Friday News

by LVS on Jun 5, 2009 11:02 AM CDT in Michigan State Spartans News Roundup

Lots of new and not-so-new stuff to get through here -- hopefully it'll kill the better part of your afternoon.

LSJ Blogs: Hey, Joe: Homecoming kickoff set: Northwestern game is a noon kick.
2009 Preseason Top 25 - AthlonSports.com. Your Spartans are ranked #20: "Things are looking up in East Lansing, and all Mark Dantonio must do now is figure out a way to take the next step. But that's the big obstacle at State every time prosperity rolls around. Will this year be different?" FWIW, they believe that Cousins will be the starter.
Lindys Sports -- Preseason Top 25: MSU at 24. No kidding: "Like last season, if the Spartans just beat the teams they should beat, they're looking at nine wils. Michigan State will need an upset for some gravy." Here's Rittenberg fleshing out the Lindy's predictions.
Phil Steele's Preseason All-Big Ten Team (pdf). Several Spartans on the list, including first-teamers Greg Jones, Brett Swenson, and Joel Foreman. If Foreman plays well enough to be a first-teamer at the end of the season . . . uh, awesome. Tidbit of importance: Steele has Edwin Baker as one of the fourth-team running back. In and of itself, that's not remarkable, because that projects him only as one of the top eight backs in the conference, but Steele knows many things I don't; perhaps one of them is that Baker will be the starter from the beginning or shortly thereafter.

Also, he has MSU ranked at #29 nationally.
Future Spartans go for the gold; To-be QB makes leaps in other sport | Freep.com | Detroit Free Press. Andrew Maxwell high jumped 6'7". That's roughly 6'2" higher than I could manage. Also, small blurb about blog-traffic-driver-extraordinaire Will Gholston, and another MSU pass-rushing target, Warren Mott's C.J. Olaniyan (who has recently been offered by UCLA and Oklahoma). If both of them end up at MSU: OMG. As an aside, huge terrorist fist jab to the Freep for running Matt Dorsey's weekly recruiting columns.
Spartans hope to tap into prestigious Glenville pipeline | Freep.com | Detroit Free Press. "Troy Smith(Ohio State), Donte Whitner (Ohio State), Ted Ginn Jr. (Ohio State), Pierre Woods (U-M), Kyle Jefferson (Wisconsin) and Royce Adams (Purdue) are just a few of the high-level recruits that have graduated from Glenville. "
The Other Side of Spartan Sports: Construction Update: Old College Field. Good stuff from 1855. If you don't read their blog, you really should.
Beast Exclusive: The Devin Thomas interview - NFL Nation - ESPN. Q: Devin, can you please renounce your professional status and come back to MSU? Kthx.
Scout.com: Will McCune Follow "Day-Day" To State? ($) If this didn't creep you out, news about Izzo's recruitment of a 15-year old probably won't, either.
Big Ten, Pac-10 expansion could quiet BCS critics - Andy Staples - SI.com. Halfway decent discussion about what's been on everyone's mind this offseason. Also highly recommended is WWAHT Sam's posts on the subject.
Brent's Big Blog's Blog - Talking Big Ten - Top 5 Michigan State stories from 2008-09 - Big Ten Network. About what you'd expect.
Scout.com: Duran Transferring Out of Michigan State. Was buried on the depth chart behind Gantt, Linthicum, and Celek (the best TE corps in the conference, IMO). Good luck to him.
Ohio State's Jim Tressel among coaches to sleep in Saddam's palace | Freep.com | Detroit Free Press. lololololololololololololol

Finally: MSU coach Mark Dantonio replaces Mason as chair of kids' telethon.

CAPTION CONTEST! Readysetgo! Also, if anything else is on your mind, post it below.

Have a great weekend, everyone.

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Comments

McCune is an intriguing prospect. I hear he’s talented but, with only one spot for a true post available and Price and Williams out there, McCune might have to fully develop as a Raymar-style forward to find a fit at MSU.

It’s not that early to discuss these players. The 2010 class is almost done and 2011 will be the real deal soon. Lots of prospects on MSU’s radar (some of whom may have offers soon) and continued competition from UM should make the scenarios very fun to watch. If Henton can develop into a true wing, PLP (PG), Henton (SG), McCune (SF), and Price (PF/C) would be an outstanding class.

by intrpdtrvlr on Jun 5, 2009 2:49 PM CDT reply actions

I don't think I've mentioned

that I’ve moved the projected roster page over from the old site.

http://www.theonlycolors.com/pages/projected-basketball-roster

You can find it on the left sidebar below "Your Hosts."

Good point on the number of post players we have committed for the next several years. Five scholarship guys projected for the 2011-12 roster (assuming Roe doesn’t go pro early).

Cheer for The Only Colors: Green and White!

by KJ@theonlycolors on Jun 5, 2009 4:15 PM CDT up reply actions

The space for another post player could even get tighter if the last 2010 scholarship goes to someone like Adreian Payne or Jon Horford instead of someone like Trey Zeigler or Justin Martin (not that I’m confident any of those four end up at MSU, just sayin’).
Izzo could take 2 more posts in 2010/2011 if talent forced his hand (2 of Payne/Price/Williams) but that would be the absolute limit, I’d think. Any more and you either play shallow or Green and Sims cover SF.

I suppose if he brings it next year and Izzo is confident about Sherman and Nix both being reliable centers, McCune could come in as the only 2011 big (especially as a Zach Price Plan B) and play PF .

by intrpdtrvlr on Jun 5, 2009 5:06 PM CDT up reply actions

there is almost no chance we take another big in 10. there is too much talent in 11 and no one that looks all world left in 10. Im betting Martin is player 4 out the 10 class. We need wings and dont need bigs

"There are no next times when you're competing for big things." - Tom Izzo
Go Spartans

by msufan23 on Jun 5, 2009 7:41 PM CDT up reply actions

I completely agree that taking another big in 2010 would be odd but I keep hearing credible sources say that MSU is showing interesting in Adreian Payne.

by intrpdtrvlr on Jun 6, 2009 6:35 AM CDT reply actions