Dr. Green and White Sports Authority

I have a few confessions to make this week. The first one may be pretty controversial: I love the neon uniforms. I am not sure if they are supposed to appeal to "the kids" or what, but I can tell you that this 40-something dude think that they are pure platinum. Those helmets with the neon spartan logo on the dark green background? Fire.  I still feel that those uniforms are responsible for MSU's 51-17 blowout win over Western Michigan last year, as well as the 28-3 whopping that the Spartans put on the Illini last year. At least, I recall that being the score in the second quarter. I don't remember how that games ended up, but I am sure that it was fine. Here is my second confessions: I was almost sure that MSU was going to get absolutely blown out on Saturday. I am a numbers guy and the number all pointed to a virtual carbon copy of the game at Iowa and versus Indiana... or worse. For years, the Wildcats have been the Spartans' kryptonite, especially in East Lan...

Way back in the "before time" MSU was scheduled to play Northwestern on Labor Day weekend in what was expected to be Coach Mel Tuckers first game on the sidelines of a full Spartan Stadium. At first glance this game looked like one of the most difficult games to predict on the Spartans' entire schedule.  The situation in East Lansing was unclear due to the coaching change in February, and the situation in Evanston was only slightly clearer. Last year, Northwestern was in a word, bad. But, there were some hints that they might be at least a bit improved. The Wildcats added Indiana grad transfer Payton Ramsey in late May, and a few preseason preview magazines had Northwestern ranked right around No. 60 in the nation, not far behind the rough consensus for MSU, which was around No. 50. But, the real headscratcher was ESPN's preseason FPI ranking, which had Northwestern ranked all the way up at No. 25. I honestly thought that this was a calculation error. Seriously, the C...

In the first two installments of this Big Ten basketball preview, we have taken a close look at the Big Ten conference schedule and the results of a simulation of the Big Ten regular season. The results show that MSU has a schedule of average difficulty and about an 18 percent chance to win the Big Ten regular season title. Furthermore, Wisconsin seems to have the edge in the Big Ten regular season race, due to a combination of the fact that the Badgers are supposed to be pretty good and the fact that they have the easiest schedule in the entire conference.  However, the Big Ten also hands out banners and trophies to the team that wins the Big Ten post-season tournament. Do the Spartans have better odds to add this specific addition to the rafters of Breslin Center? Once again, it is possible to use the magic of mathematics to find out. I reviewed the basic methodology in my previous installments. Very briefly, I use adjusted efficiency margin data from Kenpom.com, convert the proj...

In this space, I would typically provide my general thoughts on the results of MSU's last game, the general direction of the season and program, and any other random thoughts that I might have. But, as we all know, MSU's game with Maryland was cancelled, leaving me with less to say than usual. But, with the impended Thanksgiving Holiday approaching, it seems like a good time to stop and reflect about the things that we are thankful for. It is sometimes hard to feel thankful in 2020 with all that is going on in the world. Let's be honest, it's a real crap-show out there. I am certainly thankful for my friends and family, my day job, and all that good stuff. But, I am also genuinely thankful to be a graduate and life-long fan of Michigan State University. First, I am thankful for the world-class education that I received during my time on campus. I earned an honors chemical engineering degree in 1998 and then went on to graduate school at Purdue. I never found my educatio...

In part one of this series, we took a look at the recently released Big Ten Men's Basketball conference schedule and did some math to see how easy or difficult MSU's schedule is compared to the competition. In general, MSU's strength of schedule is in the middle of the pack. Among the projected contenders, MSU's schedule is easier than Iowa's schedule, but more challenging than Wisconsin and Illinois' schedule. While this information is interesting, the real question is what can the data tell us about MSU's odds to hang a fourth consecutive regular season championship banner in the rafters of Breslin Center? Fortunately, I have just to tools at my disposal to answer that question. I have described my methodology in the past in some detail, but the basic details are as follows. I start with the data from Ken Pomeroy's website which tabulates the adjusted offensive and defensive efficiencies of each team. If these numbers are substracted, it provides an ...

It will be hard to ever forget my last memory of college basketball in 2020. It was the evening of Wednesday, March 11th. I turned on the TV to check out the action on the first day of the Big Ten tournament. While causally watching the action, it was impossible not to notice the news running along the ticker at the bottom. That evening Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert had tested positive for COVID-19, and as a result the NBA was shutting down, effective immediately. It was the first domino to fall in the world of sports in the global pandemic crisis. The second domino was teetering on the sidelines in Indianapolis during the Big Ten Tournament first round game between Indiana and Nebraska. Cornhusker head coach Fred Hoiberg did not look well. He has pale and sweaty and was clear exhibiting flu-like symptoms. The television crew commented on Hoiberg's appearance. They seemed worried. While the teams finished the game and Hoiberg soon tested negative for COVID, the remaining dominos wer...

A great man once said, "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it." Tell us about it. Where has this year gone? It is already mid-November and it seems like Big Ten football just got started. I don't know about all of you, but I am just exhausted. You know who else is likely exhausted? Coach Mel Tucker. Can you imagine what Coach Mel Tucker feels like? Think about all of the things that he has had to deal with this year: starting a new job after signing day, no spring football, installing a new system over Zoom meetings, a two week pause in August, that weird will they / won't they thing with the Big Ten schedule maker, all of the turnovers, struggles with the run game, and now a full blow quarterback controversy. It's enough to make one's head spin. If I were Coach Tucker, I think that it might be a good time to stop and reflect. Perhaps he should take a day off. Actually, I think that perhaps Maryland mi...