Alumni Assn warns of media bias before Izzo suspension stories are written

Update: I talked with MSUAA chief Scott Westerman, who apologized for the line in question. It has been taken down from the MSUAA's website, and he said he'd be sharing the coverage we did get with Alumni Club leaders.

Westerman's reaction is entirely appropriate. I know Scott, and he's a good guy under whose leadership the MSUAA is growing in the right direction. Kudos to him for recognizing the error and moving quickly to fix it. -DW

Original post is below.

Here's the news you probably knew by this point: Tom Izzo has been suspended for one game for a secondary violation involving hiring a guy who was in some way connected to an unnamed prospect to coach middle schoolers at a basketball camp.

Honestly? Not a big damn deal. But suspending a coach is odd, and it hasn't really been done before for something like this, and certainly not at a program like MSU. Plus, MSU has a squeaky-clean image in basketball, and it's Izzo, so that makes this a bit more newsworthy.

But that's not what caught my eye. What caught my eye was this line from an e-mail sent by the MSU Alumni Association.

"Newspapers are sold by making the worst out of every situation, and I expect
some negativity from people who would love to throw mud at us."

That line was written, I can only guess, before a single line was written in the press. And as a member of the press, I guess I take a bit of umbrage at preemptive suggestions of bias.

Well let's see if it was justified, going one-by-one through media accounts. I'll link, then summarize.

Detroit Free Press: Bias? Not really, but if there is it tilts toward MSU. Tom Izzo's point of view is given in paragraph two, a quote toward that effect is in paragraph four. In paragraphs five, six and seven, Mark Hollis says the rule is BS. The NCAA did not respond to requests for comment, so no opposing point of view is presented.

Detroit News: Bias? Can't find any. This is a short, fact-only piece that states the allegations and MSU's response. A separate link goes to a DetNews file on Izzo's career, and another links directly to MSU's statement.

Lansing State Journal: Much like the DetNews, this is a short and straightforward. Joe Rexrode's blog is the only opinion so far, and it calls shenanigans on the NCAA.

Booth Newspapers: Written by the David Mayo of the Grand Rapids Press, this one is straightforward - allegations, then MSU's response. No bias here.

ESPN: Eamon Brennan has a column up saying the rule is complex, and likely means everyone's in violation somehow. Also takes time to say Izzo has a well-deserved sterling reputation, and at no time does he question MSU's company line.

AP: States the allegations, gives MSU's line, no one from the NCAA comments. MSU comes off looking as good as possible.

The point of this exercise? Well, I couldn't find an example of bias against MSU among outlets that cover the school, or on the wire services most will use outside of the local market.

Look, I get that bashing the media is en vogue. But just as people would ask that we not rush to judgement against MSU's athletes, let me ask that our own alumni association not rush to judgement against the graduates of its own School of Journalism (like Rexrode and many of the editors and reporters at papers throughout Michigan and the USA).

And at the very least, they're owed an apology.

Inside the Izzo press conference

TOSSS sent special correspondent James Hensley to Tom Izzo's press conference to get a sense of the scene at arguably the biggest press conference in MSU history. Here is his report.

The scene at the press conference was more chaotic than the normally well organized events put on by the MSU Athletic Department. There were TV vans parked along the curb of Shaw Lane blocking traffic and at times pedestrian walkways and many camera guys running with cables - the last minute announcement caught them off guard.

In the back of the Clara Bell Smith Auditorium, off camera, over a 100 students (many of them Izzone members) and student athletes gathered to show support for their coach and team.

There are several ways to look at the last nine days that lead to the culmination with the press conference, for Tom Izzo and the MSU basketball team. The rest of the media has done great job speculating about if Izzo took too long in his decision, looking at the impact this decision will have on his recruiting and looking at the LeBron factor.

At the end of the day, Coach Izzo said that the process of consideration took longer because his kids were in finals and he was not going to make a family decision without their input and he waited until the end of finals to consult them.

