At 6-0, Michigan State is off to its best start since 1999 — Nick Saban’s final year in East Lansing. But fairly fast starts are nothing new for the Spartans, who teased their fan base with early-season victories in the past.
It’s the finishing that has eluded Michigan State.
Today’s game against Illinois is big for the Spartans, and not only because it would put them at 7-0 — the best start since 1966 (!) — and keep them at the top of the Big Ten standings. A win today would calm a lot of Spartan Nation’s fears about another second-half collapse.
For Michigan State, it’s not the big games that scare their fans. They usually aren’t expected to win those anyway, and it’s often much easier to get a team up for a game against an opponent that’s perceived as better. It’s the games they’re expected to win that are scary. Reading their own press clippings, and basking in the pats on the back from their fans have been a problem for the Spartans. They just don’t seem to handle success well.
Many Michigan State fans feel like things will be different with Mark Dantonio in his fourth year. This team is definitely an extension of its coach, and his no-nonsense, disciplined style gives the fans hope. That hasn’t stopped a lot of them from being rightfully nervous about Illinois today, and lapses in judgment like senior cornerback Chris L. Rucker’s drunk driving arrest last week don’t help.
So a win today doesn’t give the Spartans a Big Ten title, and doesn’t get them to a BCS bowl. But it will put to rest a lot of the common fears about the team, and show they’re ready to focus on winning, even when they’re expected to.
The Knicks missed out on LeBron, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh this summer, but they did land Amare Stoudemire, and also acquired Raymond Felton to run the point. David Lee is gone, but New York did get a good young player in Anthony Randolph to take his place. In other words, this Knicks team is going to look a lot different than last year’s club, and probably for the better. Newcomers Ronny Turiaf, Kelenna Azubuike, Roger Mason, (promising) Russian center Timofey Mozgov along with Wilson Chandler and Toney Douglas will round out Mike D’Antoni’s rotation. Cap-wise, the Knicks are still in good shape. Eddy Curry’s $11 M expiring deal can be used as trade bait or the franchise can just let it come off the books, creating around $18 million in cap space next summer, which they could use to sign Carmelo Anthony if he hits free agency. The only big contract on the payroll is Stoudemire’s deal, and the Knicks really need him to stay healthy in order to get their money’s worth. This looks like a franchise on the rise, but they need to land one more star to threaten the upper echelon of the East.
