Absolutely thrashed by OSU on Sunday and now they're going to OT at home against friggin' Rutgers? Yikes...
What's up with MSU?
- Thread starter Kevin Bryan
- Start date
They start 4 sophomores and the first 4 off the bench are upper-classmen. That's like old as dirt compared to what I'm used to.
Just shows that we are all clueless as to who the best team is. Should make for an interesting March.
Those bench players don’t play huge/meaningful minutes. And Izzo has never had a team this young with this high of expectations. Different dynamic for him.They start 4 sophomores and the first 4 off the bench are upper-classmen. That's like old as dirt compared to what I'm used to.
McQuaid and Nairn both play over 20 MPG and Goins and Shilling both over 10 MPG.
Aaaaand exhale. hahaSpartans win
They won’t be playing that much against better competition. Those numbers are still inflated because MSU’s 8 game stretch where they played weaker teams.
That doesn't make sense at all. If anything, it should be the opposite. If you have a young bunch of starters you want them to get as much game time together as possible before running the gauntlet.
I haven't seen them play since November. Could not watch this game because I'm out of town and the hotel doesn't have BTN.
That doesn’t make sense at all. If anything, if you’re blowing out inferior opponents, you aren’t having your starters risking late season fatigue & injury by playing major minutes in games that are already well in hand.
Obviously we aren't talking about mop up minutes since they average a combined 60 MPG. Late season fatigue? lol. Bro, this isn't the NBA and these kids are 18-22, they have energy for days.
Still doesn’t change the fact that MSU lacks a major contributing upperclassmen. Which is usually a staple in a great Tom Izzo team.
I said a couple days ago, give me 2015-2016 MSU over this team any day.
That is true as far as their production goes. They chew up some pretty solid minutes and that doesn't really reflect in the box scores.
It's conference play. Some wins will be blowout style and other wins won't be pretty. Congrats to Sparty for finding a way to come out with the win.
In a bad shooting slump. Offense looks stagnant. Other teams playing us tough.
All about getting better for March.
All about getting better for March.
I know we all say it, conference play this and that... but it's Rutgers @ MSU. Bottom of the barrel teams are competing with (and beating) teams that they shouldn't be. Fact of the matter is it's just a much more level playing field and there aren't any dominant teams out there this year. We weren't succumbing to the conference play excuse for teams like 2016 Nova, 2015 UK, 2012 UK (plenty more but those are just recent ones off the top of my head) etc. because those teams were dominant. Yes, conference play is a different animal, but this is much more a sign of parity.
I know all about shooting slumps... almost nothing is more frustrating to watch.
All good points. Tonight was one of those games where Sparty should've blown out Rutgers. It's easy to let your guard down for bottom feeder and there's no denying that at all. Bringing up parity in men's college basketball is absolutely what we are seeing. This season the top 10 is a revolving door and it's crazy seeing how many times the top 10 has been reshuffled already. What stood out to me tonight between MSU/Rutgers was the game was played at MSU so not blowing Rutgers out was a surprise.
Agreed, and I think overall it's not that the traditional front-runners are getting that much worse, but many other teams are catching up. There are far fewer dominant teams now, but the overall strength of the conferences is much better, from top to bottom. It's not, hey these 3-4 teams are pretty good and the rest of the conference is garbage. It's that all the major conferences have 6,7,8+ legit tourney teams now. Hopefully it stays that way.
If they play like they today, it won’t be. Mich is a much better team than Rutgers.
The bold/underlined/italicized portion of what you said is what's incredibly intriguing to me as well. It's not that the traditional teams are taking a backseat but each conference has become so much well rounded than we're used to seeing. Will we see the same pace keep up around the country from conference to conference? I don't know but it's making for an exciting season overall. If it does continue, imagine what the NCAA Tournament field will look like. It's become a crapshoot over the last few years as it is. Add in this element and winning 6 games in a row will be tougher than ever.
I agree with this, but in terms of tonight, Rutgers is a terrible team, and the game was in Breslin. Purdue beat them last week by 30+ while not playing particularly well. There is no excuse for MSU being that close to going down to Rutgers. MSU needs to play much better, and I do think they will.
MSU needs to start hitting open shots. They’re clanking everything and it’s not just one or two guys. I don’t have the solution.
For the basketball experts, what do you do when your guys aren’t knocking down open shots?
No way. This team is young yes, but I have seen enough to know that we are much better defensively, but idk what has happened in these past 2. Not to mention, this teams ceiling is much much higher
My only issue with Izzo teams has always been this.... If they can't out physical you during a game they are way less effective.
My biggest issue with Izzo is when we score less points than the other team. We always, ALWAYS end up losing those games. It’s so frustrating to watch as a fan.
Well everyone is playing for 2nd place because 2017-2018 Villanova is clearly the greatest basketball team of all time.
Correct. You will rarely see Izzo teams just outscore teams as the primary means to a win.
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