At this point, how the decision was reached is inconsequential. The announcement by Izzo at this press conference was the end to flirtation with NBA coaching. Coach Izzo proclaimed the end the job process with Cleveland by stating “I’m a lifer.” Whatever thought process that he went through to arrive at that moment are part of the past.

Spotlight on the Athletic Department

The most important thing announced, besides that Izzo will stay at MSU, was that both AD Mark Hollis and Izzo signaled that, in Hollis' words, it's “time to move forward…to make the athletic department the best, not just the best we can be, the best."

Izzo followed up on Hollis rallying call by stating his admiration for football coach Mark Dantonio and reiterating that the goal now is to make the MSU Athletic Department one of the best in the country.

The repeated use and focus on the success of the Athletic Department, not just the basketball program, led me to wonder if there were some larger-picture discussions during this process. Will Coach Izzo play a more active advisory role in other sports than his own? Was there an Ron Mason-style informal nod that Izzo could become the AD if he were to ever retire from MSU basketball? Lastly, what were the common strategies that Hollis and Izzo have discussed that will propel MSU to be a leader in collegiate sports?

To me, those questions are much more important than questions lobbed at Tom Izzo during the press conference. Many of them (and most of those from a single Detroit News columnist) involved why Tom shut out the media during this process and claims that his silence lead to the numerous erroneous reports. Others centered on the role of LeBron James, whether he'd stay or not, which doesn't really affect MSU any more now that Izzo turned down the job in Cleveland.

A moment that brought a hush over the crowd was when most of the basketball team (Chris Allen the notable exception), without prompting, joined their coach on stage before he started his speech. Each player hugged or shook his hand before taking a stance behind Izzo on stage. It was a clear act of devotion, support and honor for their coach and a sign that maybe nobody is happier than them that his decision was to call MSU “home”.

When asked if there was an “Ah Ha” moment to solidify his decision to say, Izzo said that one thing that meant a lot to him was when he talked to his daughter. When asked why his daughter wanted to stay her. She replied that if she made new friends in Cleveland they would only be her friends because of who her dad was and the friends that she had made here they had made together while building the program.

Several people teared up at that response.

Lastly, Coach Izzo acknowledged the fans, stating “I appreciate all the support…emails, letters…it was embarrassing, but deeply appreciated.

Rally to keep Tom Izzo tonight at Breslin

The Constitution guarantees Americans the right to peaceably assemble and petition for the redress of grievances.

Tonight, Spartan fans will peaceably assemble and petition Tom Izzo to stay in East Lansing with an impromptu rally at the Magic Johnson statue in front of the Breslin Center in an effort to keep Izzo from signing with the Cleveland Cavaliers.

The rally starts at 9 p.m.

If you're within driving distance of East Lansing, I highly suggest you go. It might be your last, best chance at keeping him.

Spartan Tailgate is directing traffic on this one, so follow along here for more info.

Steps to Becoming Duke

The Lansing State Journal ran a great package this week comparing MSU basketball to Duke, noting that the last great hurdle to clear in MSU's rise is to get it into the conversation of the absolute top-tier basketball programs in America.

North Carolina, Kansas, Kentucky, Duke. That tier.

Tom Izzo told the LSJ's Joe Rexrode that his goal was to take care of every notch between now and that level before he retires. Filling up Midnight Madness was one such notch, but there are more. Izzo's remaining notches are unknown, but here are my thoughts.

• Sell out every home game. There are still tickets left for our opener against Florida Gulf Coast, for example.
• Move the Izzone so the TV cameras see it. It boggles my mind that the head-on section the main TV camera sees is the only one in the lower bowl without the Izzone in it. At Duke you see the Cameron Crazies in all their glory. Should be the same at Breslin.
  
