I’m happy to finally get the chance to cover such an exciting team like the Colorado Rockies! I began to follow the team closely during their remarkable run to the World Series as a wildcard team in 2007 and followed them closely last September.

The Rockies splashed on to the scene last year featuring three outstanding young superstars in Ubaldo Jimenez, Carlos Gonzalez and Troy Tulowitzki. Last year these three burst onto the scene with Ubaldo’s impressive 16-2 start, Cargo competing for the Triple Crown (and eventually winning the batting title) and Troy Tulowitzki’s amazing September (15 HR and 40 RBI).

The Rockies have positioned themselves atop the N.L West standings and are turning heads around the league. The Rockies17-9 record this season is incredible considering inconsistent play from ace Ubaldo Jimenez (0-2 in 4 starts this season) and Carlos Gonzalez (1 HR & 14 RBI). Following a loss to the Pirates this weekend, manager Jim Tracy expressed concerns about the ace of his pitching staff and challenged Jimenez to be more consistent.

 As a Rockies fan, you have to be optimistic as this team has serious talent. Imagine how lethal this team could be when guys like Jimenez and Gonzalez finally hit their stride. Here’s a closer look at just how scary they could be.

 Through 26 games Carlos Gonzalez has 1 HR and 14 RBI, a Batting Average of .233 with 22 strikeouts. Glancing at these numbers would send fantasy owners who gambled on “Cargo” reeling. Whether you are a fantasy owner, an actual owner or just a fan hang onto Carlos Gonzalez because his best baseball is ahead of him. It is silly to write off a player of Cargo’s caliber after the first month of the season. Fans are worried about his totals thus far in the season (projects to finish the year with 6 HR, 84 RBI, .231 BA). Rockies fans should take heed that patience is a virtue with Gonzalez. Last April, Cargo’s numbers were somewhat similar (4 HR, 17 RBI).  ”Cargo” played his best Baseball in the heart of summer when he homered 17 times, drove in 55 RBI and had an average of .317 for July and August. In 26 games (136 more to go) he has poroven merely that he is a slow starter.

The Rockies are first in their division and one of the top teams in the National league without stellar play from Carlos Gonzalez. Simply mind boggling. The fast start for the Rockies should lift some pressure off of Cargo’s shoulders and allow him to put up better numbers as the season goes on.

 As for Ubaldo Jimenez, the ace hurler has been suffering from a case of 2010 nostalgia.  Ubaldo was one of the most dominant pitchers through the first four months of the season (16-2 over that span in 2010). His impressive 2010  start made him an intimidating force every time he took the mound, not to mention an All-Star starter and a Cy Young candidate. Natrually Ubaldo cooled down in August and September. Jimenez proved to be human and finished with a disappointing 3 wins and 6 losses. The Jimenez from late 2010 seems to have carried  over this season (0-2 in 4 starts with a horrific 7.20 ERA).  Manager Jim Tracy was especially critical of Jimenez following his poor performance against the Pirates stating “we pitched poorly and Ubaldo struggled with his command as evidence throwing 90 pitches through the first 4 innings and getting deep in counts”.   Later in the press conference Tracy continued to lament over the fact that his team is surprisingly 17-9 when their ace hasn’t pitched into the 6th inning yet this season.

The Rockies go into a rubber match in Arizona tonight sending Jason Hammel to the mound(3-1 3.23 ERA). Hammel has been a pleasant surprise thus far for the Rockies, and will look to tie Jorge De La Rosa for the team lead in Wins with four in tonights game. A Rockies win would mean continued success for Dexter Fowler, Seth Smith, Todd Helton and the always consistent Troy Tulowitzki who have been carrying the team so far.

If Gonzalez starts producing like he did last July and August then this Rockies batting order will look frightening to opposing pitchers. Same goes for the pitching as they hope to have a one-two punch of Jimenez and De La Rosa. Ubaldo has struggled so far this season with his command but if he can shake off the rust now and put April behind him, the Rockies will be absolutely lethal.  The Rockies have proven they can get it done without Ubaldo and Cargo but not over the long haul. I suspect both will snap out of their respective slumps and help this team compete for a World Series.

