Also has anyone noticed that before every play Forbes rubs his shoes? Is there some story behind it or is it just something he does? He's done it all season.

LuciousGameWinner said:

Also has anyone noticed that before every play Forbes rubs his shoes? Is there some story behind it or is it just something he does? He's done it all season.

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I started noticing this during the BTT, now every time he is on the court I focus in on it, I have no idea either

Hate to say it.....but this is where I think our tourney run ends. Louisville is too big and athletic.

It's not that we can't win.....I just don't think we will.

68-60 Louisville.

Hope I'm wrong.

I said in the game thread, teams like Louisville, UConn, and UNC seem to always beat us. I hope the trend ends and we move on.

2.5 point favorites. I live this matchup, Louisville cannot score. I see a 10 point win.

http://www.sportsonearth.com/article/115236978
Elite Eight Viewing Guide.
from Sports On Earth

I hope the MSU Spartans beat louisville and pitino by 20 points.
For years, since his days as coach of the Celtics, I can't stand pitino.

johnny2x2x said:

2.5 point favorites. I live this matchup, Louisville cannot score. I see a 10 point win.

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I'd expect that to move toward UL a little, i was surprised by that spread. I'm torn on this game, I think it's a true toss up, I'm nowhere near as confident as I was against Oklahoma. To me this game boils down to a few things, our ability to hit jump shots against the zone and the Dawson/Harrell matchup. He's built like Ben Wallace, he isn't the same defensive player and has range to 15ft but he's a matchup problem like dawson but bigger and stronger, not as athletic. in this matchup, a cheap foul here or there on either player will tip this matchup big time.

Also, for the record I'm saying that the short prep in this one will not help us. I think that the matchup zone is so different than anything we've seen all year we'd be better off with more time to prep. I look at the Louisville matchup zone and trapping like facing a knuckleball pitcher, not much like it out there. playing wisconsin twice prepared us for UVA, nobody prepared us for UL. All of that said they struggle horribly on offense and they're not deep so we could play fast and get an advantage and outside shooting is critical. I guess that doesn't help in the second game turnaround with a late finish + media obligations this team needs some rest today.

this is 50/50, jump shots and Dawson/Harrell is key

JScottWriter said:

I said in the game thread, teams like Louisville, UConn, and UNC seem to always beat us. I hope the trend ends and we move on.

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UNC and Duke yes, we'er 1-1 against UL under Pitino, beat them in 2009 and lost in 2012. I think we're 1-2 against Uconn in the tournament with losses in 1999 and 2014, beating them in 2009

Montrezl Harrell on Dawson:
Montrezl Harrell on Branden Dawson: "I don't see him running with as much energy as I have." #MSU #SpartanMag

Sbee said:

UNC and Duke yes, we'er 1-1 against UL under Pitino, beat them in 2009 and lost in 2012. I think we're 1-2 against Uconn in the tournament with losses in 1999 and 2014, beating them in 2009

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1-1 against UConn, we didn't play them in 1999, we lost to Duke that year, who lost to UConn in the title game

SpartyNash said:

1-1 against UConn, we didn't play them in 1999, we lost to Duke that year, who lost to UConn in the title game

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You're right, I think we played them in the old great 8 in Chicago. We also scheduled them out of conference mid year a long time ago

Not sure if you saw the quote from Harrell saying he doesn't think dawson can match his energy. It's great he said this and that he we had our interviews prior to Louisville so we couldn't say anything dumb. I think this will give dawson a kick in the ass and fore up some teammates. Harrell is a beast and we haven't seen a player like him bit he did play 40 minutes against NC state and we'll be able to sub and hopefully run him a little. We can also switch Costello or schilling on him because their other big has zero offensive game.

Sbee said:

Not sure if you saw the quote from Harrell saying he doesn't think dawson can match his energy. It's great he said this and that he we had our interviews prior to Louisville so we couldn't say anything dumb. I think this will give dawson a kick in the ass and fore up some teammates. Harrell is a beast and we haven't seen a player like him bit he did play 40 minutes against NC state and we'll be able to sub and hopefully run him a little. We can also switch Costello or schilling on him because their other big has zero offensive game.

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I think you're making more out of this than what's there. He was pretty complimentary of Dawson too in that interview.

"I go in and make sure I play 110 percent every play," Harrell said Saturday. "If(Dawson) has as much energy as me, it should be a good game tomorrow. I don't see him running with as much energy as I have."

"He's a motivational rebounder, and what I mean by that is he goes to the glass every chance he gets, both offensively and defensively," Harrell said. "We've got to make sure that we come off the glass, I'm going to make sure that I'm going to take a big part of that myself."

When you separate that one sentence from the whole quote it makes it sound worse than what it was.

Do you think Izzo is going to tell Dawson the good things he said? No, he is going to use that one negative phrase to get Dawson motivated to play his best.

The tweet I read didn't have the full context but I like it as a motivational tool and that matchup will be big. It's good we can throw 4 bodies at him. The big Nigerian dude shoots 38% from the floor at 6'6

Montrezl Harrell on Dawson:
Montrezl Harrell on Branden Dawson: "I don't see him running with as much energy as I have." #MSU #SpartanMag

I think the fact that Dawson and Trice know that every game could be their last has been plenty of motivation for them during this run. I don't believe Izzo will use an out of context quote as fuel for Dawson. That kid has been plenty motivated lately.

Plus Dawson isn't dumb. I'm sure he's read the whole quote and didn't take it as an insult.

Alright boys.....lets him the boards today!

No stupid unforced turnovers.

Tough D.

I want to beat Duke so bad I can fuckin taste it!

GO GREEN!!!!

Of all the teams that made the elite 8, we had by far the toughest road having faced a 2 and a 3, no one else had to face any team higher than a 4. Louisville has yet to face a seed higher than 5. Going to be a war though.

This game will be a battle. It needs to start now, I am tired of waiting.