• Get big games on big TV every year. We're doing that already, with games against Texas, UNC, Gonzaga and Illinois getting the big TV treatment. That has to continue
• Win those games. The two big losses against UNC hurt, and can't become a trend. You don't want to become the Ohio State football of the college basketball world. With all our injuries, that game against Gonzaga actually scares me.
• Second round or better every year. Getting to the tournament is key for any school. This year we should go a bit further, but in a bad year we should get to the second round of the tournament.

This is the biggest one though: Don't change how we recruit.

MSU has never recruited a one-and-done player. We never should. Let the Greg Odens and John Walls and Kevin Durants of the world go to Ohio State, Kentucky and Texas, respectively. MSU cannot try and out-sexy these folks. We need to keep that blue collar attitude and the four and five-year players that make MSU what it is.

There are a lot of shady characters in prep basketball and on college basketball coaching staffs (ahemJohnCalipariahem) and thankfully MSU hasn't been mentioned in connection with any of them. Tom Izzo is the biggest reason why it hasn't been.

Actually, not changing how we recruit isn't the biggest thing. Keep Tom Izzo - that's the biggest thing. If Tom Izzo becomes our version of John Wooden or Joe Paterno, that's more than OK by me.

Any Chance of a Capacity Crowd Tonight?

Tom Izzo wants a capacity crowd for Midnight Madness and he's got a good argument for getting it this year. The men's basketball team is ranked by almost everyone in the top two or three heading into the 2009/10 year, while the women are a consensus preseason top ten.

Tonight is your the first chance to see a bulked-up Tom Herzog and a slimmed-down Derrick Nix in action. It's also your chance to see what crazy costume Izzo will don this year (my favorite remains his Leonidas from 300 getup a few years back).

But despite capacity crowds being a near certainty at most big-time basketball schools tonight (Kentucky and Kansas, for example), MSU has never had a sellout for midnight madness. Its a streak that shouldn't exist, given the rich basketball tradition at Michigan State.

This year, there's even more to do. In addition to Izzo's usual theatrics, the 2009 Final Four banner will be raised to the rafters before the event begins. If you're planning to get to East Lansing earlier, women's swimming takes on Illinois at 5 p.m., the homecoming parade begins at 6 and women's volleyball takes on the always dangerous Ohio State at 6:30.

For Midnight Madness, doors open at 9:30 p.m. to an autograph and picture session in the Breslin Center concourse. The program begins at 10:30 p.m. and the men's team takes the floor around midnight.

If you're in or around East Lansing tonight, be sure to be there. You'd make Tom Izzo very happy.

Spartan Marching Band on Spartan Radio

Yesterday morning, before MSU's big win over Michigan, John Madden and the Spartan Marching Band joined the Spartan Sports Network pregame broadcast with a quick concert in the North Parking Lot of Spartan Stadium. It was added to YouTube, and is worth a full watch. In addition to the great performance, you can see many of the other guests that were featured on yesterday's broadcast, including Men's Basketball Coach Tom Izzo, President Lou Anna Simon, and Athletic Director Mark Hollis. Watch to the end for a special treat... Derek will tell you that this is just another reason that the North Stadium Lot is the best place to tailgate...

Izzo + Corn Maze = Awesome

I don't know about you, but I love corn mazes. And were I anywhere near Romeo, I would probably blow a ton of money on this one.

Westview Orchards and Adventure Farm mowed Tom Izzo's face into their maze. Let that sink in a moment. Tom Izzo's face.

The corn maze opens Saturday, and costs $8 to go through. The proprietor, an obvious fan of puns, told WWJ that this was a chance for Spartan fans to "get into Coach Izzo's head."

Above his head is the honorary title: "Coach of the Ear. "

Love it.

Photo is courtesy: WWJ

The Value of Integrity

It's a simple word, integrity, but it means so much. If a coach has it, players can feel comfortable taking their advice both on and off the field, and the fans can cheer for the team without worrying that, someday later, they'll regret it.

Tom Izzo has that integrity. And once again, today, I was reminded of why that sets him apart from so many of his so-called contemporaries.

