Michigan State’s recent defeat to upset-machine Indiana notwithstanding, the Spartans have shocked a lot of people with how productive and generally strong they’ve been in 2012. Despite losing a couple of key veteran pieces and being giving zero to no shot at being competitive this year, Michigan State has ridden likely Big Ten Player of the Year Draymond Green’s leadership and talent, and Tom Izzo consistent poise all the way to a share of the conference title.
You don’t get a National Championship for that, though. Continue reading
The comeback kids, the smothering defense, and the last minute game winner’s that have happened three times already this season. This is what describes the season of Florida State Basketball.
If there was any question who the top team in the land was, the pistol whipping Kansas put on the Oklahoma State Cowboys the other night doesn’t make it any clearer.
It’s easy to get skip all the bracketology this year and just pencil in either Duke, Ohio State, Kentucky, North Carolina, and Syracuse to win and call it a day. Lee Corso would tell you “not so fast my friend”. If you pull up the current AP Top 25, you will see all of the teams that I listed above one after another at the top, with the Missouri Tigers stuck right in the middle. They have been getting rough and rowdy all year in the Big 12 with huge wins over Kansas, Baylor twice, Texas twice, and non-conference ranked opponent Notre Dame. Last year, the Tigers showed flashes of great play sporadically between monkey stomps from major ranked teams. It’s easy to get bearish on them right now after losing to Kansas State for the second time this season, at home, no less. Despite their loss to the Wildcats, a number 1 seed can be in order as long as they can survive the Rock Chalk chants on February 25th at Kansas. And the negative perception of the Tigers right now just might make them a good value bet. 
Prime example of NCAA Basketball’s superiority over NCAA Football (at least in one respect): The pickle with Murray State.