Shifting Attention to the Iowa State game

So, I've given up on football for the year. The reason? I'm and Michigan and Iowa State fan. From the Iowa State side I can take solice in the fact that we haven't rushed for negative yardage once this year and from the Michigan side, I can take solice in the fact that a bowl game will exist. Both offenses are awful, both coordinators probably should not be retained and yet, at least one of them will. Anyway, I've moved on to  basketball. I haven't been a very big basketball fan but this year neccessitates letting go of football early. So let's talk about basketball.

It's really a game that has a lot of interesting, small subplots. Johnny Orr is the guy who brought ISU basketball to a respectable level. He coached at Michigan prior to ISU, is a rockstar there and will be in attendance. Then you have Stauskas who came down to ISU and Michigan at the time of his commitment. He literally could not have gone wrong with either syatem. You then Mave Monte Morris and Derek Walton. Those two battled for Mr. Basketball and will certainly face each other. The teams will also play a similar style of basketball offensively with defense not being something either team has been very good at in recent years. 

So, as an ISU alum, I pay pretty close attention to what goes on there as well as what goes on at Michigan. What does ISU have? Well, they don't have Ejim. He's a 6'6 perimeter 4 who lead the league in rebounding last year and is, in general a hustle type player. He's not the athlete GR3 is but neither has consistently created their own offense. Dustin Hogue will replace him. Hogue is probably a slightly better athlete with the same rebounding ability but agin, is limited in his offensive skill. 

At the PG position, ISU will have Deandre Kane who is a graduate transfer from Marshall. He's a big kid at 6'4 and will use that size when able. He seems to be a pretty solid defender and I see him on CL for the mjority of the game. On Stauskas, I would guess will be Naz Long. Long hit 8 threes in the opening game. He was thought of as a defensive stopper but it seems he packs that combination of defense and three point shooting. Matt Thomas is the other guard who I would guess will defend GR3. If not he'll be on Stauskas until he gets killed. Interestingly, throughout all of his high school and AAU ball, he has never played man defense. At post they have Georges Niang. He's a pretty decent shooter with excellent feel for the game and finsihing. He certainly isn't great athlete but his feel is excellent. ISU will force Morgan or Horford to step out and defend him. 

I think UM fans will be surprised by the atmosphere. Hilton will be sold out and there is a lot of buzz around this game for the obvious matchup in itself but also a highly ranked visitor. This should be a fun game to watch with a bunch of threes going up and faced paced offenses on both ends. I just thought I would throw some of this info up on the board to take some time away from the depressing football chatter and look forward to something else.