Louisville basketball coach Rick Pitino had been fighting off rape allegations, made by someone who is now being charged with blackmailing the coach. However, in the course of proving her case false, it came out that Pitino (who is married with five kids) had an affair with her and then gave her $3,000 to have an abortion.

That got me thinking about something that, pardon the term, really grinds my gears.

Every year, we have to deal with a crap ton of mindless sportswriters hemming and hawing about who has the best college basketball coach. Is it Pitino, despite this indiscretion? John Calipari of Kentucky, despite the persistent rumors of recruiting improprieties? Bill Self, who has flipped off opposing student sections that annoyed him - including the Izzone?

The next ESPN or Sports Illustrated writer who pens one of these, I hope he or she takes a second to consider integrity. Consider the fact that Tom Izzo doesn't have that persistent cloud of scandal hanging over himself or his program. Consider that the biggest character flaw the guy has is either riding lazy players (Marquis Gray, Kelvin Torbert) or tiring himself out by giving too much time to too many charities.

Most of all, consider how much better it is to be a State fan, knowing you can tell your kids about what a great coach - and a great man - the old basketball coach is. I don't know about you, but I don't want a tainted coach, never mind how many wins they bring you.

They say one can't put a price on things like integrity. They're right, you can't. But perhaps one of these days, one of those big-shot journalists could lend it a bit more value.

MSU's Brave New Media World

The cream of the Midwest's sports media crop descend on Chicago Monday for Big Ten media days, which ordinarily would warrant a look at the state of MSU's media coverage.

But those of you who have been with TOSSS since the beginning will remember our three-part series on MSU's "missing media" problem - the fact that MSU's press boxes are becoming more and more vacant as news organizations scale back on their coverage as money gets more and more tight. So instead, we thought we'd take a closer peek at the one organization that has dramatically expanded it's coverage efforts for the upcoming football season - Michigan State's own sports information department.

New this year: Several Twitter feeds, including ones for Spartan athletics and MSU football. Neither are real world-changers, their content consisting mostly of links to news stories, but they're a start.

MSU's weekly TV shows have been overhauled, as have signature websites for the two big coaches: Football's Mark Dantonio and men's basketball's Tom Izzo.

But probably the most exciting (and generally useful) development is the new photo store. See, MSU has its own photographers at every big event, whose stuff usually graces programs, media guides and the MSUSpartans.com website. But never before had MSU figured out a way to make money directly off its photo efforts.

You could get an iconic photo of the Game of the Century, Javon Ringer beating Michigan or the Cold War. Perhaps you want something more obscure like a pic of Spartan Stadium getting built or MSU's old polo team. For a price, all those memories can be yours.

This is not a new concept - most media organizations (including the State News and Lansing State Journal) do the exact same thing. But no media company in Michigan has anywhere near as good a website for ordering photos of Spartan athletics, nor will they likely have as much access as MSU will give, well, itself to shoot those key intimate moments.

The photo store, Twitter feeds, niche websites - they're all examples of a university trying to bridge the gap between sport and fan - a space formerly exclusively occupied by the media that will be gathered in Chicago this week.

Izzo's Championship Performance

We've had a poll up on the right side of this blog for a few days now, asking whether Izzo Goes to Broadway will be terrible, tolerable or Tony-worthy. Unlike most of them, which are a matter of opinion, this one has a right answer.

Tony-worthy.

I say that not knowing how Tom Izzo's performance went. He can't dance. Lord knows the man can't sing - especially with how hoarse he gets after a season of yelling at MSU's basketball team. But that's not the point. Quite frankly, I don't care if he fell on his ass while doing the chorus line kick step.

Izzo, according to some folks who went to the show, sold out the Wharton Center's Cobb Great Hall in the name of charity,with most tickets going for between $55 and $150. Final figures aren't in, but the show figures to pull in at least $135,000 for Izzo's favorite charity, Coaches vs. Cancer.

And that, folks, is a championship level performance.

