So Much For #1

Not much to say after that one. I had hoped to post a photo of me lighting Drew Neitzel’s Street & Smith cover in effigy last evening, but alas, the battery of my camera was dead. Nothing went right for me last night.

In any event, even though it undoubtedly hurts to lose to Michigan State just one day after securing a #1 ranking, I can still look on the bright side and see the following things:

1) Wisconsin has lost three games this year. Two of those games ended with opposing fans rushing the court, while the third was in a far-away location with a semi-full gym. It’s nice to be rush-worthy.

2) If it wasn’t certain before, I think it’s safe to say that Wisconsin and Michigan State are rivals. In my mind, in order to officially be rivals, there needs to be a general recognition of the rivalry by each side of the equation. And when a program as good as Michigan State takes time out to hate you, you know you’ve arrived.

3) I got to see a classic Michigan State team last night. It was a hard nosed, workmanlike rebounding performance last night. I still maintain that my favorite college team ever to just sit back and observe was the Spartans’ 2000 national champion squad. The ability of that team to out-work its opponents on the boards and get the ball back down the court at lightning-fast speed was unbelievable. The speed might not have been there last night with this Spartan team, but something tells me that Tom Izzo’s had the tackling dummies out in practice quite a bit this year.

So I’m down, but the Badgers will be back. The next two games will still be remarkably challenging, but I’m optimistic about Sunday. And as for the liklihood of losing the #1 ranking, I’ve always had a much bigger thing for #2 and #3 anyway. So let someone else be the top dog for now.

Back tomorrow, assuming I finish the recap of my ACC wild weekend.