Big Ten Country

Lions Are In

Looking over the BCS returns, Penn State looks to be a lock for Pasadena. Well, that is if the minor event of either USC or Texas losing on Saturday happens. But in the secondary race for the right to step into the breach, the Lions look to have eliminated any possibility of being caught by LSU.

Chico Harlan, the Lion beat writer for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, drawing an array of sources tells us that LSU's close win over Arkansas eliminated the possibility of the Tigers winning the human polls by the landslide margin they will need to overcome PSU's substantial computer poll edge. Harlan reports ESPN's BCS expert Brad Edwards as saying it is very unlikely a USC loss would enable them to hang on to #2 over the Nittany Lions. So Penn State fans need not crunch any numbers this weekend. They can plop down on the couch and just root for UCLA or Colorado to pull an upset.

In my view, I think LSU is getting a raw deal. The Tigers have played amidst the fallout of Hurricane Katrina, and unlike the Lions, they have to play a conference championship game on Saturday. They have beaten Auburn, Alabama and Florida. While the Big Ten has good depth, the conference did not play well in showcase non-league games this year. From that it stands to reason the league champ should not be getting the benefit of the doubt in any controversial call.

But Penn State still deserves its due--they did have to play teams that were at least bowl-caliber more often then LSU did. And any student of history knows that if Joe Paterno is getting a sympathy vote this time, the man has also been on the wrong side of many disputed votes as well. Most prominently was 1994 when his unbeaten team was denied a share of the national title with Nebraska, even after having played a tougher schedule then the Huskers that year. If Joe Pa gets a Christmas gift from the voters this year, only a Scrooge could say he hasn't earned it.

If Penn State gets to Pasadena they have an excellent chance. Any fan who has watched USC this year knows their defense is soft. Texas showed major vulnerability on defense against both Oklahoma State and Texas A&M. The Lion defense, on the other hand, is stout and with Michael Robinson's improvement they would have at least an even shot at winning Paterno's third national title. Now it's just a question of seeing if they get a shot.

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The Case For The Irish

While no one doubts the political reality that Notre Dame is going to the BCS, some commentators are starting to raise questions about whether the bid is justified. I raised questions a couple weeks ago, although that was at a time when it looked like Virginia Tech was in the at-large pool and Miami would win the ACC.

The author "ndoldtown", writing on the website NDNation lays out an impressive array of historical information and schedule-strength breakdown that sheds much light on the selection process--

ALL RELEVANT FACTS SHOW THAT NOTRE DAME IS ENTITLED TO A BCS BID

Some argue that it is unjust for Notre Dame to be invited to the BCS if Oregon is not because Oregon has one fewer loss than Notre Dame. This makes no sense because Notre Dame deserves to be in the BCS on its own merits and, in any event, Notre Dame is not the obstacle to Oregon being in the BCS. Four factors compel the conclusion that there is no credible or consistent argument for claiming that Notre Dame should not be invited to a BCS Bowl. First, if one subscribes to the school of thought that the eight best teams should get the bids, then Notre Dame is deserving based on its inclusion in the top eight of all of the objective third-party rankings relied upon by the BCS and its participating schools; Second, the reason Oregon is not going to the BCS is not because of Notre Dame, but because of agreements made by the Pac Ten and other conferences guaranteeing "conference champion" potential slots for schools other than Notre Dame which -- unlike Notre Dame -- are not top-eight teams, this year it is West Virginia; Third, the argument against Notre Dame lacks integrity and credibility because Oregon, the Pac Ten and the rest of the conferences and every one of their individual members have directly benefitted financially on multiple occasions from their own members getting bowl bids ahead of teams with better records and higher rankings; Fourth, if the conferences would simply agree that the BCS should take the top eight teams Oregon would be in, as would Notre Dame, but in any event, on an absolute basis, Notre Dame is a better team than Oregon, has accomplished more and is more deserving of a bowl bid based based on its accomplishments this year.

