Member Mayhem

2009 Mayhem Championship:In a battle that was fittingly close, TeddyD defeats Sfrye4585 to become the 2009 Member Mayhem winner! Congratulations Teddy! The prize will be on its way shortly.

Both competitors put together solid entries. Sfrye loaded up on stats, and broke down the best games from the 2009 NCAA Tournament, scoring a perfect 25 points on the knowledge portion. Teddy, meanwhile, was awarded the maximum for the passion he envoked with his portrait of Detroit, and the impact the Final Four and Michigan State team have had on it's struggling citizens. In the end, Teddy's essay was good enough to earn him a 87-85 victory. For all the essays, and full scoring for each round, check out the Member Mayhem Blog.

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John Wooden. Adolf Rupp. Dean Smith. Bobby Knight. To establish yourself as one of the greatest coaches of all time, you have to something truly special. The “Wizard of Westwood” won 10 championships in 12 years at UCLA coaching two of the greatest college players of all time (Alcindor and Walton). His UCLA teams won 38 straight games in the NCAA Tournament and had four perfect 30-0 seasons. Adolf Rupp established a standard of excellence at Kentucky that turned horseracing fans into rabid hoops lovers. The “Baron of the Bluegrass” won four titles with an amazing 80% of his players coming from the sate of Kentucky. Rup oftentimes didn’t have the most talent, but his in-game coaching was unrivaled. Dean Smith coached at UNC for 36 years and retired as the winning-est coach in NCAA Division 1 history. He is known for his two championships, great players such as Jordan and Worthy, and his efforts towards desegregation and equal treatment of African Americans in the South. Bob Knight, the winning-est head man in NCAA Division 1 basketball history, coached the last undefeated NCAA men’s basketball team. “The General” won three national championships at Indiana with players such as Isaiah Thomas and Steve Alford.

Tom Izzo. This year, it feels like Tom Izzo is built more in the Rupp mold. He has his players and an entire state playing with desire and buzzing with hope like nothing I have witnessed. Izzo has led his Spartans to wins over USC, Kansas, Louisville, and Connecticut. You could put together 2 rock-solid NBA teams with the players he has beaten in the last several weeks (DeRozan, Gibson, Collins, Aldrich, Williams, Samuels, Price, and Thabeet). Based on talent alone, Michigan State should have arguably been shown the exit in the Round of 32. Yet, oftentimes talent only gets you so far. In sports, you oftentimes need a leader and a motivator to channel that talent into hustle, grit and determination. Michigan State has that leader. And now, if only for a weekend, Michigan as a State has found that leader.

When I pulled into Detroit on Friday night, things seemed bleak. Abandoned buildings were everywhere. Jobless claims were soaring week by week. Homelessness was becoming a very real possibility for many people like you and me. But every Detroit-native that I ran into seemed to be floating. Time after time, I heard people saying things like “How about Michigan State?” “Do you think Tom and those kids can do it?” and “Go Sparty!!!” One lady told me that she had never watched a basketball game in her life, but she was donning a Kalin Lucas jersey and face paint. During a time when people need hope, Tom Izzo has delivered. He has taken a group of kids who will listen and pushed them to play every game like it is their last. And Izzo knows what it means to fans. After the UConn game, he said “I hope we were a ray of sunshine, a distraction for them, a diversion, anything else we can be. We're not done yet, so hopefully we can continue to make them feel a little better.” Izzo understands that it’s bigger than him. He knows what a victory tonight will mean. He can see that people are depending on him. And, luckily for Michigan State fans, he thrives in these situations.

After the UConn game, Jim Calhoun told reporters that he “gave Izzo a great deal of credit.” And he should have. His team was out-hustled, out-motivated and out-coached by the best x’s and o’s coach the college game has seen this decade. Izzo was able to channel the fans into a legitimate 6th man wearing green on the court. And it all felt right…even if you weren’t a MSU fan. There have been a lot of fantastic moments in this year’s tournament. Scottie Reynolds’ runner in the Elite 8 will be replayed for years and years to come. Western Kentucky’s heroics were undoubtedly incredible. But at the end of the day, the job that Tom Izzo has done with this team and the hope he has restored to the community is unmatched. When I look back on the 2009 NCAA Tournament in 20 years, I will remember the Spartans, win or lose.