m1jjb00

January 28th, 2014 at 9:26 PM ^

Iowa with the well deserved loss.  You can argue that it was a foul at the end, though a.) even I wouldn't call that and b.) it's not like Iowa was going to make both of them.

Cold War

January 28th, 2014 at 9:27 PM ^

And that is why  an Izzo team is almost always contending for a B1G title. And I won't count them out for next year, as depleted as they will be.

bronxblue

January 28th, 2014 at 9:35 PM ^

Because the other team can't hit a FT to save themselves?

And btw, this "depleted" team still has a lottery pick and another 4-year starter playing at least reasonably well.  

MSU can win games by mucking it up and the refs letting them get away with it.  But next year is not going to be fun for them, no matter how "tough" they play.

Cold War

January 29th, 2014 at 6:10 AM ^

So they can't muck it up next year? The refs will change?

I hope like @#$% you're right, but they were missing two of their best four players and beat a top B1G team on the road.Next year, two will  have graduated and a strong possibility of a third  leaving. Izzo will also have the advantage of knowing they are  gone  from  day one and can develop and game plan accordingly. And there's always the possibility of players blossoming and stepping up.

You won't see an elite team, but you won't see a dreg either.

bronxblue

January 29th, 2014 at 8:35 AM ^

Nobody expects MSU to be a dreg, but the conference is stronger and look no further than Indiana to see what happens when you lose a great deal of talent.  They'll be competitive, but no amount of gameplanning will change the fact that your team lacks offensive playmakers and isn't as great defensively as it used to be.

pokoranger

January 28th, 2014 at 9:30 PM ^

Yeah, my bad on over-reacting.  I agree Bilas isn't bad, at least as far as I can remember.  Just got tired of this "MSU fighting through adversity" story repeated over and over.  

Has-Been

January 29th, 2014 at 11:43 AM ^

Marble got away with a travel, too, so let's cancel those out.  Iowa went to the freethrow line 43 times.  Let's make sure they go some more, cuz that aint enough.  Sure, Izzo could have been T'd.  But McCaffery's act is over the top by any standards.  Dude loses his mind over minor calls every game.  Iowa's loss was not because of refs.   They were close because of refs.

Papochronopolis

January 28th, 2014 at 9:31 PM ^

You have FG droughts of 4 and 5 min in the first half and a 13(!) minute one in the second half and you have 4 timeouts going into OT?  Where is the stop, draw up a play and win the game?  Totally felt that Iowa gave this one away

LordGrantham

January 28th, 2014 at 9:33 PM ^

So Appling, who according to Izzo "couldn't shoot" just three days ago because of his wrist, led MSU with 16 points including 3-6 from downtown, and twice slapped the floor.  Okay.

BVB

January 28th, 2014 at 9:33 PM ^

Can anyone explain to me why Izzo is allowed to be on the court as Iowa inbounds the ball? He was essentially a 6th defender on the last inbounds play.