Insanity Report #3 - Lamplighter Game of the Week and KU v. Colorado tonight

(Originally written on Thurs. Feb. 4, 2010)

LAMPLIGHTER GAME OF THE WEEK REVIEW

Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010
#5 Michigan State Spartans 49
#16 Wisconsin Badgers 67

First off, big ups to the Lamplighter Pub’s Craig Robinson for keeping the $10 burgar and a beer promo for the College Basketball Nights only, as it’s cancelled for everybody else for the Olympic break in February and early March. Lotsa bang for the buck!!!

Anyways, #5 Michigan State at #16 Wisconsin was a tough act to follow, with the previous Lamplighter Tuesday game being the upset of the year so far when unranked South Carolina beat, then #1, Kentucky.

Goin into the game either the Spartans were due for their first Big Ten loss of year or Wisconsin was due for their first home loss in 18 games. Something had to give!!! Although a well played game, Wisconsin had the game in hand from the get go having a 10-15 point the whole game. It was typical Big Ten basketball with tough rebounding and half-court possessions taking the whole 35 second shot clock.

Wisconsin had all pistons firing with solid games from everybody, especially with solid performances from guards Jason Bohannon, Trevon Hughes and Jordan Taylor. Big guy, Keaton Nankivil made the Spartans reach for the Advil with timely hoops from the blocks. Overall, Wisconsin played typical Badger non-flashy, low turnover basketball on Tuesday, and showed how they are destined for a deep run in the Madness come March, perhaps even a darkhorse Final 4 threat.

Michigan State tried to get back into the game many times, but Wisconsin’s half court D made it difficult, and the Spartans couldn’t find the rim with a 37% FG%. They had no 3-point mojo by only jacking 9 shots from down town, and only making 2 for that matter! They lost 2009 Big Ten Player of the Year, Kalin Lucas late in the 2nd half with an ankle sprain, and after Lucas left the game, the Spartans wilted under the Badger pressure.

All in all with Michigan State, I like their individual players, but they seem to not have any typical Head Coach, Tom “to the” Izzo identity. They have no 6-11/7 foot oaf who’s a menace on the boards, and they just seemed out of wack in the half court and especially the transition game. On D, they had no answer for Wisconsin, and played the same weak 2-3 zone for most of the game. Michigan State is still a Final 4 contender, but they gots to find an Izzo Identitiy quick!!!

COLE ALDRICH
Now to tonight’s action with #1 KU squeaking by Colorado in OT on the road. The Insanity Report Staff took a good look at Kansas bigman, Cole Aldrich, and got a good take on him.

K first off, he’s good. There’s no one like him in the nation. He controls the whole key on the defensive side and will get 5-7 easy lay-ins per game on the blocks. He boards on both ends like a trucker, but he still has a lack of delivering in the clutch. He may still show up in clutch time later on, but he hasn’t yet in games scouted by the Insanity Report Staff.

Even though the Jayhawks got by Colorado in overtime, they did show a way to play vs. Aldrich’s defensive presence by spreading the floor with 3 or 4 players outside the 3 pt line, but still 2 feet behind the 3 point line to spread the floor even more. Aldrich’s check started at the high post and even received the ball on the wing to bring Aldrich off the blocks. With Cole off the blocks and more space to work with, Aldrich’s slow feet was no match for the guards/wings slashing to the hole.

For this to benefit other future teams, they’ll have to be hot from down town, which Colorado was early in the 2nd half, but fizzled late in regulation as well as in OT. They need the 3 pointer to fall for the drive and dish threat, or else KU with Drop Chalk and Jayhawk back to guard the drive.

Great game tonight, but Colorado didn’t have the gas to finish off KU.

AP POLL #1 TEAMS
As in the Kansas game tonight, it’s apparent that the #1 team in the AP Poll partakes a lot of pressure onto itself. Since January, each team that has been voted #1 has a record of 3-2 in games right after the poll came out for that week. In total, the #1 Team has a record of 5-4 in January as the #1 ranked team. (For those gambling degenerates out there, the #1 team has a record of 0-5 ATS in games after right after the poll and an overall record of 1-8 ATS as the #1 ranked team in January).

This is apparent, in that the January games are conference games, and for the opponents of the #1 teams in the AP Poll, this is their March Madness!!! The # 1 Teams (this month, those teams have been Kansas, Texas and Kentucky) have had tight victories (and ATS losses) vs. lowly teams such as Cornell, Iowa State, South Carolina and Colorado. Again, those games are the games of the years for ye foes of the #1 Teams; These teams won’t even taste post-season play (save for Cornell who snuck into the Top 25 this week!).

The point being, is that there is no bonafide, overwhelming favorite to win it all in March this year. There are some elite teams that are great Final 4 threats such as Kentucky, Kansas, Texas, Syracuse, Villanova with outside darkhorses in Michigan State, Wisconsin and Gonzaga (errrrr I mean CANzaga!!!) But any Final 4 runs are more dependant on each teams’ draw in the tourney then ever. Every team has something that can be exploited, and none of those teams has that one factor that can overcome anything ala the ’09 UNC squad or ’96 Kentucky squad. It’s a wide open race this year folks!!!

That’s it for now, stay tuned for further announcements for the Lamplighter College Basketball Game of the Week, as the Olympics are nearby and will pre-empt the hoops.

Yours in Madness,
Commissioner Adolph