" title="Spartans Weblog">Spartans Weblog

Michigan State knocks off Wichita State 65-57 in roughly a 63-possession game.  Unofficial Official box score (I’m tired of waiting for the official one to get posted).
It’s hard to know exactly how to feel about this result, partly because we don’t know how good (or bad) a team Wichita State is.  On the one hand, [...]

In case you haven’t seen Spartalytical’s note in the comments:
Just an FYI that conference tickets have gone on sale before the 12/1 date (tonight at midnight). Nothing is available any longer in the lower section for the Kansas game. I picked up a couple of other games as well and could still get in the [...]

Orlando-Related Update: Basketball Edition

Goran Suton is “doubtful” for Sunday afternoon’s game vs. Wichita State.
I’m very interested to see (or maybe just hear) how MSU deals with an opponent who plays at a slow pace and, based on their rebounding stats, appears to be pretty physical.  And, to boot, they utilize a zone press.  Good thing [...]

The Spartans run by the Cowboys 94-79 in a 76-possession game.  Official box score.
Well, MSU certainly got that up-tempo thing to work last night.  I listened to the game on the radio, and the play-by-play call by Will Tieman was pretty frantic.  Oklahoma State apparently insisted on pressing MSU, to not much success.  MSU turned it over 16 [...]

MSU falls hard to Maryland, 80-62, in roughly a 66-possession game.  Unofficial box score.
Angst-ridden bullets:

I once called Goran Suton “MSU’s most indispensable player.”  I’m disappointed to now have a data point that backs up that claim.
Raymar Morgan’s proclivity to pick up cheap fouls is apparently a chronic problem.  Which gives me a sense of enormous dread about [...]

Jamil Wilson is down to MSU, Oregon, and Texas.  Marquette is out of the picture.  Wilson says he didn’t like them “playing head games” with him.
Meanwhile, his head coach is hoping he’ll enjoy playing basketball more this season:
“But Jamil needs to just relax sometimes and not get too worked up over things. Sometimes people don’t [...]

Old Spice Classic preview is here.
Wednesday links:

Starting Spots, Deserved and Otherwise
Maryland is in the same position we are at the moment: lots of depth at guard, question marks up front.
Breaking Down the Old Spice Classic
The Kennel Report is high on Gonzaga’s chances this weekend.
Old Spice Classic features some of nation’s best players
The BruceBall Blog runs [...]