OT: Miles Bridges declares for NBA Draft
Per official MSU basketball Twitter:
A true #SpartanDawg through and through.
— Spartan Basketball (@MSU_Basketball) March 28, 2018
Thank you for everything, @MilesBridges01!#GoGreen pic.twitter.com/O7GgqNx4ox
March 28th, 2018 at 10:29 AM ^
I'm surprised he's passing up the opportunity to come back and lose to Michigan three times next year.
Must already have plenty of memories of Sweet Sixteens and Final Fours at MSU.
Well he's pretty certain he's getting drafted anyways. He doesn't get past the 2nd round, and that's all there is in the NBA Draft
March 28th, 2018 at 10:31 AM ^
of luck to the guy. He played hard, seemed like a good kid, just didn't go to a program that maximized his ability.
March 28th, 2018 at 10:36 AM ^
There are plenty of hateable Spartans out there, but I can respect Miles Bridges. Best wishes to him in the NBA, and hopefully he finds a good fit and can display his talents.
March 28th, 2018 at 10:42 AM ^
March 28th, 2018 at 10:47 AM ^
I guess. But aside from going to State, I never saw anything objectionable from Bridges. He was physical but not dirty. Never saw him really talk excessively. He did look generally angry on the Court instead of happy but that applies to really all players under Izzo. It just does not look like a lot of fun.
March 28th, 2018 at 10:54 AM ^
Miles Bridges didn't die. He's going to the NBA. We don't have to throw out all of the "he was a good man" comments.
I'm still laughing about his comment about being embarassed for losing to a team that doesn't focus on toughness. He better start practicing his tough face in the mirror if he wants to be a 1st round pick. That's the first thing they want to see in the combine interview.
March 28th, 2018 at 10:59 AM ^
Seriously? What an odd comment.
March 28th, 2018 at 11:11 AM ^
Why is it odd? He played for a rival and seemed to have an attitude of "I just need to show up and win" versus Michigan so I don't understand the need to fawn over him.
His postgame comments after the Breslin game were laughable and I think the above poster is correct (if slightly t-i-c about it) because for all his talk about toughness he sure loved to float around the perimeter. Tip jams do not equal toughness.
March 28th, 2018 at 11:15 AM ^
guess because I don't feel the need to hate on college kids? Maybe? When somebody is embarking on a new endeavor, I usually say good luck to them. So that is what I posted. Not that he is going to read it, just habit I suppose. I guess I should have said "you suck, fake tough guy who took too many perimeter shots."
March 28th, 2018 at 11:16 AM ^
My response was a bit over the top.
I agreed with you though. To be 245 pounds, he spent a lot of time on the perimeter. I can't speak to whether it's a toughness issue or an unwillingness to get in the paint, but I was very enthusiastic about a win, once I realized he was more interested in taking jumpers.
Don't worry about it, man. A lot of people on this blog have an older brother complex.
March 28th, 2018 at 11:37 AM ^
Got the vibe that he just needed to "show up and win". He played his ass off in those games, and you could tell.
I got nothing bad to say about Bridges. You have to dig really deep to find things to not like about him.
No one is fawning over him. Just showing respects to a damn good college ball player. That's all. Don't make it so deep.
March 28th, 2018 at 11:54 AM ^
I admitted my response was a bit over the top in the follow-up reply to ijohnb and maybe "show up and win" was the wrong way of putting it. To me he had that smarmy Izzo-ness about him and I'm not sad that he's leaving MSU on a three-game losing streak to Michigan.
March 28th, 2018 at 12:09 PM ^
I think this is a rare Internet discussion: everyone's right. Bridges has always seemed like a pretty good dude. And this MSU team, of which he was definitely the face, absolutely bought into their own hype and never really fought for a win, unless I guess you count Northwestern.
Also, even if he were Mother Teresa reincarnate, I wouldn't feel sad about him leaving on a three-game losing streak to Michigan.
March 28th, 2018 at 12:48 PM ^
Who let the voice of reason out again?!
March 28th, 2018 at 12:10 PM ^
I'm not sad either.
But I can admit he's a heck of a player and I never thought he took the rivalry for granted or anything like that.
March 28th, 2018 at 12:19 PM ^
March 28th, 2018 at 12:48 PM ^
I'd be willing to bet that his comment about toughness reflected what was drilled into him and his teammates. They are taught a physical style of play and have a coach constantly yelling at them to make them tough. Michigan is used as an example of a team that isn't and they're expected to beat us for that reason.
March 28th, 2018 at 12:09 PM ^
from Izzo though. These kids are brainwashed into thinking physical. "tough" basketball is what wins games. You know, doing rebounding drills that are more like a game of tackle 21 than basketball because that's how Izzo made a name for himself 20 years ago when the Bad Boys model was very much a thing and basketball was a different game.