Bring Your Binoculars

Izzo is still going to Broadway! And now maybe you can afford to join him!

Evidently, someone at Wharton Center noticed the issue we pointed out over a week ago: Tickets aren't selling!

So, to fix this, Wharton Center announced yesterday that some tickets will be reduced to $25, or as we call it, "the bad seats at a Big Ten Tournament game" level, as opposed to the earlier (and still available!) tickets which we call "the bad seats at a NCAA Tournament game" level.

Now, it should be noted that these seats are pretty bad. They are called the "Spartan Faithful" seats, which is similar to Spartan Stadium renaming the "End Zone" seats the "Family Section." These $25 seats are in the back of the Grand Tier. "Grand Tier" is to theater goers what "upper deck" is to sports fans. It wouldn't surprise me if Magic Johnson's retired jersey blocks some of your view (I can only assume they would bring those over from Breslin). But, with 840 tickets still available (as of Wednesday morning), something needed to be done to start getting people in the seats, and this is probably second best thing to actually shaving Izzo's head on stage.

Photo courtesy of whartoncenter.com

Nick Saban is Returning to MSU...

... as the head coach of Alabama, when the Crimson tide come to Spartan Stadium in 2017 for the return leg of a home-and-home series. (Scared ya for a sec, didn't I?)

MSU announced three future non-conference opponent deals today, including the Alabama tie. The others are an extension of the Notre Dame rivalry through 2025, with two 2-year breaks (2014-15 and 2020-21). That first break, in 2014-15, will be filled by West Virginia.

This marks a significant upgrade from the future games that had been announced for the next few years. State is scheduled to play Florida Atlantic in 2010 and 2011, South Florida in 2013 and 2017 and the odd date with the three-headed not-quite monster known as "Directional Michigan".

State fans should see right through this. It's a chapter straight out of Tom Izzo's book titled "Play anyone, anywhere." It shows Mark Dantonio's not content to Montana State his way to victory (I'm still pissed about that scheduling decision, by the way). And it shows he won't accept the program being content with beating up on kids when there are giants to fell.

I, like every other State fan, have been praying for nine years that MSU would schedule a Nick Saban-coached team. Finally, we can exact some measure of revenge from him leaving in the dead of night for Baton Rouge and the LSU job. Getting a chance to stomp a mud hole in the lore of the vaunted SEC, right in its most storied stadium, is just icing on the cake.

We've waited this long. What's a few more years? Let's just hope Saban doesn't turn tail and leave before we get our chance.

The Prowess of Athletics

Oh how great it would have been as a fly on the wall of this pitch meeting...

"Sir, I had an idea last night, and I think you are going to love it," said Greg.

"Alright, try me," responded the Wharton Center guy.

"I want to produce a show about a guy with a winning spirit who puts it all on the line to make his dream come true," Greg continued.

"Go on..." said the Wharton Center guy.

"It will be an evening of song and dance!" Greg said, even more enthusiastically.

"I'm liking it so far..." mused the Wharton Center guy.

"We'll bring in performers direct from Broadway!" Greg continued, almost yelling and waiving his arms.

"Yes, this is good," the Wharton Center guy thought out loud, leaning back in his chair.

Greg leaned in close and spoke faster, saying "And our star will be Tom Izzo! It will be called 'Izzo goes to Broadway' and there will be all sorts of special guests, and..."

"STOP!" yelled the Wharton Center guy, jumping up from his chair. "You had me at 'Izzo goes to Broadway!'"

And from there, the rest is history. "Izzo goes to Broadway" debuts for one night only on May 6th. Tickets range from $55 - 150, with a sizable amount from each ticket going to one of Tom and Lupe Izzo's favorite charities, the Coaches vs. Cancer program run through the American Cancer Society.

So, this is a can't miss idea, right? Well, evidently it can miss. Tickets have been on sale since February 13th, and yet there are still 1,133 tickets available as of this posting. The Great Hall, at its best, can seat about 2,400 people, meaning that if something doesn't happen quick, this show is looking to be about half empty.