1. If the Standard is That The Eight Best Teams Should Go To The BCS, Notre Dame Deserves An Invitation.

If Oregon's argument is that the best teams should go to the BCS, then they have no argument with Notre Dame going, but only with Oregon being excluded. Every accounting of the top eight teams by unbiased third-party sources used by the BCS schools includes Notre Dame. The coaches poll, made up of coaches from every conference, places Notre Dame in the top eight teams in the country. Tellingly, the coaches from every conference have an incentive to vote against Notre Dame in order to help their own conferences and increase the payout to their schools. Notre Dame has no conference brethren who are incented to vote for her. Yet, in this poll in which the voters interests are almost uniformly opposed to Notre Dame, Notre Dame is listed in the top eight teams. The AP poll, filled with writers from across the country places Notre Dame in the top eight. The BCS poll, which combines the human and computer polls places Notre Dame in the top eight teams. If the just thing is for the BCS to include the top eight teams, then Notre Dame should be in and Oregon has no argument with Notre Dame. So why is it that Oregon is not in the BCS?

2. The Reason Oregon is Not Going to The BCS is Not Notre Dame, But The Guaranteed Invite of Conference Champions When They Are Not One of The Eight Best Teams In The Nation.

Oregon is one of the top eight teams in the human polls and the BCS melding of human and computer polls. The reason it is not getting one of the eight slots is not because a Notre Dame team outside the top eight is taking its spot, but because of a deal made by all the conferences -- including the Pac Ten -- to guarantee that their conference champion gets a guaranteed bid whether it are one of the top eight teams in the country or not. If the BCS took the top eight teams, Notre Dame, Oregon and Ohio State would all be in, while West Virginia - rated number eleven - would be out. But West Virginia gets an automatic bid. Thus, the real complaint for Oregon -- if it advocates invitations based only on "merit," meaning inclusion of the top eight teams in the BCS -- is with the BCS system of rewarding conference champions outside of the top eight.

3. The 2005 Notre Dame Team is More Deserving Of A BCS Bid Than At Least One Guaranteed Invitee From Every BCS Conf. Over The Last Six Years.

Given the foregoing, attempting to criticize Notre Dame -- a top eight team -- because Oregon or OSU don't get into the BCS this year is selective, inconsistent and, frankly, unprincipled. The fact is that it is the conferences' demand that their champions -- and not the eight top teams -- be guaranteed BCS bids that has led to this situation of top-eight teams being excluded. This has occurred almost every year without any of the criticism we hear now. This year, Notre Dame is 9-2 and rated in the top eight by every significant rating source. Yet every BCS conference has had a team with lesser credentials (more losses and a lower rank) get a BCS bid based on a contractual deal made by those conferences with the BCS or an individual BCS bowl. To wit: Big Ten (2000 - a three-loss non-top ten Purdue team goes to the Rose Bowl, while both one-loss and top ten Virginia Tech and two-loss and top-ten Nebraska are excluded due to Big-Ten conference champ guaranteed bid); Big East (2004 - three-loss non-top ten Pitt goes to Fiesta Bowl, while one-loss Louisville and two-loss Cal are excluded due to Big East conference champ guaranteed bid); Pac Ten (1999 - three-loss non-top ten Stanford goes to Rose Bowl, while one-loss and top ten Kansas State is excluded from the BCS by the Pac Ten's guaranteed bid); ACC (2002 - four-loss, non-top ten Florida State goes to Sugar Bowl, while two-loss and top ten Texas is excluded due to the ACC's guaranteed bid); SEC (2001 - three-loss LSU goes to Sugar Bowl, while both two-loss and top-ten Oklahoma and Texas are excluded from BCS due to SEC's guaranteed bid); Big 12 (2003 - three-loss Kansas State goes to Fiesta Bowl, while one-loss Miami (Oh) excluded from BCS due to Big Twelve guaranteed bid).

As illustrated above, the argument against Notre Dame this year by Oregon and the Pac Ten is selective, inconsistent and lacks integrity given prior positions and actions. The fact is that when non-top-eight teams with a worse record who happen to be from one of the large conferences squeeze out teams with better records and rankings based on the guaranteed conference bids, other conference members of the school getting the bid do not call it an injustice -- they fall mute. For example, I don't recall Pac Ten schools and officials calling for one-loss Kansas State to be included in the BCS out of a sense of justice in 1999. Oregon and every other Pac Ten school gets money because of deals guaranteeing the invitation of a Pac Ten school to the Rose Bowl over any better qualified teams. Now Oregon may be hurt by the exact agreement from which it has benefitted from in prior years at other teams' expenses when West Virginia gets one of the eight guaranteed BCS slots. Nor did ACC officials claim it was unfair for four-loss FSU to go to the Sugar Bowl in 2002 instead of higher-ranked with a better record Texas). Given this history, it is not consistent for conference members to now object to inclusion in the BCS of a top-eight Notre Dame team with better credentials than their own members have had when they have gotten bids in the last six years. In any event, Oregon has little basis on which to claim as unjust the same type of result from which it has lined its pockets in the past as a Pac Ten member, and it especially has no argument with Notre Dame, which is in the top eight and not benefitting from any "guarantee".

