Well, I will admit up front. . . . I'll cut to the chase . . . hate to say it, BUT, Sparties looked incredibly impressive Saturday Night in their 11 point win over the Pitt Panthers. You know this was my greatest fear heading into the tournament – they would get on a roll. And I saw it comin’ in the Big 10 Tournament when they played pretty well. Too much talent to start (both in playing AND coaching), a superstar in the making (Kalin Lucas) and now you have that key ingredient called DEFENSE. Sparties have been smothering on the defensive end.

Here’s a disconcerting factor -- the Memphis Tigers shooting 59 percent from the charity stripe – worst of the 65 teams in the field. They have to make free throws if they want to advance from this point forward. Of course Dick Vitale picking the Green Bellies to knock off the Tigers next Friday night at Reliant I would think would be the kiss of death for State – saving grace for Memphis. Of course, Dickie V declared State would knock off Pitt, and he delivered on that. Stay tuned for 10 p.m. Friday night when we will all find out.  

Speaking of that 10 p.m. tip on Friday night, does this absolutely FEED the East Lansing bar business like nothing else. Just hoping it doesn’t represent The Perfect Storm for post game wild idiotic behavior in he streets of EL. The ELPD better be out in full force when the clock strikes Midnight -- win or lose -- because that doesn’t seem to matter.