a team makes a difference today, Pearl and Tennessee have the best chance of winning.
