Dr. Green and White Sports Authority

For college basketball junkies, this is the best week of the year. Selection Sunday through the end of the first weekend of NCAA basketball tournament is the greatest eight-day span on the sports calendar, and 2022 marks the first time since 2019 that the NCAA Tournament will be "back to normal." But even casual fans of college basketball go through annual ritual of filling out a bracket in an attempt to predict which crazy upsets will occur during the first two days, which teams will make the Final Four, who will finally cut down the nets on that first Monday of April and everything in-between. While everyone has their own methods and strategies for picking which teams will advance, I have developed my own system over the years that uses a combination of math and historical probabilities. My method is certainly not foolproof, but it does provide some useful tips that have led to some office pool success over the years.  It helped me to virtually nail the Final Four in 2019 a...

After a total of 140 conference games stretching over three months, the Big Ten regular season is now officially complete. Congratulations to Wisconsin and Illinois for surviving this gantlet to emerge as the 2022 Big Ten basketball regular season co-champions. For the Michigan State Spartans, the 11-9 regular season record and seventh place finish certainly feel like a disappointment, especially considering that the Spartans had sole control of first place seven games into conference play. Michigan State beat Wisconsin on the road on Jan. 21, but only posted a 5-8 record following that big win. With the regular season in the books, the postseason beckons. Before we fully move on, let's take a quick look back on the numbers from the regular season. Then, let's take a look at the odds for the Big Ten Tournament. Finally, let's try to get a sneak peek at where the Spartans will end up in the NCAA Tournament bracket. Regular Season Overview Table 1 below shows the final enhanc...

For better or worse, the final weekend of the Big Ten regular season is upon us. It goes without saying this has been another tough week for the Michigan State Spartans. The men in Green and White followed up their thrilling upset win over No. 4 Purdue last weekend with two listless, double-digit road losses to Michigan and to Ohio State. At one point this season, the Spartans were 17-4 overall, 8-2 in conference play, and ranked in the top 15 of the country. Since then, Michigan State has lost seven of the last nine games and has drifted to the middle of the conference standings. While a mid-season slump is not uncommon in East Lansing, a month-long slide is certainly unusual. The Spartans have shown the ability to play with, and even beat, top 10-caliber teams. However, consistent and sustained effort continues to be a problem. It is unclear if it will ever get fixed, even with a Hall-of-Fame coach on the bench. So where does this leave Michigan State and what comes next? The Spartan...

Breathe, MSU fans. The emotional rollercoaster that is Michigan State basketball continues to chug along. Up until February, the Spartans seemed poised to challenge for yet another Big Ten title. But then the bottom dropped out to the extent that there were whispers that the Spartans were attempting to play themselves onto the NCAA bubble. On Saturday, Michigan State appeared sharp and focused for the first time in weeks, and the Spartans led the conference leading Purdue Boilermakers for almost the entire game. In the final minute, it looked as though the bottom might drop out again. Fortunately, Tyson Walker had other plans, and the Spartans emerged with a desperately needed, possible season changing, victory. In times like these it is important to remember that a team is seldom as bad as their last big loss (such as at Iowa) and seldom as good as their last big win (such as versus Purdue). The truth is likely somewhere in the middle. That said, it certainly was nice to see the Spart...