In November when the pre-season polls were beginning to circulate many NCAA forecasters predicted the Spartans to be a lock for A number one seed in the tourney and to be in fine shape come February. But oh how things can change in the span of a couple months and a team that was blessed with talent and had experience from last years final four run have struggledmightily all season to find their own identity and are now a bubble team going in to the last stages of Conferene play.The  Buckeyes on the other hand were a darkhorse in many analysts minds and have simply been unstoppable all year looking like the team most experts thought Michigan State would be but failed to meet expectations.  in large part the success of the buckeyes is because of freshman sensation Jared Sullinger and a couple savy veterans taking care of the ball.The game tonight will give spectators a real look at how the Spartans can match up against the countries most elite team thus far in the season and maybe help secure an NCAA tournament bid.Here’s what the Sparty’s have to do in order to come out victorious.

Put it this way the Spartans record cannot be something they dwell on going forward. It never has been a problem in the past for Izzo and his teams to get down on early season  miscues but it’s now time to tell your players that the new season is now upon us and it’s your time to prove the rest of the country that you are a valid basketball team. Every player on this team is a winner and they proved that by competing for a national championship last March. Going into this game it is as much about how the Buckeyes respond to losing at Wisconsin and no longer being undefeated than Michigan States internal struggles on and off the Basketball court. This is a great chance for the Spartans to use the us against the world mentality and really deliver a message to  every team in the big ten and the country that this team won’t lie down call it a season. all these factors are a way Michigan State can motivate themselves for tonights game but there are many tactical things they’re going to have to go out and execute for them to prove themselves.

The Buckeyes are an inside-outside threat with the basketball and have great perimeter shooters who are in their prime and they have a faboulous freshman in Jared Sullinger that will no doubt be in an NBA uniform next year with either the Cavs or Wizards. The Bucks have three starters who all are shooting over 40% from the field , Junuor guard William Buford is  shooting 43.5% from behind the arc, senior David Lighty is shooting 40.7%, and senior John Diebler is shooting a miraculous 47.6 % on the year. Going forward to tonights game the Spartans will simply have to match the Buckeyes possession for possession and cannot go long droughts without scoring and risk falling behind. Ohio State has four players that can beat you and score in double figures, there going to have to pick there poison in this one and just focus on shutting down Sullinger on the glass and not let Diebler beat them off the the dribble or get any second chances to knock down 3 pointers. Wisconsin proved on the weekend that they were able to come back from a huge defecit early in the 2nd quarter thanks in large part to their three point shooting(12 0f 24 on the day) and the play of Jordan Taylor.It’s going to take something special from Michigan States guards tonight to pull of the upset and they’ll have to beat the Bucks at their own game.

Looking ahead a win tonight would  be a strong showing in the commitees minds for a tournament bid and it’s important that they finnish strong in their remaining five games.after tonights game they’ll play Illinois at home Saturday, on the road against Minnesota, back home to play #11 Purdue  , home at Iowa, and on the road against Michigan. The Illini have been ranked this year and same with the Gophers and Purdue has been a dominant team that no one seems to be talking about so there will be plenty of oppurtunities for the Spartans to get some quality wins in the next month.Let’s hope Michigan State makes a Statment tonight and get a much needed win.

Today fans at the Breslin Center got treated to their second thriller in less than a week when MSU needed overtime to down the Upstart Northwestern Wildcats. This was the second meeting between the two teams this season and the 2nd time the Spartans squeaked out a victory. The Wildcats are proving that there will be no easy games this season in the Big Ten and that there team colors and pride are just as important as any other school in the country.

