What, No Spartanfreude Thread???

Submitted by FauxMo on

Sparty loses on a 3 pointer with 1 second left in a game that may (MAY) have ended Izzo's tourney streak, and no thread? You people have gone soft....

To broaden the topic, does MSU make the dance or not this year? Thoughts?? 

bronxblue

March 4th, 2017 at 6:12 PM ^

I'd love to think they'd sweat it, but unless there are a ton of upsets in conference tourneys there are 7-8 teams between them and the wrong side of the bubble, and to their credit they've lost the last 2 in the last couple of seconds. They are a perfectly fine team this year, and the committee will probably see that.

Blueblood2991

March 4th, 2017 at 4:34 PM ^

Not to thread jack, but in the spirit of SPARTY NO, McDowell is making waves at the combine. From Jon Ledyard:

"Malik McDowell going off script, saying coaches eventually conformed to his style bc they couldnt change/improve him, says he cld play safety"

Biggest interview of your life, and you tell them you are basically uncoachable. LOL Dantonio's locker room was a bigger mess than we thought.

TrueBlue2003

March 4th, 2017 at 4:57 PM ^

but probably 99 percent and change.  There would have to be chaos in the conference tourneys with a bunch of bid stealers for MSU not to make it.  They played a very difficult schedule and won...a few of them.  That will almost always be enough for the committee.  And I don't mind the reward for playing tough schedules if it incentivizes more teams to play good non-conference games.

That they were in position to win at Maryland is actually better than they were expected to do, so this outcome gets a shrug from me.

TrueBlue2003

March 4th, 2017 at 6:36 PM ^

If needing to win more than one game against a tourney team in the non-conference was necessary to get into the field, they'd be out.  But it's not.  Look at the other bubble teams if you want to see some more suspect resumes. I pointed out that they only won a few of the tough games they played, but that's enough when 68 teams get in.

They beat WSU, Minn (twice), NW, Michigan, and Wisconsin.  Their RPI is good enough and their SOS is what the committee fawns over.  They'll be in the tournament barring something crazy.

I would LOVE to be wrong, of course.

Don

March 4th, 2017 at 7:54 PM ^

It gets you in if you've been to the Final 4 as many times—seven—as Izzo has. While it's not impossible that MSU doesn't get in, the likelihood that a guy who's already in the Naismith doesn't get his team in is so low that schadenfreude at this point is jizzing in your shorts.

trueblueintexas

March 4th, 2017 at 5:19 PM ^

Is Iowa in if they beat PSU tomorrow? Same overall and conference record as MSU. They split there head to head match ups with MSU. They have an OOC win against Iowa State and conference wins against Purdue, Wisconsin and Maryland.

TrueBlue2003

March 4th, 2017 at 9:48 PM ^

Their conf and overall records would be the same, like you said.  You're incorrect that they split.  They only played once and MSU won by 11.  MSU played a much more difficult schedule so their same number of losses were to better teams.  Iowa's worst loss (Nebraska Omaha) is worse than MSU's loss to Northeastern.  Iowa lost to Memphis on a neutral floor, MSU won a comparable game against St. John's. MSU has two other top 100 RPI wins in non-conference.

That's why MSU is a top 50 RPI and Iowa will still be in the 70s.  And with these two teams, RPI is pretty much spot on.  MSU is 51 in kenpom; Iowa is 68th.

Iowa could make up ground in the BTT but even if they win tomorrow, they'll still be way behind.  Their resumes aren't close.  That's why MSU is in and Iowa has a lot of work left to do.

trueblueintexas

March 4th, 2017 at 10:07 PM ^

I'm not a big fan of the "they lost the games but played good teams" argument. If you lose 14-15 games in a season, I just don't think you are that great of a team even if you lost to all of the top 15 teams. At that point I think the committee should give mid major teams who won 23-24 games a chance, even if the SoS is not as good.

HireWayne

March 4th, 2017 at 4:34 PM ^

Their AD is the head of the selection committee.  Have your seen their easy tournament draws in the last 4 years since he's been on the committee (Virignia the 1 and 2 seed in their pod back to back years)? 

They would get in the tourney with a losing overall record (No sarcasm).