4. Notre Dame is a Better Team and More Deserving Than Oregon.

While I would encourage the Pac Ten to switch its position and advocate that the best eight teams go to the BCS, thus permitting both Oregon and Notre Dame in, it is clear that Notre Dame has accomplished more than Oregon this year. Notre Dame plays a tougher schedule than Oregon according to Sagarin, which rates Notre Dame's schedule 20th and Oregon's 31st. Of course, Sagarin does a true and complete strength of schedule ranking, which includes the records of opponents' opponents. Using the Oregon preferred method of simply adding up wins and losses of opponents, it gets more credit for beating 6-5 Houston than Notre Dame gets for beating 5-6 Tennessee and more credit for beating 8-4 Montana than Notre Dame gets for beating 7-4 Michigan. Using a neutral example, surely nobody would believe that an undefeated Montana is better than a one-loss Michigan. It is just such untoward results that the Sagarin strength of schedule analysis precludes and it is why that -- as opposed to the simple totalling of opponenet wins and losses -- is the preferred way to measure strength of schedule. And that analysis favors Notre Dame as having a tougher shcedule than Oregon by eleven ranks. Alternatively, if, as Oregon suggests, we should ignore strength of schedule and all other factors and only consider whether a team has one more loss than another, then in that case, TCU and Lousiville (both one-loss teams) have equal claim to the BCS with Oregon, and TCU and Lousiville should get BCS bids over Georgia if it wins the SEC championship game. But of course nobody is making that argument, nor would Oregon advocate it.

Other factors of significance: Even with its tougher schedule, Notre Dame has a larger average margin of victory than Oregon, has given up fewer points per game and scored more points per game, ranks ahead of Oregon nationally in ever major NCAA offensive statistical category, has both the number one QB in the nation in terms of touchdown passes and the number one wide receiver in terms of touchdown catches and finalists for the Heisman, O'Brien, Biletnikoff and Mackey awards. Clearly something is amiss if Oregon is trying to argue that Notre Dame is not an excellent team.

Probing further, against common opponent USC, Notre Dame led until the last play of the game, while Oregon lost by 32 at home. I have also looked to find an at-large team in the history of the BCS that lost by 32 in the regular season, and could not find one. Such a humiliating defeat would, one would expect, at least temper unqualified demands of "deservedness". Additionally, Oregon scheduled a Division 1AA opponent, Montana to get its tenth win as opposed to Notre Dame's nine. Finally, while Oregon complains about Notre Dame's seven-point road victory over 5-6 Stanford, it conveniently ignores its own home wins of seven points over 3-8 Arizona and three points over 4-7 Washington State. At the end of the day, I am comfortable with the position that Notre Dame is superior to Oregon, but even if one disagrees, it is hard to imagine that one could say Oregon is plainly superior to Notre Dame or that some great injustice is being done by choosing Notre Dame over Oregon.

Talkin' Hoops: Big Ten Battles The ACC

The year was 2000-01, and the Big Ten got together with the ACC to put together one of the showcase events of college basketball's non-conference schedule. The Big Ten-ACC challenge has been played each year since, with conference schools playing each other for a total of nine matchups. With the ACC now expanded to twelve members, there will be 11 games in this year's event. All Big Ten schools will get to play a game, and only Boston College will be excluded on the ACC side.

The event has not been kind to the Big Ten thus far, with the powers from Tobacco Road having won it all five years. This year's Challenge will run from Monday to Wednesday of the coming week and nine of the eleven games in this made-for-TV drama will be on either ESPN or ESPN2.

Top-ranked Duke visits #21 Indiana on Wednesday night (8 CST, ESPN) in what looks to be the best matchup. The Devils and Hoosiers are linked in history, as Mike Krysweski worked as an IU assistant under Bob Knight before becoming the head coach at Army, and later moving on to Durham where he would become what I would argue is the best college basketball coach in history. Tuesday night will feature a rematch of last year's NCAA final, with Illinois visiting North Carolina (8 CST, ESPN). The Illini are ranked #14, and the defending champion Tar Heels are actually unranked. Heavy graduation losses have relegated Roy Williams' team to the "others receiving votes" scrap heap. While Illinois will be out for revenge (as small a consolation as that may be), North Carolina will be hungry for respect. This will be the second time the Challenge has featured a title-game rematch. In 2002 Indiana got belated revenge on Maryland.

