Champions Classic Tuesday Night

[SpartyNash]

How the hell is that not a flagrant?

 

[gotime909]

We need to take better shots late in the game. As good as Bridges is, he can't be going out of control at the basket like that.

 

[gotime909]

Oh, and I don't care what some say here, Josh Langford is not an elite defender.

 

[gotime909]

Coach K just owns Izzo. It's pathetic

 

[JScottWriter]

Well that got out of hand.

 

[SpartyNash]

We need to take better shots late in the game. As good as Bridges is, he can't be going out of control at the basket like that.

What the hell kind of attempt was that coming out of the timeout around the 3 minute mark?

 

[LuciousGameWinner]

Man Tom Izzo is an awesome guy, but his offense is putrid. And his defense needs to extend out. I have said this 274728484 times the last 5 years on this board. We get murdered by the 3 every single game.

 

[gotime909]

Not sure why our lineup was Winston, McQuaid, Goins, Bridges and Jackson for the last 3 minutes of a close game. Guess it doesn't really matter who's out there if Bridges is just gonna fly solo on offense.

 

[LuciousGameWinner]

Bridges still can?t dribble and pass the ball. He?s so out of control. Jaren Jackson and Ward are our best players.

 

[gotime909]

I thought Tum played better than Winston in this game and I would've liked to see him out there late in the game. Most games I wouldn't say that, but this game I thought he looked great.

 

[MSUMatt28]

I thought Tum played better than Winston in this game and I would've liked to see him out there late in the game. Most games I wouldn't say that, but this game I thought he looked great.

I agree. Duval was too strong for Winston and got into the lane just about any time he wanted. Tum looked pretty good (and amazingly under control) in his time in there.

Overall disappointed they didn't get the W especially with Bagley only playing 10 minutes, but I don't think it dampens the outlook on the season. The team, will need to learn how to solve zones a bit better. But Coach K for all the talent he gets can flat out coach and had a good game plan. And Allen hit some shots. Not sure what more could have been done defensively on some of them other than maybe put Bridges on him so his length could bother him more. The one thing that drove me nuts all night was for one giving up so many offensive rebounds, but how many of them were on long rebounds. Where the heck were the guards on those plays?

Other random thoughts:
This team will shatter whatever the school record is for blocked shots, and may lead the country.

Jackson will get drafted higher than Bridges next year.

Schilling still doesn't know how to not foul.

Still worried that Langford and McQuaid are not going to make enough shots to keep teams honest.

The officiating sucked as usual.

 

[boogerlovejoy]

I agree. Duval was too strong for Winston and got into the lane just about any time he wanted. Tum looked pretty good (and amazingly under control) in his time in there.

Overall disappointed they didn't get the W especially with Bagley only playing 10 minutes, but I don't think it dampens the outlook on the season. The team, will need to learn how to solve zones a bit better. But Coach K for all the talent he gets can flat out coach and had a good game plan. And Allen hit some shots. Not sure what more could have been done defensively on some of them other than maybe put Bridges on him so his length could bother him more. The one thing that drove me nuts all night was for one giving up so many offensive rebounds, but how many of them were on long rebounds. Where the heck were the guards on those plays?

Other random thoughts:
This team will shatter whatever the school record is for blocked shots, and may lead the country.

Jackson will get drafted higher than Bridges next year.

Schilling still doesn't know how to not foul.

Still worried that Langford and McQuaid are not going to make enough shots to keep teams honest.

The officiating sucked as usual.

Officiating was terrible. I hate when refs call a game like that. Every little tick tack foul gets called. Kills momentum.

We lost because we couldn't rebound the ball. Simple as that. Sometimes when everyone is trying to block every shot you get yourself out of position to rebound.

We rebound, we win. No question.

Oh, and we should cover Fucktard Allen once in a while.

 

[johnny2x2x]

Team played bad. Typical of an Izzo team in November. No idea how Coach K can get his teams playing like veterans year after year so early in the season.

Tum Tum was better than Cassius yesterday and only got 11 minutes. SHould have played a lot more.

Langford deserved to sit for his defense. He was awful defensively.

McQuaid played better defense, that's why he was in.

Cassius is bad defensively.

Bridges had a bad game on both ends.

Ward and JJJ were very good and needed more time even when in foul trouble.

Goins and Carter played well.

Jackson is a monster! Best shot blocker we've ever had at MSU. Can do it all.

Here's my take. The shooting, turnovers, and rebounding will be fixed by February, this is typical of an Izzo team. The perimeter defense is the major concern, we were really bad all game long and we don't have the personnel to get much better.

The talent on this team is really high and they will absolute blow teams out in the Big Ten. They're going to lose a couple games along the way to teams who have good guards who get hot from the outside. In the Tourney we could run into the wrong guard dominated team and get knocked out earlier than expected.

 

[MSUMatt28]

Team played bad. Typical of an Izzo team in November. No idea how Coach K can get his teams playing like veterans year after year so early in the season.

Tum Tum was better than Cassius yesterday and only got 11 minutes. SHould have played a lot more.

Langford deserved to sit for his defense. He was awful defensively.

McQuaid played better defense, that's why he was in.

Cassius is bad defensively.

Bridges had a bad game on both ends.

Ward and JJJ were very good and needed more time even when in foul trouble.

