Conference Tourney Open Thread

Submitted by Trump on

I just want to talk about basketball... A lot of good games on today!

BursleysFinest

March 14th, 2015 at 3:46 PM ^

don't know how I feel about Trimble destroying MSU right now. I want Maryland to do well in the NCAA tourney but not the B1G tourney .. on the other hand, Sparty tears taste so good.

TheFugitive

March 14th, 2015 at 3:47 PM ^

cheer for Wisconsin tomorrow. The B1G is down in hoops this year, it would reflect poorly on the conference if a new team wins it in their first season

TheFugitive

March 14th, 2015 at 3:56 PM ^

I can't say that I'm "cheering" for them a Bo Ryan led team. There are certain instances where I would cheer for them like when they played Kentucky in the Final Four last year.
Let's put it this way, I'd rather have Wisconsin win this tournament than Staee or Maryland

SFBlue

March 14th, 2015 at 3:49 PM ^

Smotty is tearing it up. Money from 3 and he takes a big charge. Michigan could have used that the last two years...

Telling that he started on Michigan's B1G championshp team, and comes off the bench for the Terps. This is a deep squad.

SFBlue

March 15th, 2015 at 3:16 AM ^

Sure, yeah, we had exactly the type of year we can let a guy like him go, and just think, it sure is good to be a real prestigious school and shit, and just let guys who can ball a little bit go because we can replace them with the likes of any moron with a pulse, who can put on a Michigan uniform. Makes sense.  Go Blue. Real fucking sensible. And shit. 

snarling wolverine

March 15th, 2015 at 10:47 AM ^

You do realize that Smotrycz wouldn't still be in college basketball if he'd never transferred, right?  If he hadn't transferred, he would have graduated a year ago.  So no, he wouldn't have been any help to us this season.

Anyhow, if Smot had stayed, he'd have been GRIII's backup for two years.  Given that we won 59 games those two years, went to the national title game and won the B1G outright, I don't think we missed him that much.  He didn't seem very happy here even when he was starting.  

bacon1431

March 14th, 2015 at 4:14 PM ^

Trimble, wtf was that last possession. All you had to do was get a shot off and worst case scenario you go to half up 8. Best case is you make the shot or get an oboard and a bucket at the buzzer and momentum into half. Instead you did the worst thing you could do and get a shot clock violation. 4 seconds plenty of time for MSU to get a shot. Terps fortunate they didn't. 

LSAClassOf2000

March 14th, 2015 at 4:20 PM ^

Watching Maryland-MSU here when I am probably supposed to be socializing, but then this is statistically about as even a game as you get right now. Both teams are around 50-ish percent for eFG%, similar rebounding, A/T ratios, etc...

Momentum is funny, as someone mentioned. Honestly thought Maryland might turn a shower into a flood, but alas it did not materialize. 

BursleysFinest

March 14th, 2015 at 4:48 PM ^

Well this sucks.  Valentine hits a big shot to put MSU up 38-36, about 12 minutes left.  MSU stepped up the defense (and the intensity in general), and the Turtles haven't matched it.

Big Blaze

March 14th, 2015 at 4:49 PM ^

Hits his first bucket and unleashes his gap toothed grin :=)



Hope Trimble and Wells can make a push...but I doubt it.



Watching them get waxed by Wisconsin would be fun :)

SDCran

March 14th, 2015 at 5:34 PM ^

MSU continues to overachieve. This group has no business being a top 2-3 team in the B1G even as down as the conference has been. But there they are.

SDCran

March 14th, 2015 at 6:29 PM ^

Walking into this season, I thought they would likely miss the tournament this year. Having to count on Trice and Valentine to lead the team with absolutely nobody else that can step up, wasn't looking like a recipe for success. I thought they would look a lot like Nebraska did, with a decent defense and completely erratic offense.



IMHO, their success has come from 2 factors. 1) Having a solid 2 guard show up out of nowhere was a pretty lucky break. And 2) having Trice make the sophomore leap 2 years late. Their backcourt was looking like a disaster, and has turned into a strength.

Jimmyisgod

March 14th, 2015 at 5:42 PM ^

Can I say that I absolutely hate Izzo, but I respect the hell out of him.

They have no more talent than we do and here they are peaking in March...again.

Pinky

March 14th, 2015 at 6:32 PM ^

Instead of making some an arbitrary cut off at "top 60 player," why don't you actually look at their roster?  

