@ Maryland

[gotime909]

True, and I agree on milking the clock, but it annoyed me seeing us take a shot clock violation and have multiple Hail Mary attempts from deep as the shot clock was expiring.

I was more annoyed that Winston would penetrate late in the clock and have an open 8 footer and instead kick it out for a rushed 3. I remember at least 3 possessions late that ended that way. Twice with Winston and once where Tillman passed up a shot and kicked it out.

 

[MSUMatt28]

MSU is #7 in the NET rankings this morning. For people who don?t know, the committee only uses the NET rankings now. All other polls/computers get ignored.

Yep, amazingly even with a lot of the ups and downs the numbers are in their favor. In addition to the strength of the Big Ten (computer-wise at least), the Seton Hall win is holding up really nicely and now UCLA is starting to look like a good win.

After this week I think now they're 7-8 in Q1, which isn't a great record there, but is top 10 in number of Q1 wins and tied for the most games in Q1. If they avoid a bad loss the rest of the way (win their remaining home game, and don't go out in the Big Ten quarterfinals) a 4 seed seems likely. If they were to win out or maybe win out all the way to the BTT finals (which would include a win at PSU), a 3 is possible.

 

[Spartanmack]

True, and I agree on milking the clock, but it annoyed me seeing us take a shot clock violation and have multiple Hail Mary attempts from deep as the shot clock was expiring.

yeah, it was a really good game but far from perfect. As gotime pointed out, there were a lot of dumb mistakes - the Hall foul, the shot clock violation, a bunch of unforced turnovers, etc that will cost us when we're not shooting or defending as well as we did last night.

I think most of those things are fixable and it's nice to see some of the players we've been complaining about since the conf schedule kicked off are starting to come on - except Brown, I still can't get the air ball with 15 seconds left on the shot clock.

Watching Watts lately has been fun and it's made me start to think next year's drop off for the team without Winston won't be as bad as I thought.

 

[MSUMatt28]

yeah, it was a really good game but far from perfect. As gotime pointed out, there were a lot of dumb mistakes - the Hall foul, the shot clock violation, a bunch of unforced turnovers, etc that will cost us when we're not shooting or defending as well as we did last night.

I think most of those things are fixable and it's nice to see some of the players we've been complaining about since the conf schedule kicked off are starting to come on - except Brown, I still can't get the air ball with 15 seconds left on the shot clock.

Watching Watts lately has been fun and it's made me start to think next year's drop off for the team without Winston won't be as bad as I thought.

Yeah the play of Watts is really what's elevated this team of late. I'm not sure he'll ever shoot a great percentage as he seems too streaky for that (and puts up a few too many questionable shots). But he can shoot, get to the rim and most of all defend (and seems equally capable at either guard spot). And he's not afraid to step up in critical moments.

His play has also taken a lot of offensive pressure off of Henry. Earlier in the year people were wanting him to put up 15 ppg and he doesn't seem to have that mentality. Now he can give them 10-12 ppg, look a lot more comfortable doing it, and continue to contribute in big ways defensively.

And Ahrens continuing to stay healthy and knock down shots is helping a lot now too.

 

[johnny2x2x]

Izzo also got his 20th 20 win season last night. And he’s never finished under .500 in conference.