Goins and Carter played well.

Jackson is a monster! Best shot blocker we've ever had at MSU. Can do it all.

Here's my take. The shooting, turnovers, and rebounding will be fixed by February, this is typical of an Izzo team. The perimeter defense is the major concern, we were really bad all game long and we don't have the personnel to get much better.

The talent on this team is really high and they will absolute blow teams out in the Big Ten. They're going to lose a couple games along the way to teams who have good guards who get hot from the outside. In the Tourney we could run into the wrong guard dominated team and get knocked out earlier than expected.

Ward had a good game numbers-wise but we saw last night why he's probably not highly regarding as a pro prospect (whether that means he'd leave after this season is another story). He got swatted several times, including the one at point blank range by the Duke guys who've got the length and lift he'd see every night in the NBA.

But at the college level, not many are going to stop him.

Overall the guards were pretty bad in all phases yesterday and that will need to change for this team to reach expectations. The team turned the ball over (though blame could be spread around there), McQuaid and Langford both had good looks at times and couldn't knock them down other than one Langford hit. As was mentioned the perimeter defense was bad by several people. And they were responsible for Duke getting countless long offensive rebounds, which presumably was because they were trying to leak out on the break...except I think we only got a couple of fast break hoops. So Duke was crashing the boards and STILL able to maintain transition defense.

 

[gotime909]

The way I see it is that we never had a go to guy that could finish a game last year. Most games are decided in the last 5 minutes and we lost a lot of games late. Sure, we have a lot of talent, but who is the go to guy on this team that can get it done when the seconds are ticking down?

 

[Sbee]

Ward had a good game numbers-wise but we saw last night why he's probably not highly regarding as a pro prospect (whether that means he'd leave after this season is another story). He got swatted several times, including the one at point blank range by the Duke guys who've got the length and lift he'd see every night in the NBA.

But at the college level, not many are going to stop him.

Overall the guards were pretty bad in all phases yesterday and that will need to change for this team to reach expectations. The team turned the ball over (though blame could be spread around there), McQuaid and Langford both had good looks at times and couldn't knock them down other than one Langford hit. As was mentioned the perimeter defense was bad by several people. And they were responsible for Duke getting countless long offensive rebounds, which presumably was because they were trying to leak out on the break...except I think we only got a couple of fast break hoops. So Duke was crashing the boards and STILL able to maintain transition defense.

I was at the game last night and noticed a few things, haven't watched the replay so I don't know if announcers picked up on it but Nick Ward looks like last years Nick Ward. He was very, very productive offensively in limited minutes. The quality of defense is still poor, he looked bad against North Florida on ball screens and last night, with the game on the line, MSU up 2, Duke dialed up a ball screen at Ward and Winston, two sub par defenders, and tied the game up, then did the same thing again to take the lead. This was around the 8 minute mark, then he sat until there were about 2 minutes left.

Izzo opted for Ben Carter late, thinking that Ward can't outscore his poor defense.

 

[gotime909]

I was at the game last night and noticed a few things, haven't watched the replay so I don't know if announcers picked up on it but Nick Ward looks like last years Nick Ward. He was very, very productive offensively in limited minutes. The quality of defense is still poor, he looked bad against North Florida on ball screens and last night, with the game on the line, MSU up 2, Duke dialed up a ball screen at Ward and Winston, two sub par defenders, and tied the game up, then did the same thing again to take the lead. This was around the 8 minute mark, then he sat until there were about 2 minutes left.

Izzo opted for Ben Carter late, thinking that Ward can't outscore his poor defense.

yet leaves Winston and his horrid defense in. I'd rather have Tum and Ward vs Winston and Carter. All day/any day

 

[Sbee]

yet leaves Winston and his horrid defense in. I'd rather have Tum and Ward vs Winston and Carter. All day/any day

Agree, you might have to look at those combinations. Winston and Ward give you two liabilities on the defensive end. It's disappointing because they were supposed to take a leap over the summer, it's early and they will improve hopefully but that's discouraging. Not every team they have has a trevon duvall as well

 

[gotime909]

Agree, you might have to look at those combinations. Winston and Ward give you two liabilities on the defensive end. It's disappointing because they were supposed to take a leap over the summer, it's early and they will improve hopefully but that's discouraging. Not every team they have has a trevon duvall as well

I'm just getting more and more frustrated with Izzo's handling of some players. Seems he looks for reasons to sit Ward and also looks for reasons to play guys like Goins.

 

[Sbee]

I'm just getting more and more frustrated with Izzo's handling of some players. Seems he looks for reasons to sit Ward and also looks for reasons to play guys like Goins.

well, Duke attacked Ward with ball screens on back to back possessions around 9 minutes and got two easy lay ups. they pulled Ward after that, Goins played for a while and got a key offensive board and had a dunk (though that was all due to the setup by Winston). Izzo went back to ward just under 2 minutes, would we have been closer with Ward in the whole time? who knows? but I think it's obvious he needs to improve defensively, it might not show against North Florida but it will show against elite teams. Kenny Goins is not an answer to this team, Ward being functional on defense is the answer.

Also, Bridges looks tentative at the 3, I think we're a better team with him at the 3 long term but maybe a worse team now. Of course him playing the 3 allows for Jackson and Ward to play together.

Lots for us to work on