Dr. Green and White Sports Authority

Another day, another set of brackets. For me, the month of March is by far the best sports month on the calendar. The college basketball regular season is winding down and the competition for banners is heating up. Teams are fighting each and every night for season titles, seeding, or simply their tournament lives. For Michigan State fans, we are used to fighting for titles and seeding. This year, however, we find ourselves in the rare and uncomfortable position of fighting simply for an NCAA Tournament bid. A week ago, things looked bleak, but after beating a pair of Final Four caliber, top five opponents in a 72 hour period, the script had flipped.  But then, just as when things were looking pretty bright, the Spartans struggled again in College Park and lost by 17 points to the Maryland Terrapins. As things stand right now (and things change quickly this time of year) the Spartans are squarely on the bubble. On Sunday morning, MSU was appearing in about 50 percent of the online ...

When it comes to the NCAA Tournament field, the discussion will often revolve around numbers. Pundits and bracketologists will talk about total records, quality wins, and bad losses. But, at the end of the day, there is really only one number that actually matters for the NCAA Tournament. That number is 68. A total of 68 teams will be invited to play in the NCAA Tournament. A total of 31 of those 68 teams will get automatic bids based on winning their conference tournament. This is down one from most years, as the Ivy League decided not to play in 2020-21. As a result, there are a total of 37 teams that the Selection Committee will pick to place into the bracket.   Right now, Michigan State is not projected to be one of those 37 teams in most brackets. But after the pair of wins over Illinois and Ohio State this week, the momentum is building that MSU might just be able to play themselves onto the bubble and then into the Tournament. In order to understand MSU's chances, we ne...

As February wans and March approaches, the Michigan State Spartans basketball team is in uncharted waters. The Spartans have not been close to the NCAA Tournament bubble since 2011, but as of now MSU is clearly on the wrong side of it.  However, over the last two games. A more familiar version of the Spartans is starting to emerge. I have been saying for weeks that there is still a good or even a very good team in that locker room somewhere. I expected that we would see it a few times before the end of the season. The question was whether that team would emerge before it was too late to matter. We saw that team on Tuesday night against Illinois The huge win over the Illini certainly has given MSU fans reason to believe that yet another late February and March run may be possible. The Spartans are now much closer to being back on the bubble than they have been in weeks. The question on every MSU fan's mind right now is simple: will MSU be able to claw back into NCAA Tournament? As t...

As I look at the calendar, we are now in late February. Usually by this time of year in Michigan, we are watching the snow slowly recede during our daily commutes to work and watching Tom Izzo's ball club closely to see whether they can snag yet another Big Ten title and/or make another long run in March. But, this year is not like normal years. A week ago, the Spartans were essentially left for dead. After MSU faded late in West Lafayette to sink to 4-9, most pundits declared that the NCAA Tournament streak was officially over. But MSU went into Bloomington on Saturday and got the win that they desperately needed. While the record is just 5-9, the Spartans are not dead yet. Sure, the road ahead is difficult. Based on the newly revised schedule, MSU will end the regular season by playing seven games in 16 days, four of which will be against teams ranked in the top five nationally. But, if there is one thing that college basketball fans should have learned a long time ago it is this...

I do not think that it is a stretch to say that the 2020-21 Michigan State basketball team is the most frustrating Tom Izzo team of all time. There have been times this year when the individuals that make up this team have played really well. There are times when they have avoided fouls and turnovers. There are times when they shot the ball well and made good decisions. There have been times when they have rebounded and played great defense. Over the past week, there were additional signs that maybe the team was gaining some level of consistency. Josh Langford and Aaron Henry were starting to put together consecutive good games.  Against Penn State, the big men had a good outing for the first time in a while. MSU had won two games in a row and had played well enough to almost steal a win at Iowa.   The Spartans even showed enough grit to win a close game against the Nittany Lions. There were signs that maybe, just maybe Coach Tom Izzo might be able to coax yet another mid...