Nebraska at MSU

[gotime909]

Couldn't - barely got the jumper off in time.

He hesitated. 5 seconds is plenty of time to go coast to coast. He wasn't guarded until he got to the top of the key.

 

[Sbee]

Lots of things to point to, shots not falling is one, Forbes had good looks and the shots looked good, didn't go down. Poor free throw shooting hurt and we didn't get the ball inside despite a big size advantage. There are a lot of other things you can point to bit it never should have been close.

The real problem I see is that we simply can't stop the dribble drive without fouling. In the Wisconsin game they called everything and we couldn't stop them. They weren't driving to score, they were driving to get to the line. In this game we didn't foul, great job! But we played matador defense all game.

 

[Spartanmack]

He hesitated. 5 seconds is plenty of time to go coast to coast. He wasn't guarded until he got to the top of the key.

Just watched the replay in my DVR he had 4.6 seconds when he got the rebound and he side-stepped a defender, which he had to do to avoid a charge and barely got the shot off. If he made that side step and continued to the basket, no way he gets the shot off in time. Maybe if Nebraska made both free throws and they had time to look at the defense but off the miss, that was as close as he could get it - he doesn't have Nairn speed.

Passing the ball to Mcquaid and wasting 12 seconds down four pts was where he really f'd up.

 

[Spartanmack]

Well last years team had 11 losses and still made the final four. I think the pieces are there, and Izzo is the magician come tournament time. It sucks to keep losing like this, but no way in hell am I writing these guys off. Harris is getting better and better, Valentine is close to being back to where he was before the injury, and there is no way in hell that Forbes will be in this slump for too long.

We got lucky that UVA played as poorly as they did in the second round last year - that win was more a case of whoever played less awful was going to win. I'd rather not count on having that kind of good fortune 2 years in a row. This team needs to figure this out now and start winning games.

After the Wisconsin game I said we could still make a run at the conference title but to a couple mediocre if not bad teams has me wondering wtf I was thinking.

 

[johnny2x2x]

Team is lost right now. They'll find their way. Really had some terrible offensive sets this game. And our on the ball defense is pathetic.

 

[Sbee]

Just watched the replay in my DVR he had 4.6 seconds when he got the rebound and he side-stepped a defender, which he had to do to avoid a charge and barely got the shot off. If he made that side step and continued to the basket, no way he gets the shot off in time. Maybe if Nebraska made both free throws and they had time to look at the defense but off the miss, that was as close as he could get it - he doesn't have Nairn speed.

Passing the ball to Mcquaid and wasting 12 seconds down four pts was where he really f'd up.

We didn't even deserve a chance to win it, we hit a slop shot and got lucky to even be in that position. We can't play not to foul on defense and win games.

 

[MSUMatt28]

As strange as it seems to say, it looks like they miss Nairn and his perimeter defense at least as much as they missed DV when he was out.

They couldn't match up with Shields yesterday. Too big for Denzel. I think putting a power forward on him to bother him more on those midrange shots might still have been a better way to go. Though he had some success in that matchup too.

Hitting a few more free throws wouldn't have hurt.

 

[Sbee]

As strange as it seems to say, it looks like they miss Nairn and his perimeter defense at least as much as they missed DV when he was out.

They couldn't match up with Shields yesterday. Too big for Denzel. I think putting a power forward on him to bother him more on those midrange shots might still have been a better way to go. Though he had some success in that matchup too.

Hitting a few more free throws wouldn't have hurt.

Tum does everything well other than shoot, he would have helped. this team doesn't have a true point guard active now, that really hurts. We should have gotten the ball inside more, we had a huge size advantage, Costello rolling the ankle didn't help. Lots of things to point to, I think we were really overcompensating for the way the Wisconsin game was called. we decided to play matador defense because we were scared of fouling. I'm not sure who in the world can guard Melo Trimble on saturday

 

[Spartanmack]

As strange as it seems to say, it looks like they miss Nairn and his perimeter defense at least as much as they missed DV when he was out.

