Dr. Green and White Sports Authority

  In the grand scheme of things, the revenue sports of football and men’s basketball have generally been strong over the past few years at Michigan State University. While the last basketball season and the final few years of the Dantonio era were a disappointment, the past 10-25 years of MSU sports have provided a lot of great moments. But how does the Spartans’ success compare to other programs in the Big Ten? Certainly MSU basketball is the flagship program in the Big Ten, but that has not always been the case. In football, the Buckeyes reign supreme, but their program has also had its historical ups and downs. In order to address this question, I decided to do some simple counting. I decided to count simple things like overall and conference wins. But, I also wanted to look at championships and post-season success. So, I counted accomplishments that usually earn a team a banner or trophy: Big Ten regular season titles, tournament titles, Final Fours, bowl wins, and National Ch...

There are a lot of things that make for a great college basketball game: the players, the coaches, the fans, the mascots, the venues... each one bring something different and exciting to the table. But, there is one part of the game that seems to bring out the ire of fans on all sides: the officials. Obviously, officials are a necessary part of the game. But, every fan can likely think of a game where the officials seemed to "take over" and effectively because the story. Every fan can likely think of a single call that they believe single-handedly cost their team a game. (Most MSU fans would likely point to the non-call on Draymond Green in the 2010 Final Four.) At the end of the day, officials are human beings trying to do a job to the best of their ability. If they do their job perfectly, they likely won't get noticed at all. It is only when they are at the center of a controversy that we learn their names. Every generation of Spartan fans likely knows the names of a f...

The NCAA Tournament is called March Madness for a reason. The drama is real. Any given year will produce more than a handful of buzzer beaters, Cinderalla stories, and epic come-from-behind stunners. The Michigan State Spartans fell victim to one of the those come-from-behind heartbreakers in their First Four loss to UCLA.  In my previous contribution, I highlighted MSU's two biggest heartbreaks and one biggest comebacks since 2010. I measured the "size" of these events using the projected in-game win probabilities tabulated by Kenpom.com. In order to be considered a truly "big" reversal of fortune, one team had to have at least a 96 percent chance to win the game at some point in the contest. While none of MSU's NCAA Tournament wins or losses made this list, Tournament wins and losses are ultimately how most MSU seasons are remembered. This begs the obvious question: what are some of the most improbable Tournament comebacks and heartbreaks of the last 11 ye...

For fans of the Michigan State Spartans, the 2020-21 basketball season was full of highs and lows. Beating Duke in Cameron Indoor Arena and beating three top ten teams, including rival Michigan, in the span of two weeks were clearly highs. Losing heartbreakers to Purdue and UCLA in the First Four were clearly lows. As with most things sports related, I wonder whether the thrills and pain of these highs and lows can actually be quantified. I am especially curious about the events that are less likely, and therefore more thrilling... or more painful. I am curious about quantifying big comebacks and crushing heartbreaks. The home loss to the Purdue Boilermaker just before MSU was shutdown by the COVID pause is a perfect example. The Spartans led by 17 points early in the second half, and although the Boilermakers did rally, MSU held three point lead with less than 20 seconds on the clock and Aaron Henry heading to the free throw line.  The Spartans seemed to have the game locked up, b...