First, the Favorite Spartan Athlete Bracket is still alive, and this round it's Isaiah Dahlman v. George Webster.  Cast your votes y'all. 

USA Basketball: Stats: Lithuania U19 Team 108, USA U19 Team 75  In a word -- ouch.  The silver linings here is that this was an exhibition, and that Keith Appling had 23 minutes, up from four in the last game.  From what I can tell from the stats Appling was the U.S. team's consummate point guard, having four of the team's six assists (yup, that's six assists for the whole game) and scoring eight points on 3 for 9 shooting.  Not a great showing, but it looks much better for Keith than it did a couple days ago, when it looked like he might ride the pine throughout the tournament.  Speaking of the tournament, the U.S. begins it proper tomorrow against Egypt.

2011 Season Preview: Last Impressions And The Michigan State Spartans - SBNation.com  An excellent stat-based preview of the Green and White this season, and it's refreshing to read an assessment of Michigan State that doesn't imply that the Spartans fell into 11 wins last season.

Fun Stat Nerd Tidbit: Michigan State  A bit more from Bill C. from Football Study Hall on how the pass defense might improve in 2011.

Lockout Limbo: Eric Smith, Unemployed and Uncertain (Columbus, Ohio) | The Associated Press | NFL | San Francisco Examiner Eric Smith, FBI agent?  It's one of the jobs he was interested in, and it's a great read on how one football player is dealing with the NFL lockout.

Top 20 non-conference games in 2011-12 - CBSSports.com The North Carolina and Duke games both make the top ten.

Recruiting: Ohio DB might soon get scholarship offer from Michigan State | Detroit Free Press | freep.com  Jermaine Edmondson, a 6'2", 165 lb. defensive back from Canton is waiting on an MSU offer.

Sam Puryear Resigns as Spartan Men's Golf Coach to Care for Family - MICHIGAN STATE OFFICIAL ATHLETIC SITE So it goes.