The Blue Board

What's with you guys and fighting?

Didn't Cleaves choke out Mo Pete before winning the Title in 2000?

What does needling mean?
@ESPNAndyKatz: Izzo said Payne/Dawson were needling each other, resulted in a dented wall. Players will pay damage. The off-campus roommates won't start.

Happy Valley, PA, 9:06 EST

Little used captain Russell Byrd took advantage of a lapse in judgment by his teammates to shine in Michigan State's 72-57 win over the Penn State. The junior from Ft. Wayne, IN, relegated to mop-up duty most of the season, was given a starting nod after the Spartans' Brandon Dawson and Adrien Payne were benched by Izzo following an altercation earlier today. Byrd hit his first 4 3-point attempts, all within the first 6 minutes of game-play, and finished with a career high 20 points on 6-8 shooting. The junior added 7 rebounds and 2 assists.

Did Payne have a Purdue jersey on? ;)

uh.. um.. i have no words

I just finished reading this. There has to be some sort of confusion, like Deadspin has her name spelled wrong or something, righy? Tell me Te'o and ND didn't just make the whole thing up for PR purposes.

It sounds like Te'o and his friend more than ND.

Well, ND is sure helping them cover their tracks then:

Notre Dame Statement: Manti Te’o

On Dec. 26, Notre Dame coaches were informed by Manti Te’o and his parents that Manti had been the victim of what appears to be a hoax in which someone using the fictitious name Lennay Kekua apparently ingratiated herself with Manti and then conspired with others to lead him to believe she had tragically died of leukemia. The University immediately initiated an investigation to assist Manti and his family in discovering the motive for and nature of this hoax. While the proper authorities will continue to investigate this troubling matter, this appears to be, at a minimum, a sad and very cruel deception to entertain its perpetrators.

Dennis Brown University Spokesman | Assistant Vice President

Anyone catch the Izzo interview on BTN? I missed it. Was hoping for some more details of this "scuffle" (if it was serious or not, if the two are over it, etc.)

I don't mind it (as long as it was a Hey- play with more emotion scuffle vs. hey- I slept with your GF scuffle)

Cleaves choked out Mo Pete during halftime of the elite 8 game in 2000 because he was playing scared..

Penn State's student sections is about 2 rows deep.