They couldn't match up with Shields yesterday. Too big for Denzel. I think putting a power forward on him to bother him more on those midrange shots might still have been a better way to go. Though he had some success in that matchup too.

Hitting a few more free throws wouldn't have hurt.

I agree on Shields but he wasn't just too big, he was too everything - too fast, too athletic, too much of a leader and so on. When he wasn't shooting over DV, he was blowing right by him. And it wasn't just a one man show, they moved the ball well and exploited our defense, or lack of. He owned the floor yesterday.

The wife has really been pushing to cut the cord with cable and I've been resisting solely because of the BTN - unlike ESPN and HBO, you can't subscribe to it through Amazon Fire TV, Roku or Apple TV. Cable is not so expensive that it changes your lifestyle like buying too much house or car, but when I think about what I'm paying for, how much I'm paying for it and what I actually use and get out of it, it's by far the biggest waste of money in the house. And now I'm starting to wonder if I wouldn't be better off missing a game every now and then and subscribing to BTN if/when it becomes available on these a la carte services.

 

[Spartanmack]

We didn't even deserve a chance to win it, we hit a slop shot and got lucky to even be in that position. We can't play not to foul on defense and win games.

That's absolutely true - we didn't deserve a chance to win it, but we got one. And if you get a chance, you might as well make the best of it.

 

[Sbee]

That's absolutely true - we didn't deserve a chance to win it, but we got one. And if you get a chance, you might as well make the best of it.

I was talking about this one game, I think the basketball gods owe us a few of those wins based on garbage shots going in.

 

[MSUMatt28]

This team is still one of the better offensive teams Izzo has had. Good shooters, passers, post guys that can score. They seem to be less adaptable than previous teams that could win playing a number of styles. Those teams could get out and run, but then when things would inevitably grind to a halt during Big Ten play, then they'd grind out a series of ugly wins. This team hasn't learned how to grind things out yet, which is a big flaw in Big Ten play.

 

[lucke]

This team is still one of the better offensive teams Izzo has had. Good shooters, passers, post guys that can score. They seem to be less adaptable than previous teams that could win playing a number of styles. Those teams could get out and run, but then when things would inevitably grind to a halt during Big Ten play, then they'd grind out a series of ugly wins. This team hasn't learned how to grind things out yet, which is a big flaw in Big Ten play.

Agree with everything you said. This is also a big problem with officiating though. During the OOC, games are free flowing and fun to watch, all of a sudden games turn into ugly foul fests. The lack of consistency with officiating is a larger overall issue in my opinion. But that's a different story for a different day. By the time March comes around, officials will have lightened up again (like every year) and we can start to coast again.

 

[Spartanmack]

I was talking about this one game, I think the basketball gods owe us a few of those wins based on garbage shots going in.

I'm not sure what you mean by this - i was only talking about this game as well. I don't think the team deserves to lose future games based on their performance these in the last few. Each opening tip is a new chance to earn a win. I do think though, that if they continue to perform like this, they're going to lose a lot more games - and deserve the losses.

 

[Sbee]

I'm not sure what you mean by this - i was only talking about this game as well. I don't think the team deserves to lose future games based on their performance these in the last few. Each opening tip is a new chance to earn a win. I do think though, that if they continue to perform like this, they're going to lose a lot more games - and deserve the losses.

maybe that didn't come across clearly, I thought we were lucky to have a shot to win the game because Zel made a slop shot, we got lucky to even have the chance to win. Historically we've been the victim of a lot of slop shots, banked 3's and prayers being answered for the other team. I thought maybe we deserved a win we didn't deserve

 

[Spartanmack]

Agree with everything you said. This is also a big problem with officiating though. During the OOC, games are free flowing and fun to watch, all of a sudden games turn into ugly foul fests. The lack of consistency with officiating is a larger overall issue in my opinion. But that's a different story for a different day. By the time March comes around, officials will have lightened up again (like every year) and we can start to coast again.