The Challenge opens on Monday with a battle between Virginia Tech and Ohio State--ironically between two schools whose football teams could end up squaring off in the Orange Bowl. The rest of the listings are below.

Complete Schedule

Monday--Virginia Tech @ Ohio State (6:30 CST, ESPN2)

Tuesday--Wisconsin at Wake Forest (6 CST, ESPN), Purdue at Florida State (6:30 CST, ESPN2), Clemson at Penn State (7 CST, ESPNU), Illinois at North Carolina (8 CST, ESPN), Miami at Michigan (8:30 CST, ESPN2).

Wednesday--Georgia Tech at Michigan State (6 CST, ESPN), Minnesota at Maryland (6:30 CST, ESPN2), Northwestern at Virginia (7 CST, ESPNU), Duke at Indiana (8 CST, ESPN), N.C. State at Iowa (8:30 CST, ESPN2)

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The MVP Debate

With Wisconsin's win in Hawaii last night, Big Ten football is done for the regular season. At the conclusion of conference play last Saturday, the MVP balloting was already done. 2005 saw co-winners. Quarterbacks Michael Robinson of Penn State, and Brett Basanez of Northwestern shared the honor. While this MVP debate might not have raised the stir the battle of David Ortiz vs. Alex Rodriguez did in American League baseball, this was still a close competition and worthy of little bit more scrutiny.

Robinson was one of the nice stories in college football this year. Having struggled with consistency in his brief spells at quarterback last season (he also played receiver) and early this year, he put it together down the stretch and is right now the best all-purpose quarterback outside of Austin, Texas. His team is co-champs of the conference, BCS-bound, and still has a shot at the national title. His passing numbers of themselves are unimpressive--2,097 yards and 16 TDS are stats that rank well behind names like John Stocco (Wisconsin), Drew Tate (Iowa) and even Blake Powers (Indiana). If you add his 785 rushing yards the numbers look better. More impressive is his 11 rushing touchdown. The running quarterback gives Penn State an added threat in the red zone.

Basanez led the conference in passing yardage, with 3,206. He threw for 19 touchdowns. On a team whose defense often resembled a WAC program he had enormous pressure on him every time he touched the ball. His team went 7-4, and won five conference games--considering the relative status of Northwestern, that is an achievment as impressive as Penn State's comeback year.

There were other worthy contenders. Most notably is Wisconsin's Brian Calhoun. The Badger running back was eliminated in the final two conference games when Penn State and Iowa shut him down, but his resume is dazzling. He led the conference in rushing. He led the conference in scoring. He was a threat out of the backfield, with 563 receiving yards. While his quarterback, Stocco, improved, it is still apparent (particularly against top defenses like Penn State) that Calhoun is who has to carry the UW offense. And the Badger defense, like Northwestern's, played its share of matador football throughout the fall. Calhoun had the pressure on him every time his team got the football.

Michigan State's Drew Stanton was an early front-runner, and still threw for over 3,000 yards, but his team collapsed around him in the final three weeks. Troy Smith at Ohio State will never have to buy a meal in the Buckeye State again, after engineering the dramatic comeback in Ann Arbor last week. But while his numbers are nice (1,940 yards/14TDs passing & 545/11 on the ground) they aren't MVP material. 

So it would seem debate would have to center on Robinsion, Basanez and Calhoun. And while "MRob" as Penn State fans affectionately call him (at least I think they're affectionate) has the intangibles that voters like in an MVP--quarterback of a championship team--it's hard to see how he ranks ahead of the other two contenders. Penn State's success is built on a defense that dominates, and a well-balanced offense. Is Robinson a key part of the latter? Absolutely, but there are others to help him carry the load, and the Lion attack is rarely in a positon where they must score. I suspect the current politics of college football, with a wave of Penn State sentiment starting to gain steam, is going to get Robinson to New York for the Heisman ceremony(a fourth or fifth place finish), but the Big Ten's MVP debate should have more properly centered on Basanez and Calhoun.

