Con-T

Do teams that underachieve expectations during the regular season tend to overperform their seeds in the tournament? Here, the evidence is more mixed. . . This year’s set of underachieving schools — like Gonzaga, Butler, Kansas State and particularly Michigan State — need to be taken on a case-by-case basis, but they are plausible picks to pull off a surprise or two.

Consider an opposing team's options once the ball is fed inside [to Sullinger]: 1) Double-down off of Diebler, who (according to Synergy scouting data) scores at a 1.53 points-per-possession clip in unguarded catch-and-shoot situations. 2) Double-down off of Lighty, who scores 1.26 PPP in unguarded catch-and-shoot situations. 3) Run Lauderdale's man across the lane to seal off Sullinger's left shoulder ... leaving Lauderdale, a 1.70 PPP scorer at point-blank range, wide open. 4) Cover Sullinger one-on-one in the post, where he scores 1.12 PPP. Unless your defense can recover in time not to leave Sullinger's teammates open after a double-team, the most efficient choice might just be to single-cover him in the post. When that's your best available option, you're not in great shape...

. . .the poor play has nothing to do with Lucious, and unless Tom Izzo has lost his team, the Spartans will surely play better - and probably much better relative to their last three efforts - the rest of the way.

The question shouldn't be if MSU sucks, it should be if it sucks less than everyone else on the bubble. The Spartans aren't playing up to their usual standards, they're not winning the NCAA title, and the Final Four seems like a pipe dream. This was the team ranked No. 2 in the preseason polls? But Michigan State has hardly hit bottom.

Michigan State assistant Don Treadwell has been hired as the head coach at Miami (Ohio), replacing Mike Haywood. Treadwell has been Michigan State's offensive coordinator and receivers coach for the last four years. He was chosen on Friday to take over for Haywood, who left for Pittsburgh after two seasons in Oxford.