Comments on: North Carolina Game Recap (12/3/08)

By: HC

HC — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 03:53:05 +0000

After re-reading your recap combined with analyzing the box score from this game, I feel a lot better about Monday night.

The MSU team playing in this tournament is not even close to our team in December. We we win? Yes we will. Why? Blind faith and a feeling that Lucas, Roe, Suton, Green and, x-factor will take care of business.

Go Green!

As a footnote, where is the weasel troll, “go blue” now? lol

By: Zeke

Zeke — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 00:31:21 +0000

No bowl = start to troll.

Michigan State football had nine wins and gets a chance for a tenth on New Year’s Day. Spartan fans should see that as progress and be encouraged by the direction of the program. This is not and should not expect to be an elite team like Ohio State yet- give it time and we’ll see what happens.

The MSU basketball team is a consistent tournament competitor with a media-friendly coach. As such, they get a lot of preseason attention and praise- some warranted, some not. They are a solid squad, but they need to get healthy and find some more team dynamic to justify a ranking. There is no shame in losing to the #1 basketball team after a tough stretch of games. Basketball season is just beginning- I know I’m excited to see how things develop.

Go Green!

By: Chris

Chris — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 20:38:16 +0000

Witless chum,
Northwestern may have been ranked in the coaches poll, but they were unranked in the AP. The coaches polls are a joke because they don’t have time to put thought into there rankings as they are preparing for the next game (as they should be). Anyway, the point was the big games have been duds. The UM game was nice but they were a pretty sad team this year.

By: SpartanDan

SpartanDan — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 17:37:32 +0000

Tman: Who would we get that’s even half the coach Izzo is, especially if we send the message that a coach with similar success could expect to be fired? Kentucky found that out recently, and they weren’t even as quick to pull the trigger on Tubby as you want to be here. Nebraska football had the same thing happen – they fired a coach for the ghastly sin of a 9-3 season (10-3 after the bowl, though he was canned before that), and they haven’t even reached those lofty heights since.

If Izzo got canned, within two years I guarantee you the only ones happy about it would be the program that hired him and everyone else in the Big Ten.

By: spartanproducer

spartanproducer — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 14:30:34 +0000

Tman, I don’t understand your quote “get a coach who demands mistake free play for forty minutes” do you think Izzo tolerates mistakes and laughs them off?? And what team plays mistake free for an entire game?? not even UNC (who is the best team I’ve seen in a long time) is mistake free. Should Izzo take out every guy who makes a mistake and put them on the bench for the rest of the game?? This afternoon when the BTN shows our 99 game at UNC, I’m pretty sure I’ll see that team also turned the ball over and missed shots.

Again you seem to think there’s this great vault of talented coaches that we can just reach into and get, who exactly would be better for our program right now than Izzo, what coach has unlimited access to “tall, fast, bruisers” (who isn’t named Williams or Coach K)

Izzo has his flaws, and he’d be the first to admit it, and not only is your request illogical, it would never happen, Izzo isn’t going anywhere so why waste your time worrying about. Focus on enjoying this team, their hopeful improvement and talk of what they can do to improve.

Beat The Bradleys!!

By: witless chum

witless chum — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 14:05:57 +0000

“Anyone else notice that since the Pitt win last March, State has been blown out in every big game against a ranked opponent in both basketball and football? Could we at least make these games competitive?”

I think you’re forgetting the Northwestern game. They were ranked at the time and are a pretty decent team. Dantonio and Narduzzi seem to really know how to defend a spread offense this last year.

By: TMadison25

TMadison25 — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 11:25:34 +0000

I find that the game was more about UNC than State. Sure everyone knows that they are the consensus No. 1 team, but they came out and dominated a solid team. The 2nd half featured numerous unforced turnovers, but I thought that a majority of the easy layups were created by perfect defense than bad point guard play. Ellington, Lawson, Hansborough and Green are NBA locks who played great. Their bench could finish in the top half of the ACC. Clearly, it’s not all UNC. Izzo has his work cut out for him, but I come away happy with seeing Raymar put together a good game against ridiculous talent and Allen finally regaining his stroke.

