i was cautiously hopeful, but not really. the game, sadly, played out a bit like i expected.

just real, real frustrating, because it came down to the fact that 'michigan state can shoot, and the cats cant.'

and so jitim's career ends with a loss, and i'm still struggling to think of a crucial late-season game that the cats have won. (not that they've had many crucial late-season games since that NIT run by the Kevin Rankin team) but really, think of their slide at the end of the season in 99 (the triple-team esch stretch), or the one in 02 (when vedran got hurt and they got blown out by illinois at the end of the season) or this season (when the team didn't play a good game after the indiana game...think about it).

i'm a bit bitter at the schedule-makers, because they continue to schedule in a manner favorable to michigan state. you'll notice that the spartans last played last tuesday, while the cats were playing for the fourth time since then.

oh well. the prospect of a parker-hachad-doyle-vedran-thompson lineup with davor and seacat and williams and lee all coming off the bench is pretty exciting. i'm honestly - honestly - thinking top four in the conference and honestly - honestly - anticipating an ncaa berth next season.

november can't come soon enough for me. i'll probably be in iowa. jitim'll probably be in finland. or in evanston, selling programs.