MSU basketball at 6-1

[johnny2x2x]

Team played really well vs Illinois and Michigan. Didn't play great vs Minnesota, then got obliterated at Purdue. Played really well in spurts vs Wisconsin.

6-1 in conference and we've beaten most of the teams right behind us, but we've also played 5 of 7 at home. So I think 6-1 is a little bit of fools gold. Are we the best team in the conference? Maybe, Maryland and Rutgers are right there though too, and we needed to play really well the last 10 minutes of the game to beat Rutgers by 12 in December. I remember a fair number of MSU fans freaking out for only beating Rutgers by 12 then, well they look really good now.

We play @IU and @Minny next, this is where we find out how good we really are IMO, 1-1 in those 2 games and I think we are the class of the conference, 0-2 and I think it's a dog fight the rest of the way. 2-0 and I think we run away with the big Ten Title.

We're #9 inn the coaches and #11 in the AP Polls.

 

[Spartanmack]

I don?t think IU and Minny will tell us where we are definitively. The MD games will be our biggest test but they don?t happen until very late. The B1G is a little strange at this point with uofm and osu both affected by injuries and the suspension for osu. I?m not ready to read anything into the season based on the outcome of a couple games.

I did find it interesting that the AP has us behind Seton Hall with the same record considering we beat them at their place and beat RU who clown stomped the pirates. Not that the rankings mean all that much yet, just thought that was interesting.

 

[gotime909]

I don?t think IU and Minny will tell us where we are definitively. The MD games will be our biggest test but they don?t happen until very late. The B1G is a little strange at this point with uofm and osu both affected by injuries and the suspension for osu. I?m not ready to read anything into the season based on the outcome of a couple games.

I did find it interesting that the AP has us behind Setin Hall with the same record considering we beat them at their place and beat RU who clown stomped the pirates. Not that the rankings mean all that much yet, just thought that was interesting.

There was one dipshit looking for attention and didnt rank MSU at all

 

[Spartanmack]

There was one dipshit looking for attention and didnt rank MSU at all

Was that from an article about the poll or can you actually see how voters voted somewhere? If so, can you post a link here?

 

[Spartanmack]

Never mind, I found it. Apparently this douchebag has a thing for mid majors, dirty but still shitty power five teams and Liberty. I guess we should feel flattered to be among the likes of dook and unc in the teams he has bias against. clearly his bias manifests in his vote rendering him incompetent. The AP should take his vote away. He has 4 B1G teams and 2 teams we?ve beaten, one on the road in his top 25. Izzo must have snubbed him at a Final Four or something like that.

https://collegepolltracker.com/basketball/pollster/sam-blum/2019/week-11

 

[gotime909]

Never mind, I found it. Apparently this douchebag has a thing for mid majors, dirty but still shitty power five teams and Liberty. I guess we should feel flattered to be among the likes of dook and unc in the teams he has bias against. clearly his bias manifests in his vote rendering him incompetent. The AP should take his vote away. He has 4 B1G teams and 2 teams we?ve beaten, one on the road in his top 25. Izzo must have snubbed him at a Final Four or something like that.

https://collegepolltracker.com/basketball/pollster/sam-blum/2019/week-11

Hell that's last week. His new ranking has Seton Hall all the way up at 5 and still didn't rank us.

 

[Spartanmack]

Hell that's last week. His new ranking has Seton Hall all the way up at 5 and still didn't rank us.

Can?t bring myself to care too much about this but I am kinda curious to know how he would justify his rankings or at least not even having us in the top 25 but Liberty and E Tenn St in it.

 

[sggatecl]

Big Ten has 12 teams ranked in the KenPom top 40. The next closest is 5 for the Big East and SEC.

Yeah, but we won't put the conference leader in the top 25... Dude should absolutely lose his vote.

 

[MSUMatt28]

Good thing the AP poll means jack squat when it is time to put the seeds and brackets together. However along those lines I don't think the committee has been all that kind to us in recent years either. We lose in the BTT we end up dropping a line or two. We make a run or win it, and it has no impact at all (last year, 2016, 2015, and 2014 all come to mind where making a big run did nothing).