Both players come to the table as ones who were the undisputed stars of offenses that had to score frequently. The remaining issues would be relative support around them and big-game performance. The first point looks pretty even. Northwestern's freshman running back Tyrrell Sutton ran for 1,390 yards and sixteen touchdowns. Stocco threw for 2,619 yards and nineteen TDs. Calhoun can probably pick up a narrow edge, since he was also a key part of his quarterback's passing numbers.

Each player was shut down in a big road game. Basanez threw for only 121 yards in Columbus. Calhoun was held to 38 rushing yards in Happy Valley. But the Northwestern signal-caller starts to emerge beyond these numbers. Calhoun was completely collared by Iowa (18 yards against a mediocre rush defense at home), whereas Basanez did not have another bad conference game. He cleared the 200-yard mark each time, and went over 300 on five occassions. Calhoun had five 100-yard performances in conference play, and his one other sub-100 yard game (vs. Purdue) was made up for with additional receiving yards. But the Iowa no-show effort is the decisive factor. Based on this, I would cast my vote for Basanez.

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Longing For The Old Days

A pair of basketball programs looking to get back to what they were in the early 1990s have each won their first two non-conference games in key threshold seasons.

Michigan, which has not been a national power since the days of the Fab Five's baggy shorts, thumped Central Michigan, but barely edged Boston University on the road (note: that's Boston U, not Boston College). The Wolverines make a road trip to South Bend on December 3, and host 16th-ranked UCLA two weeks later.

Indiana's last moment in the national sunlight was when Calbert Cheaney strolled the campus, and only a knee injury to Alan Henderson kept the team out of the '93 Final Four.They opened 2005 by racking up a combined 199 points in routing Nicholls State and Florida A&M. The Hoosiers are awaiting a home date with top-ranked Duke a week from tonight, and their traditional battle with Kentucky comes on December 10.

Both coaches--Tommy Amaker and Mike Davis--are under the gun, and both have the talent to contend in the conference. Both lineups are filled with experienced players--IU has four seniors playing substantial minutes, as do the Wolverines. The two teams will open the Big Ten season against each on January 3, in an ESPN telecast.

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Keady Being Pursued By NBA

ESPN.com is reporting that former Purdue coach Gene Keady is being offered a position with the NBA's Toronto Raptors. The job could be as a consultant, or it could be as head coach. In either case, Keady appears to be seriously considering the offer.

Even in an age where coaches coming out of retirement has become commonplace, this one is really out of left field. Keady enjoyed a long and successful career as the Boilermaker mentor. He won at least a piece of six Big Ten crowns, and his three straight outright conference titles from 1994-96 marked the first time such a feat was accomplished in thirty years. But his career ended on a downturn, as the program fell from national prominence and won just seven games in his final season last year.

While my pedigree as a Bob Knight fan required me to root against Keady's Purdue when those schools squared off, I've always respected the Purdue pit bull as a solid sideline coach, underappreciated because he never got to a Final Four. But I hope he steers clear of this snakepit. His aggressive coaching mentality is ill-suited to a long 82-game NBA regular season, and Toronto is not about to be mistaken for the Bird-era Celtics anytime soon.

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Wisconsin to Capital One?

Somewhere, Barry Alvarez is smiling, reports Jeff Potrykus of The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, That's because the January 2 Capital One Bowl finds his Badgers appealing--so long as Wisconsin beats Hawaii this Friday, and Ohio State is selected for a BCS bowl.

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Rough Knight In New York

Well, two rough nights actually. Bob Knight took his Texas Tech team to Madison Square Garden for the semifinals of the Coaches vs. Cancer classic last week, and the Big Apple was not kind to his young team. The Red Raiders were lambasted by Syracuse 81-46 in the semis, and then dropped a crushing double-overtime loss to Wake Forest in the consolation game.

Last year saw Knight enjoy his finest season since leaving Indiana, leading Tech to a fourth-place finish in the tough Big 12, reaching the final game of the conference tournament and winning a pair of NCAA games in March. This year he is playing with a very inexperienced lineup in which two freshmen are playing significant minutes, and there are no senior starters. His two key players--Jarrius Jackson and Martin Zeno--each played all 50 minutes against Wake.

Given their youth and the caliber of the coaching, I expect Knight's team to improve markedly, and the game against the Demon Deacons was virtually in hand, before a miracle three-pointer by Justin Gray tied it at the end of the first overtime. They will have a soft schedule the rest of December, save a home game with Arkansas on the 21st.

