Let's GOOOOOOOO! This is exactly what it's all about right here. This is why we spend April - October drinking all those beers, following all those recruiting reports, watching MSU replays of years passed, this is it! MSU and Duke two of the finest teams in all of college basketball and honestly outside of their respective huge rivalries (Michigan and UNC) feels like one of the bigger rivalries in the sport. Izzo vs K, Cameron Indoor vs the Breslin, Kenny Goins vs Zion Williamson, this is fucking it man. I'm sitting here listening to the Django unchained soudntrack just letting my fingers fly around the keyboard not even totally sure of what I'm saying, we are that level of jacked up today. And if you aren't you actually should harvest all of your organs and donate them before tip tonight. If you like sports or consider yourself a CBB fan and aren't up for this one then it's time to be put down.
As an MSU fan base we are just totally gonna ignore what happened in last year's matchup, and we are also gonna ignore the fact that I bought tickets to the game 2 pitchers deep at The Riv that very day because I didn't want to miss "something special". Well, I was wrong, that game sucked, forget it. Let's think back to some happier times:
If Izzo's 8th isn't in the pregame ritual for this one, then once again, you're fucking up and need to scan the yellow pages for the nearest organ harvesting store. As a matter of fact, that applies to pretty much any big game MSU hoops plays for the rest of time.
Listen, Duke doesn't want this smoke. If you watched that MSU-Notre Dame game on Saturday then you damn well know Duke doesn't want this smoke. That defense actually gave me 3 separate erections throughout the evening. I'm pretty sure in the first half alone, State had 20 blocks and 10 TOs. If State plays defense like that we are going to be very difficult to beat against anybody, I don't care if it's Duke, Kentucky, the Pistons, the Monstars it doesn't matter. When we play physical, team defense like that, State is fucking scary. And offensively, I know we don't have our lord and savior Cassius Winston but this team has put up some big numbers in both of their games so far, and the best part is, everyone has chipped in. If you could complain about one thing from the Cassius era it's that our entire offense depended on him, the one positive of no Cassius is now we have 5 different guys that are gonna be called on to get it done, everyone needs to show up every night, and if one doesn't we have 4 others that will. Balance is a beautiful thing and it's something Izzo has had to go without for a few years.
As far as Duke goes; I get it. Coach K, NBA players, good recruits yadayadayada I don't give a fuck. And if it isn't obvious I don't know anything about Duke's squad this year, but what I do know is this: I didn't enter this season already knowing a single one of their players. Which is BAD news for Duke. That means they don't have that game breaking recruit that they have every year and still manage to lose with, so what are they gonna do without him? Lose by more? It was Vernon Carey last year, Zion the year before, Bagley before that, Tatum, Ingram the list goes on. But who is it this year?? If a more casual fan like myself doesn't know who Duke's best player is going into the season it feels like they already aren't good enough. Just my prerogative.
But even if State loses we know how this goes right? It was just a fluke, Izzo will coach these guys up, learning experience, cut down on the turnovers, wait til March etc etc etc. Us State fans know the drill. And if we win? This is Izzo's greatest team of all time, Izzo owns coach K, Natty or bust etc etc etc. I can't wait. Fuck Duke. Go Green.