I agree that these 2 upcoming road games won't be the final word on how it'll be the rest of the way, but right now I am still a bit unconvinced with our 6-1 start. And I will really feel that way if we go down like we did against Purdue (who lost by 17 to Ill at home this week). A split would be great, and the team should not lack motivation against IU. I guess one good thing is the home games have been against upper division teams and they've been pretty decisive. Still, whether a team becomes a champion or not is largely decided by what they do on the road. Last year's team was unflappable and unbreakable mentally no matter the venue, other than that 3 game losing streak mid Big Ten season. This year's team hasn't shown that yet, and a lot of that is probably due to youth.

 

[Spartanmack]

I'm not sure how to feel about the 6-1 start. The B1G has been turned on it's head since the beginning of conference play. uofm and osu look like dumpster fires after cracking the top 5 and Rutgers just took Iowa to the wire in Iowa. I still feel like we have tougher games than the next two ahead of us - if we win both, I don't think it will tell us as much as if we lose 1 or both. I think the last 7 with 5 of them being road games will tell us way more about the team than the next two.

 

[SpartyNash]

We can’t throw the ball in the ocean but man IU defense is suffocating. Few open looks at all

 

[Spartan23MSU]

Now IU will play a weak team and lose. So predictable

 

[johnny2x2x]

Have to start out faster on the road, cannot get down 15 in 8 minutes, too big of a hole to climb back out of. Disappointing effort at the start, but then we outplayed them for the next 32 minutes. Just didn't finish with the clutch plays down the stretch. Team needs to be tougher mentally. Hopefully they grow from this. Minnesota on Sunday is a big game now, better match up for us physically.

 

[Spartanmack]

Got really busy at home and completely forgot about the game - 3rd time that’s happened this season - thankfully, two of them were losses unfortunately Purdue was not one of them.

 

[MSUMatt28]

Not a bad effort, especially the second half, but a loss is a loss. Too many games where the offense is MIA until it is too late. The team got up 3 late in the second half and had several changes to extend it but then had numerous bad offensive possessions, which then let Indiana hang around and retake the lead.

 

[johnny2x2x]

Not a bad effort, especially the second half, but a loss is a loss. Too many games where the offense is MIA until it is too late. The team got up 3 late in the second half and had several changes to extend it but then had numerous bad offensive possessions, which then let Indiana hang around and retake the lead.

Hopefully the team learned that on the road you aren't going to get any bounces to go your way, that's the nature of it, you just have to be that much better to win.

When they got up 51-48 they took Watts out and inserted Henry who promptly turned it over twice. Beyond that, there were just a hand full of plays that were the difference. Kithier blew a layup on the break, Tillman blew a layup on a drive, and then the bunny at the end to tie it. Hall got lost and didn't block out Brunk on the game winning basket.

Team has to be more clutch.

 

[SpartyNash]

Without seeing a shot chart it sure seems like we missed a fair amount of bunnies, Tillman especially even before the last follow attempt. Kithier was absolutely awful too.

 

[Spartanmack]

Kithier stinks. I didn’t see the game but I’ve seen a lot of games and don’t ever remember thinking “thank God, Kithier is on the floor”

Watching Henry play is often very frustrating but it feels very different than watching Kithier. Henry often looks lost out there but you can see he has potential. With Kithier, you know you’re probably witnessing his ceiling and it’s not good.

 

[SpartyNash]

Kithier stinks. I didn?t see the game but I?ve seen a lot of games and don?t ever remember thinking ?thank God, Kithier is on the floor?

Watching Henry play is often very frustrating but it feels very different than watching Kithier. Henry often looks lost out there but you can see he has potential. With Kithier, you know you?re probably witnessing his ceiling and it?s not good.

Henry?s bad seems really bad to me. To your point when he?s not playing well he looks lost as opposed to struggling to get going.

 

[Spartanmack]

Kithier back to back mistakes, one on each end of the floor. He sucks.