MSU is starting two seniors, two juniors, and four 4-stars. We're starting two freshman, a sophomore, and one 4-star.  We have 5(!) freshman in our 8-man rotation. That is a tremendous advantage for MSU in both ranking and experience, so basically, you could not be more wrong.

On another note, I have no idea how any Michigan fan could respsect Izzo.  He is childish, whiny, egotistical, insulting, and petty - everything John Beilein is not.

bronxblue

March 14th, 2015 at 7:24 PM ^

They are also all upperclassmen.  Izzo is a fine coach, but put this team in last year's conference and they are in deep trouble.  They kinda lucked out that a down year for them meant they didn't have to deal with any injuries and the rest of the conference lost so much talent that they could hang around and be the 3rd/4th-best team.

alum96

March 14th, 2015 at 11:17 PM ^

It helps when your entire starting lineup is upperclassmen.  MSU is the only "top bball" school that sends almost no one to the NBA early - Harris was their first in a decade.  Izzo does not need to rebuild from scratch every year like UK Kansas or Duke.  Hell or like we have had to of late.

Dawson was a McDonald's All American who is a frigging 22 year old senior.

Valentine is a JR ranked in the same area as Nik S (both around 80)

Trice was a revelation - he is doing a lot of the things Spike is doing, I give kudos for developing him.

Costello is a Mr. Michigan who is a JR.

Schilling is a top 100 ranked recruit who is a SO.

They imported a JR sharpshooter in Forbes - he is limited but he can shoot the damn ball.

They have a top 100ish PG freshman.

There is a 7 man rotation i.e. what we have been playing for 1+ month.  Throw in a freshman like Clark as your 8th and whomever else for mop up minutes at 9th in the rotation.

So 4 of those first 5 guys are just like anything UM has and the first 4 are upperclassmen.  Of which we have Max and Spike.  It helps a lot to have guys who have seen it and done it.  Especially in a sport where the most talented guys constantly leave in 1-2 years.  See Wisconsin the past 2 years.  They have only suffered one key injury all  year and it was to a freshman (Bess).  Other than their PG they dont rely on freshman for anything - and he wasnt needed until about a month ago.   Contrast that to us who throws out a freshman or two every year as a starter out of need.  And which had Caris as the sole starter upperclassmen to begin this year.

Maryland and MSU are not that dissimilar other than Melo is a star freshman - both have a lot of older guys. 

 

Double-D

March 14th, 2015 at 6:33 PM ^

of having Senior leadership on your team.  Izzo has been very fortunate over the years to have some 4 year players elevate their games as Seniors.

Victor B

March 15th, 2015 at 12:22 AM ^

Let's be real people. This MSU team was a dumpster fire this year and scary thing is, this will prob be their worst team in the forseeable future. They are getting some major upgrades in the next couple years. Besides Dawson and Valentine they have a bunch of nobody recruits.

Jimmyisgod

March 15th, 2015 at 10:39 AM ^

Yeah, don't like Izzo's antics, but I give credit where it is due. They went from having 3 McD's AAs and another 5 star to having 1, they lost 5 players off last year's squad, and all of that was showing much of this season. Now all the sudden they're playing their best ball. And it's not a fluke season, this happens with Izzo coached teams every March.
You don't make the tourney 18 years in a row by accident.

snarling wolverine

March 15th, 2015 at 11:04 AM ^

A team that has four (!) upperclassmen starters hardly qualifies as a "dumpster fire" in my book.

Don't fall for Izzo's whining.  To hear him complain, you'd think he starts nothing but walk-ons and that MSU was the only program in the country to ever lose a player early or to injury.  He repeats this line so much that it seems to have an effect - as this thread shows, even some Michigan fans have been duped by it.

The truth is, most of MSU's guys were highly-regarded recruits.  And they've been very lucky when it comes to early departures and injuries over his tenure.  They've lost one guy early in the last 10 years, and they always seem to have a healthy roster by the end of the season.  I can't recall the last time they lost a starter to a season-ending injury.  It's happened to us two years running.

Victor B

March 15th, 2015 at 8:19 PM ^

Losing Kalin Lucas during the tournament cost them a sure national title in 2010 when they lost to Butler on a controversial non call in the final four. Branden Dawson blew out his knee in his freshman or sophomore year, Adrean Payne was oft injured his first couple years. Russel Byrd a highly touted recruit never panned out cause of foot injuries. That's just off the top of my head.