Windsor: Michigan-MSU rivalry has never been hotter
It’s a funny time to mention this considering Michigan State has won its past three men’s basketball games against Michigan, but the rivalry has never been better — or more intense.
Point to football. To Twitter wars. To the residue from signing day in which the vitriol reached a beautiful crescendo this week.
Whatever it is, the schools — and its fans — pay more attention to the other than ever. Ain’t it glorious?
Next year’s football game in East Lansing should be a toss-up, just as today’s basketball should be. Sure, the Spartans might be favored and bring more experience, polish, depth and skill, but that doesn’t mean the Wolverines can’t win.
In fact, here’s guessing they will get their shot. If nothing else, we should have learned by now that we don’t know what to expect when these teams get together.
The truth is, U-M can play with MSU. That’s what coach John Beilein has accomplished.
His team this season is incomplete because of injury, it’s young, it’s thin on the interior, and yet few of us would be stunned if the Wolverines win. Against a Spartans team rediscovering its early-season prowess as the No. 1 team in the country.
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U-M might not be the program MSU is, but before last season the Wolverines had won six of eight meetings. Of course, before that stretch the Spartans had won 18 of 21 — hence the refusal to equate the programs.
What matters is that U-M is competitive in the basketball portion of this rivalry. From one year to the next, we can’t count on a singular narrative.
The same is true in football, and before you start screaming about MSU’s 7-1 record the past eight years, check yourself and admit that U-M coach Jim Harbaugh likely will change the equation. It’s possible he won’t, yes, but rational thinking says otherwise.
And that’s exactly where we want this thing. If one side dominates for too long, it’s boring. We need the emotional risk.
Spartans fans know their basketball team is better right now. They also know that won’t necessarily matter. The coaches know this, too.
This is why Tom Izzo wasn’t as forthcoming about the game this year. He didn’t talk about his dislike for Michigan, as he has in the past. All he talked about was his respect.
“I’m going to tell you ahead of time,” he said after the Spartans beat Rutgers on Sunday. “I love Michigan.”
During his news conference Tuesday, he mentioned this again and said he wasn’t going to get caught saying anything he shouldn’t.
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Beilein also couldn’t say enough nice things. He thinks MSU is playing as well as it has in two years. That’s saying something, considering the Spartans got to the Final Four last season.
But he knows — as Izzo knows — this season’s squad is better, and playing well again, which makes today’s matchup tantalizing because U-M still has the pieces to win it. So while there might not be program equality, there is competitive equality.
Which gives us — or rather, you — more reason to fret, to gloat, to hate. If U-M pulls this off, then signing day just got sweeter. If MSU wins, then the Spartans have plenty of ammo, too, including what will be a four-game winning streak in basketball and its recent edge in football.
As Beilein said: “It’s a great, great set of games, a tremendous rivalry between everybody. That we go out and we’re competitive in this game is really important. This is a really good team.”
He was talking about his team regaining momentum after its lopsided loss to Indiana, and he was talking about his team acquitting itself against another top-shelf opponent. Yet he also was talking about the global importance of competing against Michigan State, that it’s crucial not to let a rival get too far ahead.
When that happens, it becomes less of a rivalry and less fun.
Contact Shawn Windsor: 313-222-6487 or swindsor@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @shawnwindsor.