By: go blue

go blue — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 05:40:16 +0000

4 games in 7 days is an unacceptable excuse….the spartans got their doors BLOWN OFF i laughed from the get go, cause i knew all you little spartan bastards thought your team had a chance but it wasnt even close!! back to the 4 games in 7 days…UNC did basically the same thing msu did playing 5 games in 10 days but they played good teams, like Kentucky, Notre Dame, and Oregon. and they most definitely didnt get dealt with by maryland, i mean Michigan should have beaten Maryland and that was in College Park one of the toughest places to play. Izzo is not that good anymore, he tears all of his players down and tries to build them back up, problem is, is that this group of kids is totally opposite than the Mateen Cleaves and Morris Petersons, and Jason Richardsons. izzo does an excellent job of recruiting but how long will it last with year after year taking this creme of the crop recruiting class and embaress them 6-8 times a year? GO BLUE and yes im totally biased!!

By: Tman

Tman — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 04:45:59 +0000

I think “Mark in DC” , “Chris” and “Hubert” have hit the nail on the head on this game and this team. The theme I am seeing from the comments is that State is on a downward trend.

This is evident in three areas: (1)Being “outphysicalled” , (2)Being “blown out” by teams with more athletes and (3)State seeming undisciplined and unready for games.

If we all look back to when Izzo teams were in the final four and playing for conference championships, we notice that they were physical, played tough defense and got stronger as the game went on. It is almost like the current team (and for that matter the last two years) is the complete opposite in these categories.

I have the feeling that Izzo had an “out of body” experience one year and came back with the philosophy that the way to win an NCAA Championship is to have short, fast players with physic and all you have to do is have a track meet up and down a 90 foot hardwood floor and wear the other team out. Let’s look at each and every one of the previous NCAA champions and I challenge all of you to find one, just one, champion that was built in this fashion or had these characteristics. You won’t and you can’t.

I do think, however, that Izzo has accomplished what he set out to create……..placing MSU into the top tier of college basketball and receiving the respect they should demand…..before anyone takes this as a compliment, I actually mean it as an insult. By this I mean, MSU has been rated in the last three years in the top 10 to start the season. They then slowly, an in some years more rapidly, begin a downward spiral in the ratings to where they end up as a top 20 program. That is exactly what is happening this year.

They started at 5, lose to a sub par Maryland team and then play number 1 UNC as a 12. At least Izzo is getting us to a more realistic rating sooner……as there is no way MSU will even be in the top 20 next week after this loss.

I will close with what I have said since the middle of last season…….if MSU is truly committed to having a top tier bball progam, then it is time for Izzo to be gone and for us to find a coach who can recruit tall, fast brusiers and who demands his players play mistake free for forty minutes……

By: hubert

hubert — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 02:05:44 +0000

Half full or half empty? my glass is half empty on this one. I accept all the arguments — the team was tired, they ran into the best college team in history (call me crazy, but I suspect Williams will find a way to lose in March. he’s lost before with a handful of NBA players on his roster…). sometimes the shot just don’t fall, and so on — but I have an increasingly bad feeling about this team, based not only on last night, but on the games in florida as well.
1. the turnovers. still in the 20-25 a game range. How is that possible with two point guards on the court for half the game?
2. Player improvements. The inconsistency from game to game seems the same as last year. The hype in the preseason had it that the team had played together and worked extra hard all summer. I don’t see it.
3. the sense that the team is soft and easily outphysicalled (even though Burt and Hightower will always find a way to call 30% more fouls on MSU than on the other team). Against Maryland and again last night, the number of times MSU players got stripped of the ball, lost it in traffic or did not hold onto rebounds was really striking.
4. The absence of outside shooting. Unless I am wrong and the siophomores really have improved, this team has the weakest outside shooting of any Izzo team going back to the mid 1990s.

I hope I am wrong. Maybe the emergence of Roe and the return of Suton will make a big difference, though Suton’s status now looks very uncertain and I doubt he will make a contribution until late january at the earliest. But I went into the season thinking this could be a final 4 team. I now think this team will fight to finish third in the Big Ten ahead of Ohio State.