Basketball early games thread

[Sbee]

Kansas and Duke lost. We win tonight and we're #1.

I think Villinova will get some votes but we should be # 1

 

[LuciousGameWinner]

Bridges is so overrated dear god!!

 

[SpartyNash]

This is disgraceful

 

[MSUMatt28]

TEam isn't defending the 3 again.

 

[MSUMatt28]

JJJ is ridiculous protecting the rim. I think he changes twice as many shots as he blocks.

 

[johnny2x2x]

Played bad against a bad team and won by 25. Held them to 32% from the field mostly based on blocked shots.

 

[LuciousGameWinner]

We are going to struggle against teams who have big guys who can shoot. I think that?s the easiest way to score on MSU at this point.

 

[Sbee]

Those guys are a challenge for everyone but it would be nice to gain some experience before tournament time.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Tapatalk

 

[Spartanmack]

Not that I care too much about rankings at this point in the season but doesn't it seem odd that Nova leap-frogged us into the #1 spot? Sure they beat Gonzaga who, for some strange reason didn't drop in the rankings after taking an 18 pt beating for their 2nd loss. Otherwise their schedule has been pretty soft and they have had some kinda close games against weak competition while we're 2-1 against teams ranked in the top 10 (or at least ND was top 10 - but they're still ranked higher than nova's second best opponent). Maybe we don't deserve to be #1 but don't we deserve it more than Villanova? I'm not seeing what they've done to pass us - you could make a much better argument for Arizona State - undefeated and a huge road win against #2 and another big win over #10 Xavier.

 

[boogerlovejoy]

Not that I care too much about rankings at this point in the season but doesn't it seem odd that Nova leap-frogged us into the #1 spot? Sure they beat Gonzaga who, for some strange reason didn't drop in the rankings after taking an 18 pt beating for their 2nd loss. Otherwise their schedule has been pretty soft and they have had some kinda close games against weak competition while we're 2-1 against teams ranked in the top 10 (or at least ND was top 10 - but they're still ranked higher than nova's second best opponent). Maybe we don't deserve to be #1 but don't we deserve it more than Villanova? I'm not seeing what they've done to pass us - you could make a much better argument for Arizona State - undefeated and a huge road win against #2 and another big win over #10 Xavier.

Any rankings before mid season in any sport are meaningless. Just for fans water cooler talk.

 

[Spartanmack]

Any rankings before mid season in any sport are meaningless. Just for fans water cooler talk.

I agree, and that's what I'm doing. I don't really care, just making water cooler talk - not a critical subject but it's more topical and timely than talking about which way 2019 football recruits are trending.

 

[MSUMatt28]

Only up 5 at the half vs Oakland. This team seems to have stagnated since the ND game.

 

[gotime909]

Had to quit watching after the refs went foul crazy the last few minutes of the first half. Called 6 fouls on MSU in the last couple minutes.

 

[SpartyNash]

Whoever set this spread at 18 is moronic

 

[SpartyNash]

Make a fucking free throw!

 

[Spartan23MSU]

oakland is almost always a tough game. This shouldnt be one of those years

 

[SpartyNash]

Officials have been awful both ways all game

 

[MSUMatt28]

OU 10-24 on 3s last I saw. It might be time to say this isn't a good perimeter defense.

 

[Spartan23MSU]

Glad they finally got it together at the end. Bridges is a good player but not a standout player. He came in as quite possible the best bet for POTY, he isnt in the top 10. He has resorted to shooting a lot of 3's and not taking it to the hole. Pretty surprising.

 

[MSUMatt28]

Glad they finally got it together at the end. Bridges is a good player but not a standout player. He came in as quite possible the best bet for POTY, he isnt in the top 10. He has resorted to shooting a lot of 3's and not taking it to the hole. Pretty surprising.

Definitely he's been a disappointment so far. He seems to struggle at times with where to find his shots, especially if he is not hitting from outside. I think he was also to do more inside last year playing at the 4, and still doesn't seem to have a polished enough off dribble game to really attack from out on the wing at the 3. Hopefully he can figure it out.

As for the effort overall. I did look at Oakland is probably a tougher opponent than their record indicates as Nunn and Hayes were not in some of their early games. And it does seem like the team is taking some of these other teams' best shot right now, which is making things a little more challenging than expected. OU is an in state rival and the Southern Utah coach also has a connection to the state. Also I saw that Rutgers just beat Seton Hall, who is ranked 15th (deservedly or not, we'll see). So maybe they aren't as bad as we think too.

This team is going to still win a ton of games, but it is going to be difficult to gauge where they're at as the Big Ten isn't going to offer a ton of tests compared to some other years.