You've probably seen the men's basketball promotional poster hanging around campus and passed out at the bookstores -- the one with "Head of State" across the top and the players all standing behind Ed DeChellis in suit and tie.
One specific poster in the dorms has had a few minor alterations made to it.
After guard Brandon Cameron asked to be released from his scholarship in December, a large, deliberate X was drawn unceremoniously through the sophomore's head.
So it wasn't much of a surprise that the man standing behind him in the picture got the same treatment after winter break.
DeForrest Riley-Smith's X, however, wasn't nearly as carefully placed. Instead of two smooth black strokes, the mark was scrawled and jagged, clearly done quickly and angrily.
Frustration was a pretty typical response.
After all, the joy associated with the Lions' improbable surge to the top of the early Big Ten standings is coupled with the misery of fans asking, "What if?"
What if Riley-Smith hadn't left? What if Cameron, and for that matter, Sharif Chambliss, were still on the team?
And yet, the answer to those questions is that the Lions would not be 2-0 in the Big Ten right now.
That's not to say the Lions are better off without Riley-Smith. In the long term, the team will greatly miss the versatile sophomore.
The absence of Riley-Smith has energized a downtrodden basketball team more than any motivational trick that DeChellis could pull out of his bag. The energy the Lions exhibited in the second half of games against Minnesota and Ohio State was downright mind boggling, considering the team essentially uses only six players.
There's really no logical explanation for the success of Eddie's crew since his starting small forward left for Xavier. Even DeChellis had trouble putting it into words after Saturday's thrashing of the Buckeyes.
"Sometimes less is more," DeChellis said with a subtle shrug.
Forward Aaron Johnson was able to expand on that idea a bit.
"We know we're missing DeForrest and Brandon," Johnson said. "But we don't care who's out there. Whoever's out there is going to give it 120-percent, which is why I think we're winning."
That's about the crux of it. The absence of Riley-Smith has this team playing on an emotional high that could not be fueled by a coach's motivation alone. That DeChellis has been able to actually make his team better after the loss of one of his best players is alone argument for his early nomination for Big Ten Coach of the Year.
Odds are, if Riley-Smith doesn't transfer, the Lions don't have the spark they need in the second half to come back and upset the Golden Gophers.
The only thing that remotely begins to describe what's happening right now in Happy Valley is "The Ewing Theory" popularized by columnist Bill Simmons.
The Ewing Theory refers to the bizarre cosmic force that causes teams to actually improve after the departure or injury of one of its star players, รก la various successes of Georgetown and the Knicks in the absence of the theory's namesake. It defies all logic, convention and common sense.
But it's just about the only thing that describes this situation.
Maybe the Lions' offense has opened up now that Riley-Smith is gone. Maybe it means that Jagla and Marlon Smith are getting more shot opportunities themselves, even while missing their leading assist-man.
Truth be told, DeChellis and his Lions probably don't care what the reason is, be it emotion, hustle or inexplicable quasi-religious theory.
But if the Lions somehow manage to walk into the Breslin Center on the campus of Michigan State tomorrow night and beat the Spartans, I'm converting.
