Michigan State Spartans will try for redemption on many fronts tonight in the championship game.
The word destiny is grossly overused in our vocabulary. For once, though, we can use it in good conscience, if we are referring to the Michigan State Spartans. They play North Carolina in the NCAA championship game tonight, at Ford Field in Detroit.
The weight of an entire city, and possibly state, is riding on their shoulders Monday night. For once, Michigan has something to celebrate and we don’t have to hear the stories about worker cuts, plant closings, and the entire automobile industry in general. Never has a team so mirrored their people as much as these Spartans. They are tough, gritty, blue collar, and most of all: a true team. They have beaten the odds so many times this season, Vegas gamblers must be poorer because of it.
Let’s review their season. First off, their #1 recruit Delvon Roe blew out his knee before his senior season in high school ever got off the ground, so it took him the first half the season to get back into playing shape. Second, Travis Walton, their point guard for the last three seasons gets moved to the 2 spot because of some no-name kid named Kalin Lucas, ironic how that has worked out huh? Third, their most athletic - and closest thing to a star player they have - Raymar Morgan, comes down with walking pneumonia at the end of January, and for an entire month is a shell of what he could be.
Selection Sunday; Wow, how do you get stuck in the regional with Kansas and Louisville? If they would get by Kansas and Louisville, then in the Final Four they would probably get UConn. I’m pretty sure the road to the championship game could not get any harder, but something happened in that time. We hear the term “peaking at the right time”, well the old green and white have taken it to a different level. They haven’t just won their games, they have been dominant. Coincidentally, the team without a star, now seems to have a super one, in Kalin Lucas. He not only knocks down critical shots, but as my favorite CBS announcer Bill Raftery says, he inserts “the dagger”.
I wouldn’t be surprised if North Carolina wins Monday night, because they are everything the Spartans are not. They are star-laden; Tyler Hansbrough, Ty Lawson, Deon Thompson, and Danny Green. They score at a ridiculous pace, but in a close game I have my money on MSU. Team always wins out over talent. I, along with nearly 80,000 people at Ford Field tonight, will be hoping Sparty brings home the trophy for the Big Ten, Michigan, and the folks of Detroit.