Spartan Basketball and the NBA

Every single year, the opening of basketball season is perhaps one of the most exciting events on this campus, and on Friday, tip-off will finally be here, as the Spartans open play against Eastern Michigan. Both players and coaches have set their sights towards Houston and next spring's Final Four, and considering what we've seen in the Spartans' two exhibition games, anything else than at least a return trip to the group of four would be an extreme disappointment in my mind.

While too much shouldn't be read into MSU's decisive pre-season wins over Saginaw Valley State and Nebraska-Omaha, basketball is still basketball, and clearly this Spartan team can play it at a high level, as they demonstrated in routing UNO 102-72 last night. In particular, we saw double-digit efforts from 5 Spartans, including a 25-point effort by Kalin Lucas, whose intense off-season rehabilitation appears to be paying dividends. On top of that, Korie Lucious contributed six assists in his first live-game action this season, and Durrell Summers demonstrated outstanding athletic ability (as we've come to expect from him) in converting both a spinning lay-up and a high-flying alley-oop.  In fact, at one point he and Draymond Green accounted for all 11 Spartan points on an early, game-changing run. Among others in Green-and-White to top 10 points: Keith Appling with 15, and Draymond Green with 16. Looking at other key figures, MSU rebounded well (a 52-32 edge over the Mavericks), and also pulled down 20 offensive boards.

For Friday's game against Eastern Michigan, I expect we'll see a fast start by the Spartans, and beneficial in-game experience for their young stable of contributors,  including Keith Appling and Adreian Payne.  Although the Eagles do return 11 letterwinners from a squad that finished two games above .500 last year, Coach Izzo will have his team geared against a season-opening upset, and to top that, I feel EMU simply doesn't have enough talent to hang with the Spartans in the Breslin Center.

Transitioning to the world of professional basketball (where we might see some of this year's Spartans in the future), the Lakers and Hornets have ripped off a combined 13 consecutive wins to open the season. In particular, New Orleans knocked off 3 teams in this past week which finished last year .500 or better, and did it all behind Chris Paul, who averaged 17 points in that stretch. The race between those teams in the West will be intriguing to watch as the season plays out, as they won't meet head-to-head until December 29. But, in the immediate future for the Hornets: a four-game roadtrip scheduled to tip off on the 21st, in which they visit both Utah and Portland. Examining the Eastern Conference, both Boston and Atlanta have opened the season 6-2; those teams aren't scheduled to meet until December 16th, but 'til then, the three-way battle for East supremacy between those 2 squads and the Orlando Magic should be fascinating to follow.

Check back here later this week for a breakdown of this weekend's "College Gameday" spotlight contest, Ohio State verus Penn State,as the Spartans have a bye.

--Beau