I can't imagine why the locals haven't keyed into this marketing tagline: "Izzo goes to Broadway blends the prowess of athletics with the passion of the arts."

Perhaps everyone is just afraid of showing up to find Izzo singing and dancing with a big bald head.

Photo courtesy of Wharton Center

Last Night's One Shining Moment

One of the annual highlights of the NCAA Basketball Tournament is CBS's presentation of "One Shining Moment" at the conclusion of the National Championship game broadcast. Because of MSU's deep run in this year's tournament, they are featured multiple times in the montage, including:

A closeup of Travis Walton with the ball (2:25)
Isaiah Dahlman celebrating by jumping on Goron Suton's back (3:04)
Kalin Lucas hitting a shot and getting fouled against Kansas, then slapping hands with Chris Allen (3:34)
Korie Lucious yelling victoriously (3:47)
Durrell Summers' "Dunk of the Tournament" over UConn (3:49)
Kalin Lucas fired up running down court (3:52)
Tom Izzo hugging Marquise Gray (3:55)
Travis Walton's jump ball against Tyler Hansbrough (4:09)
Multiple shots of North Carolina scoring on MSU in the Championship (4:11)
Tom Izzo sighing (4:18)

*Timestamps are unique to the video linked above.

It's always a great montage, and this year is no different, highlighting some of MSU's best moments in the tournament. One other positive: Unlike some years, there are hardly any clips from the championship game, only about 10 seconds of highlights with another 12 seconds of the celebration. Most of the highlights are from earlier games, when MSU looked awesome.

Forbes Picks UNC

As has been the case most of this NCAA Tournament, the experts seem to be rallying around whatever team is playing against MSU, and picking them for the win. Going against a preseason favorite and team who already beat MSU in Ford Field by 35 points this year is not helping MSU's case.

Even Forbes has gotten in on the UNC love. Before the tournament, Forbes released their rankings of the 20 most valuable college basketball teams and rankings of America's best college basketball coaches. MSU came in as the #14 most valuable team in the country, behind several other Big Ten schools including Indiana, Illinois, Ohio State and Wisconsin. All of the Big Ten schools were helped by their share of the Big Ten Network revenue. But UNC? They were #1 overall, relying on over $3 million in merchandise sales.

On the best coaches list, we fared about the same. Tom Izzo ranked a respectable #6, with consideration being given to his 4 (at the time) Final Fours. Roy Williams? Again, #1 overall.

That said, Kansas and Louisville were both ranked above MSU on the Forbes list, as was Bill Self. And that worked out just fine.

--
A couple notes:

The LSJ Bleeding Green blog has a warning about fake tickets that were sold for the Final Four games on Saturday night. The tickets are supposedly very realistic, with most fans only realizing the deception when the bar code would not scan upon entry to the stadium. Watch out for this and leave the fake ticket buying to the UNC fans!

For those of you going to the game, MSU has asked for the game to be a White Out. So, wear your white tomorrow!

Gameday

It's time Spartan fans! I hope that most of you are either in Detroit (maybe in one of MSU's extra hotel rooms) or on your way to Detroit... Keeping it simple, here is some light reading for the day that we thought you would find interesting.

Larry Lage discusses the 30 year anniversary of the 1979 Championship.
Tom Izzo appeared on PTI's Five Good Minutes back on Monday. Video.
Joe Rexrode of the LSJ talks about Izzo receiving the Good Guy Award, and Lucas to NBA rumors.
The Spirit of Detroit won't be wearing a Spartan jersey today.
MSU had a magical public shoot around at Ford Field yesterday.
Rep. Mike Rogers is getting in on some action supporting MSU.
And finally, the LSJ brings you all of today's vital information about the big game.

Go Green!

Tickets, Tickets, Tickets

There are plenty of stories floating around out there about tickets to the Men's Final Four this weekend, and to sum them all up, "You can get tickets if you have money."