The Spartans came out a tad sluggish in the early going and were trailing the Wildcats by as much as 8 in the first half and went in to the locker room down by 5 at halftime. Biggest strength of the Spartans in the first half was their ability to rebound and start the fast break which was  orchestrated perfectly by forward Delvon Roe. In the first minute of the game Roe reached up to block a John Shurna shot and taking the ball down the floor leading to a two point bucket by Kalin Lucas. Michigan State struggled to get in to a rhythm offensively in the first half and they trailed Northwestern by five going into the second half.  After  the intermission Spartans were able to gage the adversity of being down at home by getting key production from their bench and shutting down Northwestern star John Shurna, who was averaging 20.1 points per game coming into this one but finished with 6 points. 1 key member of the Spartans comeback was Freshman guard Kieth Appling, who  finnished with a game high 19 and hit a key three late in the second and iced two key free throws in overtime. Appling hit a clutch three pointer with 3 minutes remaining which was his fourth three pointer at that point giving the Spartans a narrow one point edge. After trading baskets back and forth Northwestern had a lead late but Michigan State didn’t quit and got 4 clutch free throws from Draymond Green at the line to send the game in to OT. Green continued to give the Spartans momentum heading into overtime when he picked off a Northwestern pass 2 minutes in to OT and slammed it home leading to home crowd roar. On the next possession Kieth Appling was found wide open on the wing and barried his fifth three pointer of the game and followed that up with two more free throws late to secure a State victory.  The Freshman marveled me in terms of his poise and his confidence for a player his age sinking 5 three pointers and adding to the long list of players Tom Izzo can use on any given night. Last week against Wisconsin we saw Draymond Green light up the Badgers for 26 points getting points in the paint and draining three pointers from beyond the arc. The Spartans have players who can score from all areas of the court which makes them perfectly capable of winning tight games come back from deficits proving that this week winning back to back Overtime games. What also should be recognized is the defensive play of Delvon Roe who held The Wildcats top scorer John Shurna to only six points and 2-10 shooting.  Delvon’s play may go unnoticed on the stats sheet but it definitely didn’t slip under my radar or Izzo’s radar and he will likely see more monitues against opposing teams top big men going forward. shutting down their top scorer however didn’t keep the Wildcats from making this one interesting as they got some timely scoring from other players such as Drew Crawford pitching in with 16 and Michael Thompson adding 15 points. Michigan State did a great job game planning for John Shurna and frustrated him all night and credit should be given to Delvon Roe who impressed me so much on the defensive side of the ball and created energy for the Spartans all game. Getting 5 blocks in this game and leading the surge for the fast rush allowed the Spartans to attack the open floor and gave this offense some spunk all around the floor.

Having kind of games that Delvin Roe and Kieth Appling  had are great signs of their progression being a part of the younger core of this team, and their pressence can be counted on again when they start facing stiffer competition later this week with dates at Illinois and at Purdue. The Spartans have little time to savor this game with a date against the Illini on Tuesday. The Illini poses one of the best point guards in the country in Dmitry Mcamey and have a good blend of youth and veteran leadership to contend with anybody especially when Mcamey shoots over 45% from three point land. Illinois is coming off two tough road losses to Penn State and Wisconsin and has back to back home games against Michigan State and against the undefeated Buckeyes. MSU matches up favorably against the Ilinni on the glass with Draymond Green averaging (8.9 rebounds) and Delvon Roe (averaging 5.9 rebounds) this is a game where they can most certainly take away any second chance opportunities and get some fast break points. Overall it was a good week for the Sparty’s and beating two tough teams at home in overtime is going to be good for this teams toughness going forward and could lead to healthy stretch of wins down the road.

Things looked bleak for the Spartans earlier on this Weekend when they were brutally outplayed by a scrappy Nittany Lions squad on the road and suffered their first loss in conference play and 5th loss in the young college Basketball season. With the loss To Penn State The Spartans fell outside the top 25  rankings and watched fellow Big Ten teams such as Ohio State, Purdue, Ilinois, and Wisconsin sit ahead of them in the Big Ten standings. Coming in to this game at home Izzo’s squad needed to show a sense of urgency and resilliancy against a fundamentally sound Badger team that prides itself in being mistake free and having a strong defense. The Spartans needed to win this one at home to have any chance at challenging Ohio State and Purde for the division lead and thats exactly what they did on tuesday night.

