Grumpy Snowmen, Odds and Ends

This morning on the way to work I heard a story on NPR about a game called Grumpy Snowmen. It's an "Angry Birds" type game that allows you, Sparty, to go around blowing up snowmen wearing other Big Ten opposition scarfs with footballs, etc. It's free, developed by MSU Gaming, Entertainment and Learning(GEL) Lab and can be downloaded to your Jobs device, played in a browser and can be downloaded to your Windows or Mac machine.

No word on an Android version, Oatmeal Holy War Cellphone Drop goes here.

The Dancing Bear takes on a Million Candy Stripers.

This was a bit like the How Many Five Year Olds Can You Take in a Fight quiz? (Hint: The number goes way up if you are willing to use one as a weapon.) Except they aren't five year olds, they are massive young men who have done a phenomenal job protecting their home court. It's hard to think from the outset of this season that any State fan could possibly have been disappointed with the idea of only needing a win on Sunday to claim the Big Ten title outright, yet I was a little bit. Also, Tom Crean looks a bit like Tom Arnold and despite being an Izzo disiciple, no one like losing to Tom Arnold at anything.

Mish Mash

Green Thoughts asks Why Draymond Green Isn't In National POY Consideration? Trenton Robinson had a good combine, Jerel Worthy did not do as well. Future MSU player, Gary Harris hit a buzzer-beater on Tuesday night as the Spartans were losing in Bloomington.

Blog will be back in full swing sometime next week, and thensome. Download that game, you get to be Sparty, even if you're not between 5'10" and 6'2".

Game Preview: Michigan State vs the Golden Gophers

The Tubby Smith School of Puppy Obidience

When: Tonight, 8:30pm
Where: The Barn, Minneapolis
Channel: Big Ten Network / 94.9 FM

Michigan State 22-5(11-3) takes on Minnesota 17-10(5-9) at the Barn. For MSU, a win gets them one step closer to an outright Big Ten title. For Minnesota, a win is necessary to keep their tournament hopes alive.

For Tubby Smith, a win might be necessary to keep his 2012-2013 employment hopes alive, this is the school that fired Glen Mason after all. Although with that mean look he has, he would be a puppy trainer for the ages.

Four Factors in Conference



Uh-Oh. MSU is on a tear right now that could rip small planets in half, but these numbers suggest that Minnesota will not be an easy out. Search your feelings using your best Jedi technique, you know this to be true. Minnesota is deep, 41.2% of their total minutes come off the bench, good for 11th nationally.

MSU is a smidge better at the four factors on offense, but where they really dominate the Gophers is on defense. MSU is holding their opponents to a stingy 41.9 percent eFG% while the Gophers are giving up 47.9 percent. MSU is holding their opponents to 28.1% Offensive Rebounding while the Gophers are allowing 33.2% Offensive Rebounding.

How To Achieve World Domination

•  The Purdue/OSU Blueprint Won't Work Here - MSU can't just tire out the Gophers and get away with sloppy execution. Minnesota is Diet MSU, but similar enough in build and depth that simply running them out of the gym will not be enough to win the game.

•  The Above is Not Completely True - Minnesota is thin in the frontcourt. Ralph Sampson and Elliott Eliason are the only players seeing significant minutes that are over 6'8". Eliason's stats show that he is basically a placeholder, Sampson is much better. A well utilized Derrick Payne will command the low post tonight.POUND GREEN POUND.

• Which of course means - Minnesota is going to try and play small ball. So the keys there, keep Appling out of foul trouble, set up Draymond as the mismatch and rotate the guards often since that's what Tubby will be doing to MSU.

•  Austin Thornton, Keep Doing That Voodoo That You Do So Well - Austin Thornton is currently has an Offensive Rating of 128.2, but obviously doesn't play TONS of minutes. It means when he is in the game he is ruthlessly efficient on offense. Keep being ruthlessly efficient on Offense, Austin Thornton.

Prediction of Ho-Hum Accuracy: MSU by 6. MSU looks unstoppable right now and this isn't a Brain Farty team, but, this game smacks of a Brain Fart loss in the making. Also the Law Of Gus.

Bonus Bits

Little Brother Blog has a good overview on how this week's Combine is put together.The Only Colors wins, if you can call it that, the world's best pun award in it's Game Preview. ISportsWeb has a Game Preview too.

Monday Hot Links Is Playing NBA Jam While Watching Glengarry Glen Ross

Photo Credit: MLive

It was A Tale of Two Halves in West Lafayette on Sunday as MSU demolished Purdue 76-62. Brandon Dawson had a double-double, scoring 15 points and 11 boards including this NBA Jam! Draymond Green also scored a double-double picking up 20 points and 10 boards in the effort.

In the first half of the game, Robbie Hummel went on a monster tear turning in 18 points to put Purdue up 38-35 in the half. Even in the first half, you could see Izzo starting to work the Matta blueprint by substituting in Kearney and Gauna to chip away at the Boilers recently eroded depth chart. In the end it was too much for Purdue as MSU outscored them 41-24 in the second half for the victory.

Four Factors



Obviously, MSU made it's hay in Effective Field Goal percentage and Offensive Rebounding Percentage against Purdue. Lately, the defense is getting lots of deserved dap from the lovers of MSU basketball but the offense has very effectively held up it's end of the bargain with an eFG of over 55 percent against Purdue and Wisky.

B1G Title Outlook

MSU moves into sole possession of first place(11-3) in the Big Ten after Michigan beat OSU 56-51 and MSU's win on Sunday afternoon. Michigan and OSU are close behind at (10-4). MSU has to win 3 of 4 to share a title with either OSU or Michigan. Michigan has the easiest path to winning their last four, they play no ranked teams, but three away games. MSU plays two ranked teams and two away games. MSU/OSU on March 4th will almost certainly decide the Big Ten.

If People Cared About Hockey the Way They Care About Football, Tom Anastos Would Be As Big A Deal As Brady Hoke Was In 2011

The Icers swept the Alaska Nanooks and defended East Lansing from it's YouTube demise over the weekend to move into fourth place in the CCHA standings. The last series of the regular season is this upcoming weekend at Notre Dame. The Spartans need to get five points at ND to clinch first round home ice. They've also improved their chances at an NCAA tournament bid and are currently projected as a #3 seed.

The parallels between Brady Hoke and Tom Anastos are significant. Both coaches inherited programs that wanted a return to core values. Both coaches inherited teams that were full of players that needed reworking to fit their new/old system. Both coaches were thin on experience. Only one is actually thin though, ZING! Both coaches have made great strides with their team in year one.

Speaking of Brady Hoke...

I think he got all liquored up and watched ALL OF THE GLENGARRY GLENROSS on his way to an eight commitment weekend. Here's some footage of Hoke's "Soft Sell".

MSU Junior Day is this upcoming weekend. Do not expect an eight commitment weekend. No one should ever expect that, your life would be a series of disappointing weekends. More info on who will be attending later this week. Little Brother Blog has a good post on how the Michigan recruiting bonanza helps clarify the MSU recruiting picture.

Bonus Bits

As it regards conference expansion, the hopes for the SunBeast conference aren't dead yet. The NFL Combine starts on Wednesday, lest you forget, and the Seahawks will be watching Kirk Cousins. The writer who penned the racist Jeremy Lin headline has been fired, but the ESPN anchor who spoke the words gets to stay, because he's Ron Burgundy?