You think so? I think officiating has changed and it's more of a trend than a cycle. Officiating ruined the Final Four from a spectator's perspective. I don't think it changed the outcome for our game, but it made it so painful to watch and I do think it both made the final painful to watch AND had an impact on Wisco's chance to win it. This is anecdotal and just my opinion but I think college sports officiating is horrible and I think the trend is to more whistles, not less. I hope you're right but unless the NCAA steps in and says "we got it wrong, let 'em play a little more" I don't necessarily see the tournament being called more loosely than what we're seeing now.

 

[Sbee]

You think so? I think officiating has changed and it's more of a trend than a cycle. Officiating ruined the Final Four from a spectator's perspective. I don't think it changed the outcome for our game, but it made it so painful to watch and I do think it both made the final painful to watch AND had an impact on Wisco's chance to win it. This is anecdotal and just my opinion but I think college sports officiating is horrible and I think the trend is to more whistles, not less. I hope you're right but unless the NCAA steps in and says "we got it wrong, let 'em play a little more" I don't necessarily see the tournament being called more loosely than what we're seeing now.

Izzo said after the game that basketball is now just driving and trying to get fouled, that's all teams do. maybe that's all teams do against us because we struggle to defend without fouling.

One area we really struggled was rim protection, DD isn't leaving his guy to help out on those drives and we really, really need him to. their PF was 0-2 from the floor, it's not like he's leaving AJ Hammons alone near the rim. that help side defense would have made a big difference in those drives.

telling stat, 6 assists on 29 baskets for nebraska, all they were doing was driving. if you can't keep your guy in front of you, you need that help side defender who was not there last night

 

[Spartanmack]

maybe that didn't come across clearly, I thought we were lucky to have a shot to win the game because Zel made a slop shot, we got lucky to even have the chance to win. Historically we've been the victim of a lot of slop shots, banked 3's and prayers being answered for the other team. I thought maybe we deserved a win we didn't deserve

I think I get what you're saying and if so, I agree. My only point is when you get a chance, whether you deserve it or not, take advantage of it. And I don't think Valentine had the time to get to the rim in that situation. Coming off the miss, he did just about as well as can be expected. If he had made the shot, I'd probably agree we didn't deserve the win, but I'd happily take it. I CANNOT believe we haven't beaten Nebraska in 3 years.

 

[MSUMatt28]

Izzo said after the game that basketball is now just driving and trying to get fouled, that's all teams do. maybe that's all teams do against us because we struggle to defend without fouling.

One area we really struggled was rim protection, DD isn't leaving his guy to help out on those drives and we really, really need him to. their PF was 0-2 from the floor, it's not like he's leaving AJ Hammons alone near the rim. that help side defense would have made a big difference in those drives.

telling stat, 6 assists on 29 baskets for nebraska, all they were doing was driving. if you can't keep your guy in front of you, you need that help side defender who was not there last night

One thing about us defensively too is how few steals we get (only 4 per game) and as a result don't turn the other team over very much. That's a bad combination when you are also fouling, since in theory teams that steal the ball a lot are more aggressive and also prone to foul more. Teams that don't force turnovers tend to play more of a sagging or containment style, except we're still not containing.

Part of that is that our perimeter guys overall aren't great defenders, other than Nairn. Harris has potential there in his ability to move his feet, but makes too many mental errors.

 

[Sbee]

I think I get what you're saying and if so, I agree. My only point is when you get a chance, whether you deserve it or not, take advantage of it. And I don't think Valentine had the time to get to the rim in that situation. Coming off the miss, he did just about as well as can be expected. If he had made the shot, I'd probably agree we didn't deserve the win, but I'd happily take it. I CANNOT believe we haven't beaten Nebraska in 3 years.

I don't fault the last 5 seconds, I blame the first 59:56 of the game. Getting up 5 and then letting them go on a 13-0 run is unacceptable. Nice job of denzel throwing the ball away on a behind the back pass after we grab the lead, which turns into possible points off the board and a run out the other way.