The MSU student section was jumping all game and made the difference in a tight game when Wisconsin uncharacteristically collapsed in the dying minutes and allowed Michigan State back in the game. Bo Ryans Badgers were an impressive 34-1 when leading in the final 4 minutes of the second half since 2009 but they were forced in to numerous turnovers late in the second half that helped the Spartans force OT. It started with 3 minutes to go with W isconsin up by 5 Delvin Roe Stripped the ball from Jordan Taylor and set Kieth Appling up for a picture perfect slam. shortly after a timeout was called and when play resumed it looked as though Izzo’s team was way more poised and confident  and on the ensuing inbound Rob Wilson of Wisconsin stepped out of bounds turning the ball over to Michigan State in the offensive zone leading to a Korie Lucious three to tie the game at 53. Shortly after Kalin Lucas blew by a defender and looked to have an easy lay up only to get stuffed from behind leading the game into Overtime. In Ot baskets were hard to come by but one shining shooter was Draymond Green who nailed dagger after dagger and scored a career high 26 in a winning cause and was a major catalyst in the Spartan turn around. when the game was notted at 59 Kalin Lucas was fouled on the baseline and made one of two shots which didn’t hurt the Spartans because the Badgers would go on to sink only 1 bucket in the final minute and Michigan State iced the game with some clutch free throws putting the game out of reach.

     Coach Izzo said in a postgame interview that he was proud of the amount of heart and resilliancy his team showed as the win improved their conference record to 3-1 heading in to this weekends game against Northwestern. Not getting down after suffering some big defecits to a solid team showed that maybe this Spartans squad are coming in to their own and they are all taking responsibility to work as a team and not worry about individual accelades. Tonight we witnessed Draymond Green who was slotted at the number 4 slot drop 26 points to lead all scorers and power the Spartans to a victory. At 11-5 the Spartans are finally starting to show some of their potential and should remember the amount of critics who wrote them off last year after a shaky start  only to eat their words when they advanced all the way to the final four . Their is still room for the Spartans to improve but their toughness and urgency late in this game is something they can build off of when they play #16 Illinois and #8 Purdue in the next few weeks. I still have solid praise for this team and know that they can tough out this tough conference schedule and pull through when it matters in March.

Heading into Maui for the Maui Invitational has always been a great building block  for the Spartans in years past as MSU is 13-7 lifetime when coming down to Hawaii for the early season festivities. It was a great opportunity for some of Michigan State’s bench players to see some floor time and gain some experience and build confidence for the season. This time around in Maui the Spartans did not breeze right through the competition and dominate like their number 2 billing would indicate. First suffering a scare against a division 2 school Chaminade, the Spartans were dealt a rude awakening by a team playing with a serious chip on their shoulder and shell shocking MSU early by taking a 33-25 lead. Chaminade’s 5’6 guard, Steven Bennett set the tempo for the small school by cutting fearlessly to the lane time after time , and scoring 20 points and playing nearly every minute. The strong, fearless play of the Chaminade point guard caused The Spartans to have to readjust themselves,  and start taking the game more seriously but in the second half they eventually started to pull away. Thanks to a surge of three pointers from Korie Lucious the Spartans were able to avenge the upset hopefuls from Chaminade going on a 20-3 run to put the scary Silverswords’ hope to rest.

However after putting together a more complete game in the second half and avoiding an embarrassing loss at the hands of Chaminade, the Spartans weren’t able to hold of Uconn the following night.  The Spartans were surprisingly well matched by unranked Uconn, and had no answer for Kemba Walker who has arguably been the best player in the country so far this year. Walker, a senior, finished with a game high 30 points and hit the key game winning shot with 52 seconds left giving UCONN the edge 70-67.    It was a back and forth tilt, with defensive intensity being the overall theme on the night,  as both teams were tied a total of nine times . The turning point in the game came in the dying seconds when Kalin Lucas turned the ball over when the Spartans were down by two, throwing an errant pass out of bounds with no Spartan in sight to receive the pass. UCONN went on to play number 9 ranked Kentucky in the final and ended up crushing the Wildcats 84-67 improving their record to 5-0 on the year. Following the loss to Uconn , MSU rebounded against number 11 ranked Washington and finished third in the Maui invitational and has some confidence to build on when they play Tennessee Tech and Duke over the next week.