I don't really blame the players for their ignorance. Izzo has been feeding them a pile of stale BS since he started recruiting them and they parrot the talking points. He'll get drafted and within the first week a coach will tell him "those 16-19 foot jumpers are terrible shots, they are open because the defense wants you to shoot them, and you will not shoot those shots again, unless you have to at the end of the shot clock" and he'll start to get it. Could be a really good player with the right coaching.
March 28th, 2018 at 12:22 PM ^
March 28th, 2018 at 11:10 AM ^
Izzo turned Bridges into a bigger version of Lavell Blanchard.
March 28th, 2018 at 11:13 AM ^
Here:
"We just gotta get tougher. It’s pretty simple," Bridges said to Murphy. "Teams are out-toughing us. ...That’s tough, especially to a school like that, that don’t even focus on [being tough]."
Bridges would also go on to admit his embarrassment at the fact the Spartans lost to the Wolverines at home.
"We're the one that's supposed to be out-toughing people," Bridges said. "To be out-toughed at home to our rival school is embarrassing."
March 28th, 2018 at 11:38 AM ^
What's the problem here? He admitted they need to be tougher.
You are reaching.
March 28th, 2018 at 11:42 AM ^
think the part that rankles is the "to a school like that, that doesn't even focus on being tough." Weird thing is, at the time, I don't think that statement was too off-base. I would not have described Michigan as a tough team at the time. Only two months later, but I certainly would now.
March 28th, 2018 at 11:49 AM ^
For the better part of Beilein's tenure, toughness/defense/rebounding has never been a talking point.
This year has been a massive exception to the rule. I hope it continues to be important.
March 28th, 2018 at 11:59 AM ^
over perceived "toughness". I'm not Scott Frost's mom after all.
March 28th, 2018 at 12:34 PM ^
March 28th, 2018 at 11:49 AM ^
He's not reaching; it's right there: Sparty's emphasis on "toughness" comes off as childish.
March 28th, 2018 at 12:20 PM ^
being "tough" doesn't necessarily win basketball games. Sure you need to be mentally "tough" or a better word for it would be focused. You need to play smart (don't take all those bad shots Miles).
But emphasizing "toughness" as the differentiating competitive advantage is dumb on their part. I think they also too easily mistake physical toughness with the much important mental toughness so it's poor nomenclature on the coaches part to talk so much about that.
It's also a good indicator that just because you talk about "toughness" all the time like Sparty does, doesn't mean you focus on it more than other teams as Bridges is implying. Say less, do more.
March 28th, 2018 at 12:11 PM ^
What's the problem here? He admitted they need to be tougher.
You don't think the "school that doesn't focus on being tough" comment is pretty asinine? Most backhanded compliment ever.
Sounded to me like he was dismayed that a "finesse" team beat his "tough" team and that maybe that meant his tough team wasn't tough enough. Makes sense if it's been drilled into his head by Izzo that toughness is what wins games. They've looked at 3-point shooting, fancy offense Michigan as a pretty team, not a tough team.
is that the same tough team that jacked up 40 threes against syracuse?
Every time I hear a player from Team A talk about how Team B "isn't as tough" as his, I always want to ask:
Maybe Team B isn't as tough as yours - but you still lost to them.
So what does that make you?
March 28th, 2018 at 11:28 AM ^
Kind of my thoughts exactly. He never seemed like a bad dude, but he is the embodiment of a recent Izzo team: athletic marvel that plays an old style of basketball and thinks toughness is yelling a lot and flexing after getting an open dunk. Has no idea what true toughness is, as do none of Izzo's recent teams as far as I can remember.
....and floor slapping....
That "toughness" badge all the Sparties want to wear is so much just them believing their own bullshit. As if they just have to put on the jersey and everyone is going to tell them how tough they are. I've heard that one of the main knocks the scouts have on Bridges is that he's too soft. He'd better de-program himself from Sparty delusion and figure it out because bullshit doesn't fly with grown-ass men in the NBA.
March 28th, 2018 at 11:34 AM ^
So, basically, he didn't fit Izzo's team?
March 28th, 2018 at 11:49 AM ^
The guy trashed us publicly, said we weren't tough and called it an embarrassment to lose to us.
We got payback (and then some) against him, so I'm not that worked up about him anymore, but I'm not sure where all the "he's such a nice guy" comments are coming from.
Because it looks terrible the way you quoted it.
He said you shouldn't be getting out-toughed by a rival at home, against a team that isn't known for toughness. For the better part of a decade, Michigan hasn't been tough. It's just now that they are finally doing so.
"They just wanted it more than we did," Bridges said. "They played harder and played tougher."
YOU HORRIBLE MAN!
That wasn't the only time he talked shit about us. He had some choice things to say a year ago as well.
I'm not saying he's a "horrible man" either, just not someone particularly likeable. (I would nominate Gary Harris as a Spartan player that I thought seemed like a good guy.)