Graham Crouch, a Michigan State writer for the Lansing State Journal, is at it again on Twitter. Graham first started by tweeting about Michigan/Michigan State fans going too far in the rivalry:
A Michigan State fan then asked about Larry Nassar and Michigan fans being happy it happened in East Lansing. Couch then pointed out that Nassar graduated undergrad from Michigan:
Couch did write in a column recently that MSU fans should take solace in the fact they have the best basketball/football combo in the country and are still slightly better than the Wolverines on the hardwood:
If you want more, you won’t find it in the Big Ten. Not at Michigan or Wisconsin or Indiana or anywhere. Over the last six years — the best half-dozen years of basketball by the Wolverines since the Fab Five and by the Badgers ever — MSU remains the preeminent program in the Big Ten.
John Beilein at Michigan is 154-65 during that span (a win percentage of .692), averaging 11.3 Big Ten wins and, like MSU, has one Big Ten title and two Big Ten tournament titles. The Wolverines have been the NCAA tournament runners-up, reached the Elite Eight, missed the postseason altogether, lost in the first round and now have reached the Sweet 16 in each of the last two years. That’s 12 NCAA tournament wins to MSU’s 11 and U-M is still going.
But the program, from a basketball perspective, is fine. No other fan base in the country has it better when it comes to the combination of football and basketball. Not Alabama or Oklahoma or Michigan. A big chunk of that remains Izzo’s basketball program, which isn’t on the decline.