Saturday Afternoon: Lounging with the Big Ten
Saturday afternoon, two college teams invaded the home stadiums of their closest NBA franchises. One drew a crowd which hadn't packed the stadium since the glory days of the franchise during the mid-90s. For their game, they put on a show belonging in the NBA, with high flying dunks and crisp play. The other team played a tough inside game reminiscent of older teams which used to play in the arena, all the while wearing flashy silver uniforms which seemed to belong in the NBA.
The two teams are Illinois and Michigan State, the consensus #1 and #2 teams in the Big Ten. Unfortunately for Michigan State, there is a wide gulf separating the two which was definitely apparent on court this weekend.
Illinois walked into the United Center in Chicago on Saturday, and played like they belonged in the arena all the time. The senior heavy team has finally adapted to coach Bruce Weber's motion offense and it has given them a spark over their opponents not seen since the Final Four team of 1989. In evidence on Saturday afternoon was also the strength of the defense. Illinois was consistently able to cause turnovers which led to some highlight filled transition baskets causing the crowd, very much clad in orange all around, to go crazy. The main man leading all of this pressure on defense was Dee Brown, whose play has improved by leaps and bounds since last year. Several times he created steals which he was able to push up the floor and create with. The most punishing of these happened with less than a minute to go in the first half. Brown stole the ball with a great play and dished a fabulous alley-oop pass to Luther Head who finished the play. With this, the Illini crowd went nuts and didn't stop screaming until the start of the second half.
Overall, Illinois was impressive. I was most intrigued by the play of James Augustine at center. He has definitely matured since last season. His play is more crisp and he is making more confident passes to his teammates. This has helped him to be more aggressive inside with his shooting and become a real force on defense. His improvement is much needed as I am still not sold on Senior Nick Smith. Smith has displayed that he still doesn't get it. Maybe he was too much of Bill Self's type of player but his attitude just doesn't seem to fit with the rest of his team. This was in evidence on Saturday when, with the game well at hand, Smith was called for a silly foul and in disgust whipped the ball down the court. This led to a technical foul and the immediate benching of Smith. In a closer game, displays like this could cost Illinois and therefore Smith will be one that needs to be watched closely by the coaching staff.
It wasn't all Illinois on Saturday, but at times it seemed that way. One bright spot for Oregon was freshman Malik Hairston. Hairston hails from Detroit and all of the schools in the state of Michigan should be ashamed of themselves for not being able to keep this talent at home. No, he wasn't Mr. Basketball in the state, but he sure seems a lot more poised at his young age that Drew Neitzel has for Michigan State. Hairston showed amazing court vision, shooting, and speed, against the Illini. This was even more impressive when you consider that he was doing it against a very mature and experienced Illinois team. According to Hairston's father, Ernie Kent was able to impress Malik and his mother enough to make him choose Oregon. Tom Izzo and Tommy Amaker could only wish they had made such a good impression.
Izzo's team was the other Big Ten team in action on Saturday at it's nearest NBA home. Sporting a strange set of silver uniforms and cheered on by the "Green Man Group", Michigan State showed off its inside strength against Stanford, a team which has been lacking on the boards this year. The first half was very much in Michigan State's favor as they fed the ball inside to Paul Davis, something that worked very well for them against Duke in the ACC-Big Ten challenge. They went into half time leading by 9, both on the scoreboard and the backboards.
The second half was more of the same though Michigan State started to improve in other aspects of its offensive game. Shannon Brown stepped up with a great drive through the lane six minutes into the half, finishing with a powerful dunk. Two minutes later he followed with another dunk after a baseline drive. Stanford was able to break up an alley-oop attempt by the Spartans soon after, but a rebound and great feeder pass inside to Davis led to him drawing a foul and making the free throws. The varied offensive attack will only help Michigan State getting into conference play as they will not be able to rely on Davis and only Davis all game. At this point, Ager and Brown are the two best candidates to step up and contribute on the offensive end.
Stanford did have some highlights in the game and there is some there for Trent Johnson to work with, especially with another down year in the PAC-10. Stanford was able to get the ball inside a few times against the Spartans and this led to some nice baskets for the Cardinal. Unfortunately, Stanford was not always that patient on offense and this held them back, leading to turnovers and missed rebounding opportunities.
One last note on Neitzel. With a little over four minutes remaining the game and the Spartans leading by 16, Drew Naymick made a great block at the defensive end. Neitzel ended up with the ball in his hands and tried to make a fancy alley-oop play which was broken up easily by the Stanford defense. His better play would have been to bring the ball back outside and slow it down, drawing time off the clock, and looking for the inside pass for an easier basket. As a freshman, this mistake is understandable, but with someone who will be looked upon to provide a lot of early leadership on this team, it was the wrong choice. Izzo told him as much 20 seconds later when he took him out of the game, but did it by teaching, not yelling, something that will only help Neitzel as this season moves on.
Michigan State outrebounded Stanford 28-24, something that was going to be key for them going into the game. Improved shooting helped them to the 25 point win which was definitely missing in their game against Duke where they were definitely outshot from the outside.
While impressive, Michigan State has a bit of ground to make up on Illinois before the two meet on February 1st. They still have too many weaknesses to exploit while Illinois seems a fully formed team. I have no doubt that Illinois will lose a game before February, and the game between them and the Spartans may again come down to the rebounding battle. Right now though, the Spartans would find themselves getting run out of their own gym.