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Big Ten/BCS Bowl Projections

Here is Edition #5 of the Bowl Predictions (with projected opponents):
BCS/Orange Bowl (#1) Jan. 3 Miami 8:00 p.m.: Penn State vs. BCS (Virginia Tech)

BCS/Fiesta (#1b), Jan. 2 Tempe 2:00 p.m.: Ohio State vs. At-Large (Notre Dame)

Capital One (#2) Jan. 2 Orlando 12:00 p.m.: Wisconsin vs. SEC #2 (Auburn)

Outback (#3) Jan. 2 Tampa 10:00 a.m.: Michigan vs. SEC-East #3 (South Carolina)

Alamo (#4) Dec. 28 San Antonio 7:00 p.m.: Iowa vs. Big 12 #4 (Oklahoma)

Sun (#5) Dec. 30 El Paso 11:00 a.m.: Minnesota vs. Pac 10 #3 (UCLA)

Music City (#6) Dec. 30 Nashville 11:00 a.m.: Northwestern vs. SEC #6 (Florida)

Motor City (#7) Dec. 26 Detroit 4:30 p.m.: No Available Teams left.

Things are starting to clear up, a bit. It appears highly likely that Penn State will wind up in the Orange Bowl. That’s because as long as Texas remains in the top 2 and goes to the Rose Bowl, the Fiesta Bowl will get the first pick (to replace them) and would almost certainly take Notre Dame. The Orangewould then pick next and would likely select Penn State to play Virginia Tech (or the ACC Champ). Don’t believe the stuff that other sites are saying: I don’t see Penn Stategoing to the Fiesta to play Notre Dame. That’s because those two schools will be the first two picked, so the Fiesta won’t have a chance to get both (unless the Orange passes on Penn State, which they won’t.)

The Big Ten is now in a very good position to get two BCS berths after last weekend. Basically, it appears that Ohio State and Oregon are vying for the 2nd At-large spot. I give the slight nod to Ohio Stat, but Oregon is also attractive because this team will likely play in the Fiesta Bowl in Tempe. Notre Dame will apparently wrap up the first of the 2 at-large selections, if they can simply beat Stanford on Saturday. The SEC will not get an at-large team this year, with Alabama’s loss to Auburn. If Ohio State doesn’t get a BCS berth, then everyone will move down one spot on this list of bowl games. It’s official--the Big Ten will have 7 teams in bowls this year. Everyone but Michigan State, Purdue, Illinois and Indiana are bowl eligible.

Congratulations to Penn State & Ohio Stateon their co-conference championship! There is a cluster of 4 teams with 5-3 conference records: Wisconsin, Michigan, Iowa and Northwestern. This will give the Capital One, Outback and Alamo tough decisions. Wisconsin probably won’t go to the Outback because they were there last year and the Capital One will be a nice retirement present for Barry Alvarez, who has never been there before. I foresee Northwestern going to the Music City because they don’t travel as well as the others and Minnesota went to Nashville last year. That leaves Michigan in the Outback and Iowa remembering the Alamo. Virtually all of the projected bowl matchups are appealing—vs. major conference, big name schools. The Motor City Bowl in Detroit will probably have to go to another conference to get another team because the Big Ten won’t have an eligible team, unless Ohio State is excluded from the BCS.

NOTES: If Notre Dame loses to Stanford, then OhioState and Oregon would likely be the BCS at-large teams. (All times listed are CST.)

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Michigan State Drops Season Opener to Hawaii

The Spartan basketball team's trip to Hawaii began with a painful 84-62 loss to the Rainbow Warriors on Saturday. The Spartans stopped in Oahu en route to the Maui Invitational and left with 4 ailing players and presumably some bruised egos. Michigan State, the preseason favorite to win the Big Ten Conference, is ranked #4 in the nation and lost its season opener for the first time in 28 years. Maurice Ager, Paul Davis, Shannon Brown and Drew Neitzel all suffered from leg cramps, and Brown even had to be removed on a stretcher with 6:36 left because of the intense pain.

Michigan State will next face Division II Chaminade University of Honolulu on Monday to begain the Maui Invitational, which features an impressive field of teams - Gonzaga, Maryland, Arizona, Kansas, Arkansas, and U-Conn.