MSU has a lot to take away from the Tournament and got well-rounded performances from Kalin Lucas, Draymond Green, Korie Lucious and Durrell Summers. Right now Michigan State is shooting .529 % from the field so far this season while holding their opponents to .329 % and five different Spartans are shooting at least 50% from three point range. This list includes  Keith Appling (.750),  Austin Thornton (.600), Draymond Green (.571),Durrell Summers(.500), Korie Lucious(.500). All of these guys are lethal when left unguarded and pose a serious threat for opposing defenses when matching up against the Spartans depth. The questions concerning Kalin Lucas’s ankle have been put to rest at least for now,  with his solid play in the early going averaging 18 ppg and shooting 49.2% from the field.  Probably the biggest contributor for the Spartans has been Draymond Green, who continues to fill the stat sheet every night. He’s averaging 13.3 ppg, 10 rebounds, 4.3 assists, and 3.3 steals per game. Major efforts from Green and Lucas during the Maui Invitational are going to have to continue for the Spartans going forward as the road only gets tougher having to play # 1 Duke December first then playing at number 10 Syracuse a week later. Overall the Maui Invitational was a great tune up for the 2010-2011 season and has given me a good taste of what to expect from the Spartans the rest of the way.

Can you believe that the Spartans are already 8 months removed from their magical final four run and narrowly loosing to the underdog Butler Bulldogs? For me personally I couldn’t be happier to get the season rolling and I am looking forward to watching this year’s squad contend for a national title. First and foremost the Spartans have many hurdles that they will have to overcome to obtain their number two ranking and advance through the rigorous college basketball season. Starting December 1st, they have to go up against reigning champ Duke who just so happens to be the pre-season number 1, then the Spartans have a game at number 13 Syracuse and conclude their non-conference schedule against number 25 Texas. If Izzo and the gang can escape their early season schedule with just one loss it’ll be remarkable and give them a lot of confidence coming in to Big Ten play.  Here are a few notes that I’ll be keeping my eye on as the season progresses.    

First off for Michigan State to be successful this year they are going to need to nurture standout recruits Keith Appling and Adreain Payne into the Spartans system to provide depth towards tournament time. Appling a 6-2 guard from Detroit and Payne a 6-10 beast from Dayton,Ohio are expected to fill voids left by Chris Allen (transferred to Iowa St) and previously graduated big man,  Raymar Morgan. Appling was rated as the 25th ranked recruit in this years class while Payne was ranked 26th and are going to help MSU attack teams in a lot of different ways. Scouts take on Payne is that he has all the tools to be a great post player . He has good feet, runs very well, and has good ball handling skills for his size. Only draw backs scouts had about his game is that he needs to add more muscle and bring more of a consistent work ethic. Strength and work ethic are two things Tom Izzo can teach Payne over his tenure and help maximize his production with his already gifted ability. Appling has an overall good outlook from scouts and is prided on his defensive effort and his knack for scoring. Don’t be surprised if Appling makes his way in to the starting lineup tomorrow night against East Michigan. 

The recruiting class coming will benefit an already tremendous group for the Spartans and will pose huge matchup problems for every team because of MSU’s ability to go big or small with the depth of their bench. MSU returns leading scorer and point guard Kalin Lucas ( 14.8 ppg and 4.0 apg) who will shoulder much of opposing teams attention because of his sharp three point shooting in key situations ( shot 45% from 3 point range last year). Although if you focus to much on Lucas then you run the risk of leaving other capable shooters like Korie Lucious, Durrell Summers, and Draymond Green open, who can all put the ball on the floor and take advantage of open shots.  Lucious was streaky in his sophomore year but having more of a prominent role in this years offense could be just the right recipe for him to breakout. I think the biggest mystery player this year will be forward Delvin Roe who for the first time in his Spartan career is injury free and at 100% healthy. He’ll demand big minutes this year going up against the Big Tens elite forwards and could be the measure of how far the Spartans go in March.

The starting five of the Spartans have made the final four the past 2 seasons and their experience should be what ultimately gets them to the next level this season and help them back up all this national title talk.   First order of business is not overlooking any team on their schedule in anticipation of bigger games against Duke and Syracuse and bringing it every night no matter who they’re playing. A loaded Non-conference schedule and playing against hefty big ten opponents like # 4 Ohio State ,  # 12 Illinois,   #13 Purdue, and upstarts Wisconsin will prepare the team for March  and surviving the Big Ten schedule could be their  biggest test. I hope you fans are as excited as I am for another banner year courtesy of the Michigan State Spartans.