Michigan State Archives

Braxton Miller could have Antwaan Randle El type NFL career

August 20, 2015 By paulmbanks 1 Comment

When Ohio State quarterback Braxton Miller switched positions, many media members portrayed the decision as a selfless act by an individual placing team needs above his own. That’s a half-truth. Miller has no NFL future as a QB. He does have a lot of pro potential as a wide receiver though. So the situation is actually a win-win for Braxton Miller, for both his individual, and his team goals.

Take the case of former Indiana quarterback Antwaan Randle El? Like Miller, he wasn’t tall enough to play quarterback in the NFL, so Randle El moved to receiver where he had a very fine pro career. He especially excelled on special teams. Braxton Miller is dynamic like Randle El, but he has more size.

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Filed Under: Ohio State Buckeyes Tagged With: braxton miller, Buckeyes, Cornhuskers, Craig Haubert, eastern michigan, ESPN, Iowa Hawkeyes, Joe Bauserman, Jordan Hall, Justin Zwick, Kenny Guiton, Luke Fickell, Michigan State, Mike Adams, Nebraska, Ohio State, ohio state spring game, OSU, Purdue, spartans, Taylor Graham, terrelle pryor, troy smith, University of Akron, University of Miami, University of Michigan, University of Nebraska

Adreian Payne’s NBA career finally begins with Timberwolves

March 1, 2015 By paulmbanks 2 Comments

The best thing that happened to Adreian Payne, NBA career wise, was getting traded away from the Atlanta Hawks and to the Minnesota Timberwolves. He wasn’t going to get much playing time with the Eastern Conference’s first place team; who have now pretty much solidified the #1 seed in the East.

Payne was drafted 15th overall by Atlanta, but never broke into their rotation; hence he was traded to the T’Wolves for a lottery-protected first round pick.

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Filed Under: Michigan State Spartans, NBA Tagged With: adreian payne, adreian payne msu, keith appling, Michigan State, michigan state basketball, michigan state hoops, msu basketball, msu basketball news, msu hoops, msu spartans, spartans basketball

Tom Izzo: “I’m a social media basher, I hate it” “Twitter ignorance”

February 10, 2014 By paulmbanks 1 Comment

Michigan State coach Tom Izzo has been on a roll lately when it comes to press conferences. Last month at Northwestern he told us about how we’re in a “soft society.” Izzo added “everyone gets a trophy, give ’em a trophy for 23rd place.” (full harangue here).

Today, on the Big Ten coaches conference call, Tom Izzo was extremely critical of Facebook, Twitter and social media in general. Yes, he’s been derisive of these institutions in the past, but that was always more subtle. And Tom Izzo has not bashed social media on a level like this.

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Filed Under: College Basketball, Michigan State Spartans Tagged With: College Basketball, college basketball facebook, college basketball twitter, Golden Gophers, gophers, mich st, mich st basketball news, mich st hoops, michigan st hoops news, michigan st spartans, Michigan State, michigan state basketball, Michigan State Spartans, Minnesota Golden Gophers, ncaa facebook, ncaa twitter, social media, tom izzo, tom izzo facebook, tom izzo mich st., Tom Izzo Social media, tom izzo twitter, Tubby Smith, tubby smith facebook, tubby smith media, tubby smith social media, tubby smith twitter

Michigan State Rose Bowl flashback and history

December 10, 2013 By paulmbanks Leave a Comment

With Michigan State’s victory over Ohio State in the Big Ten championship game, the Spartans clinched a berth in the Rose Bowl for the first time since 1988; a game MSU won 20-17 over USC. For the Big Ten, it meant only it’s third Rose Bowl victory in the last 15 years; going 2-12 from 1974 to 1987.

The years that followed, however, the Big Ten experienced a great amount of success from 1989-2000 going 8-4 over the Pac-10 (now 12) in the Rose Bowl.

Now the Big Ten, not just Michigan State, is praying for history to repeat itself.

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Filed Under: College Football, Michigan State Spartans Tagged With: Big Ten Championship Game, Big Ten Football, Michigan State, Ohio State, rose bowl

49ers TE has Hooters GF worth posting about: Sarah Hinton

July 6, 2013 By paulmbanks Leave a Comment

Let me make this absolutely clear. I despise writing posts about athlete personal lives. It’s mindless drivel which is so far beneath me…there isn’t enough alcohol distilled on this Earth that could dumb me down enough to actually care about player/coach wives, girlfriends, babies, kids etc. I’m going to keep “articles” on that TMZ crapola to a minimum moving forward.

That said, a San Francisco 49ers tight end that you’ve never heard of has a Hooters girlfriend in Sarah Hinton, a Michigan State graduate who was a finalist for Miss Hooters 2012. She’s attractive enough that I must break my rule about writing about cliche jersey-chasers.

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Filed Under: Michigan State Spartans, NFL Tagged With: garrett celek, garrett celek sarah hinton, Michigan State, msu spartans, sarah hinton, sarah hinton garrett celek, sarah hinton photos, sarah hinton pics, sarah hinton pictures

Michigan St. legend Mateen Cleaves highlights CBS Sports Draft Show

June 14, 2013 By paulmbanks 2 Comments

Mateen Cleaves is not only one of the most legendary names in Michigan State history, he’s also one of the most iconic players in college basketball lore. This Spartan warrior is known for winning a national title while on crutches, being a stellar point guard and the ugly Bill Cosby style sweaters he wore on the bench when injured.

Mateen Cleaves played in the NBA for 6 years, including a couple years with the Cleveland Cavaliers and Detroit Pistons. He later played in the NBDL, Russia and Greece. Now the Big Ten icon of icon is joining CBS Sports as a studio analyst.