Beyond that, there are actually a couple of interesting story lines involving tickets. The first is the Izzone snafu mentioned in the last post. This story isn't a big deal to many people, but to members of the Izzone, it most certainly is. Apparently when the Student Alumni Foundation sent an email to Izzone members about tickets, it contained a faulty link to the online ticket site that was contracted by the NCAA. The situation was fixed, but not everyone could be notified in time (or it was not fixed for everyone, do we ever really know when it comes to computers?). This led to a number of eligible Izzone members who felt they were not given a chance to get tickets. The situation was compounded by unconfirmed rumors that because SAF members knew the correct link first, they and their friends, and their friend's friends were the ones who actually purchased all of the tickets as the link spread by word of mouth. While not confirmed, this is not an unrealistic scenario.

Obviously this made many students upset, and members of SAF (which is overseen by the Alumni Association) worked with the Athletic Department to see what could be done. The NCAA was able to release an additional 79 tickets, and those tickets were allocated by lottery to eligible members. Problem solved...

Another situation is involving the number of allotted tickets and hotel rooms. According to the Lansing State Journal, each school's overall ticket allotment is 3,250. This is down from 4,500 in 2005 even though Ford Field holds many more people than any previous arena used to host the Final Four. This simply means less tickets for everyone associated with the program, including students families and friends, MSU administration, donors, past players, local celebrities, etc. Compounding the problem is that each school is on the hook for 500 hotel rooms for four nights each. It seems that many of the State fans don't really feel like spending that much time in Detroit (or simply don't need the room and don't want to pay for it). Unless MSU can work something out, the athletic department is on the hook for the cost of those rooms. It was suggested to me that they could offer the rooms to fans of other schools who do need to travel, but then again, wouldn't that hurt our home court advantage?

Finally, Tom Izzo was asked in his Tuesday press conference about ticket requests. He said that he has been overwhelmed by ticket requests, and has found an easy way to handle it. He said he has basically stopped checking his email and phone messages, using the theory that he doesn't have to say no if he never gets the message in the first place. So if your work buddy promised you a ticket because he's got that "awesome connection with Izzo," you might just want to look into plan B.

And They're Off!

The Michigan State Men's Basketball team heads out today for the Final Four in Detroit. According to the State News,

The team bus will travel from the tunnel of Breslin Center north on Harrison Road to the Michigan Avenue intersection. It will then drive through downtown East Lansing on Grand River Avenue to Okemos Road, where it will head for Detroit via 1-96.

MSU is encouraging people to come out and line the route to show support for the team.

Then, Friday at 5:30 p.m. is the official Pep Rally at Somerset Mall in Troy. Many officials are expected to speak, including Tom Izzo, and the Spartan Brass will also be in attendance.

One Shining Moment

CBS just showed a "historical" One Shining Moment video on their pregame coverage of the 2nd round of the NCAA Tournament. It featured moments from past tournaments, as opposed to the annual montage shown every year after the National Championship game featuring highlights of that year's event. MSU highlights in the "historical" video included:

A young girl at beginning of the video in a Michigan State Cheerleader outfit
Mateen laughing in joy
Mateen diving for a ball going out of bounds
Charlie Bell hugging Morris Peterson
Izzo with a crying Mateen during the 2000 National Championship celebration

After the video, Greg Gumbel asked for the "biggest upset predictions of the 2nd round." Greg Anthony chose USC over MSU.

Obama Sees State in Elite 8

ESPN unveiled President Barack Obama's NCAA Tournament picks today, and the President has MSU advancing to the Elite 8 before losing to Louisville.

When moving MSU into the Sweet 16, President Obama said "Izzo always has great teams." He followed that a minute later saying "Michigan State's gonna win again" as he wrote them into the Elite 8.

He picked North Carolina to defeat Louisville in the National Championship game.

Last season, President Obama picked MSU to lose in the second round to Pittsburgh.