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Filed Under: College Basketball, Michigan State Spartans Tagged With: Detroit Pistons, Mateen Cleaves, mateen cleaves cbs, mateen cleaves cbs sports, mateen cleaves fox sports, mateen cleaves fox sports detroit, michigan st, Michigan State, Michigan State Spartans, MSU, msu spartans, Pistons

Michigan State Basketball tries to duplicate 2000 NCAA Tournament run

March 20, 2013 By paulmbanks Leave a Comment

For Michigan State basketball the NCAA Tournament journey begins in the friendly confines of the Detroit suburbs. The Michigan State drew Auburn Hills, Michigan for their regional, home of the Detroit Pistons. Obviously this is fantastic for Sparty. All the Michigan State basketball fans will already be right there. MSU has the most recent national title of any Big Ten team. And their bracket draw this year has some similarities with that magical 2000 run. This year, as well as that title year of 2000: Michigan St. played Valparaiso in their first tournament game. The road to the title included 2/3 same locations: Detroit and Indianapolis, both drivable locations for their rabid, often-intoxicated Michigan State fan base.

Tom Izzo certainly is “Mr. March” as Michigan State is 71-29 in March since 1998-99. Given the strength of the Big Ten this year, these Spartans will be more battle tested than usual. For officially the fourth time in Big Ten history, and third in the last five seasons, the Big Ten will send seven programs to the NCAA Tournament. It marks the sixth time in the last eight years that the Big Ten has had six or more teams in the bracket. Michigan State basketball always schedules extremely tough in the non-conference, making them ready for what really counts in March. They take their lumps in November and learn from them so that they can survive and advance into April

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Filed Under: College Basketball, Michigan State Spartans Tagged With: Michigan State, MSU, tom izzo

Former MSU Spartan Garrick Sherman has huge game for Notre Dame

February 10, 2013 By paulmbanks Leave a Comment

Notre Dame recruited Garrick Sherman coming out of high school. But the 6-10, 240 pound center choose Michigan State instead. But the Irish have him in 2012-13, and he had a huge night in ND’s 5 OT victory over Louisville, a game everyone will remember. The Shermanator is the first player to transfer to Notre Dame since June ’08 when Mike Brey welcomed 2011 Big East Player of the Year Ben Hansbrough from Mississippi State and current Irish senior forward Scott Martin from Purdue.

Sherman didn’t even play until overtime tonight, but he made the most of his minutes, getting 17 points on 7-9 shooting and 6 rebounds.

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Filed Under: College Basketball, Michigan State Spartans, Notre Dame Tagged With: garrick sherman, garrick sherman transfer, mich st, mich st basketball, mich state, Michigan State, michigan state basketball, MSU, msu basketball, nd, nd basketball, nd hoops, Notre Dame, notre dame basketball, shermanator, the shermanator

Is The NCAA Basketball Champion in The Big Ten?

January 9, 2013 By paulmbanks Leave a Comment

If there is a time for the Big Ten to exert their dominance in basketball, this is it! The conference has just suffered another poor football season, has been hit by scandal, and its teams continue to lose bowl games (2-5 in bowls this season). It is time for Big Ten basketball to rise to new heights; it’s time for the Big Ten to produce a national champion.

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Filed Under: College Basketball Tagged With: Big ten basketball, Big Ten Conference, Illinois, indiana, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, ncaa basketball, NCAA tournament, Ohio State

Michigan State has many non-conference wins, but most with struggles

December 29, 2012 By paulmbanks Leave a Comment

There’s no question that the teams of Tom Izzo are much better in March -when it counts- then November/December. But nothing has come easy for this Spartans team. It seems like every time they play inferior competition they struggle with them. They still win, but play way down to their level.

They did it again versus Texas, trailing in the second half. Yes, the Longhorns just knocked off a #23 ranked North Carolina team, but the Tar Heels are overrated. And UT has lost to Chaminade, USC, Georgetown and USC. State won of course, but the ‘Horns were down by just two down the stretch.

MSU’s struggles started with the upset to an inferior UConn team in Germany. They only beat Boise St. by four, not pulling away from Oakland until the closing minutes, beating Lousiana-Lafayette by just three, losing to unranked Miami team, they also trailed late in the second half to Loyola and Bowling Green. They’re just not dominating teams nor closing them out. By far, the highlight of the non-conference slate was the win over now #9 Kansas.

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Filed Under: College Basketball, Michigan State Spartans Tagged With: adreian payne, adreian payne msu, keith appling, mich st, mich st basketball, Michigan State, michigan state basketball, michigan state hoops, msu basketball, msu basketball news, msu hoops, msu spartans, spartans basketball, tom izzo

Big Ten Football Season in Review

December 10, 2012 By paulmbanks 1 Comment

At the beginning of the season we gave a quarterly review of the performance of each Big Ten team and graded them based on how they did compared to pre-season expectations. As the season progressed, so did the quarterly reviews. About a month ago, we gave our third quarter review. Now, with the regular season over, we conclude the series with our season in review. Each school’s grade is based on its overall / conference record, and how the team improved or declined throughout the season based on their expectations.

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Filed Under: College Football Tagged With: Big Ten Football, Illinois, indiana, iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Nebraska, Northwestern, Ohio State, penn state, Purdue, Wisconsin

Big Ten Football Third Quarter Review

November 9, 2012 By paulmbanks Leave a Comment

Earlier in the season we gave a quarterly review of the performance of each Big Ten team and graded them based on how they did compared to pre-season expectations. About a month ago, we gave our mid-season review. Now, three-quarters of the season is over, and each school’s grade is based on its overall/ conference record, and how the team has improved or declined since the first half of the season.

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Filed Under: College Football Tagged With: Big Ten, Illinois, indiana, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Nebraska, Northwestern, Ohio State, penn state, Purdue, Wisconsin

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