Semi OT: In Basketball, Oakland gave MSU fits

Submitted by ChalmersE on

67-66.  Perhaps that last game before the B10 season isn't a gimme after all.

mgoblue52

December 11th, 2010 at 5:17 PM ^

Ehh, certainly we've exceeded expectations and they haven't lived up to it, but I wouldn't go as far to say we're better.

 

I'm a little concerned about Oakland next week because they were beating Illinois into the second half last week as well...

Michigan4Life

December 11th, 2010 at 7:31 PM ^

They started the game with a women's ball for the first 7 minutes of the game until one of the Oakland player started complaining about the ball being too light.  When they found out about it, they switched it back to the men's ball and Illini proceed to get hot.  Maybe Oakland player should've shut up about it since they were winning.  lol

 

It's hard to gain anything from the game in which they used a women's ball.

Waters Demos

December 11th, 2010 at 5:05 PM ^

Benson and Wright did a lot of damage.  Benson, in particular, will punish front line players.  Watching the game, I wonder how a guy like that slips by the radars of bigger programs. 

If OU had made more free throws, they probably would have taken us down.

NateVolk

December 11th, 2010 at 5:10 PM ^

State has some work to do but it seems like you can say that about them every year in December.  

Morgan was a really key guy for them and they don't have a suitable replacement on that roster. At least not any that appear ready to emerge.

MaizeAndBlueWahoo

December 11th, 2010 at 6:08 PM ^

Unfortunately I think State will probably just do what they do every year: have a subpar November and December and then run roughshod through the Big Ten tourney and do the zombie thing in March Madness where they just....won't.....die.

Desmonlon Edwoodson

December 11th, 2010 at 6:12 PM ^

These guys are no joke.  I dont think they're top 25 caliber, but obviously MSU is not at this point either.  I expect Oakland to be a tough test in the near future, and Izzo to mold MSU into a middle of the road big ten team by the time February rolls around.  Neither game is going to be easy.

AllInForRichRod

December 11th, 2010 at 9:06 PM ^

Hopefully Fizzo can whip that team into shape so they can try to compete against Michigan by the end of the year. Maybe he'll get them to be a middle of the road Big Ten team. I doubt he'll do anything but struggle late in the year as usual though. They've barely got any talent on that team. Novak's three point barrage is going to annihiliate Little Brother!

Tater

December 11th, 2010 at 10:00 PM ^

I'm "chalking up" MSU's lazy play as their reaction to realizing that Izzo will leave them for a good NBA job.  It's hard to sell "Spartan for Life" when you were one LBJ decision away from jumping to Cleveland. 

MSU is now in the area athletes refer to as, "I thought I was giving 100 percent but I really wasn't."  Izzo used to be really good at developing that area between an athlete thinking he is giving 100 percent and really giving 100 percent.  I think he will have a harder time now.  When Izzo returned to MSU, I said they will be a 5/12 upset victim in the tournament.  I have seen nothing to make me change my mind.

bronxblue

December 11th, 2010 at 6:22 PM ^

While I agree with the general sentiment that people shouldn't read much into this game, this MSU team reminds me of those Maurice Ager-Shannon Brown-Paul Davis teams that had a ton of hype but struggled to live up to them.  They'll make the tournament, but they are definitely a step slow so far this season. 

TokenMChick

December 11th, 2010 at 7:02 PM ^

Random Michigan FunFact: OU's coach has strong connections to Michigan - his brother played football for Michigan under Bo and his father played on the 1947 National Championship team.

Old School Wolverine

December 11th, 2010 at 8:47 PM ^

i doubt it.... however my observations...

Horford is gonna be a STAR.

Morris has proved me wrong, and can really play. Last year I didn't like him, at all.  Now I think he is gonna be great.

Morgan is very very fundamentally sound, and is gonna save the middle for the time being.

Novak is gritty and tough but should not be starting... we are missing one big man.  Novak should be a selective bench player that comes in to give the spark now and again.

The program is on the rise, starting with Morris and Horford.

Old School Wolverine

December 11th, 2010 at 8:47 PM ^

i doubt it.... however my observations...

Horford is gonna be a STAR.

Morris has proved me wrong, and can really play. Last year I didn't like him, at all.  Now I think he is gonna be great.

Morgan is very very fundamentally sound, and is gonna save the middle for the time being.

Novak is gritty and tough but should not be starting... we are missing one big man.  Novak should be a selective bench player that comes in to give the spark now and again.

Akunne of what little I saw of him, should be riding the pine.

The program is on the rise, starting with Morris and Horford.

2014

December 11th, 2010 at 11:59 PM ^

We have a 73% chance of beating Oakland and Oakland is the #86 team in the country. UTEP is #80, so that's the level of talent we're roughly looking at. FWIW, Utah is #116. Clemson is #46...oh yeah, we're #67. I'd put us in the 40's right now, but I guess we'll just have to wait until the Big Ten season kicks off to find out.

Man, when you look at UTEP's season so far, that really sticks out as a bad loss.

Overall we're projected to finish 16-15 which I would have taken before the season but would  be a little bummed at that now. Although, it feels about right doesn't it given the youth...



http://kenpom.com/team.php?team=Michigan

dahblue

December 12th, 2010 at 12:12 AM ^

I'd take that for sure, especially considering what we all expected going into the season.  Non-conference schedules always allow for the building of W's...so I'm not getting too confident for the BigTen, but better to be pleasantly surprised than disappointed.

jmblue

December 12th, 2010 at 4:47 PM ^

The UTEP game took place in a tough set of circumstances for us: playing a game less than 24 hours after a hard-fought loss to Syracuse, against one of the most experienced teams in the country.  Their guys knew how to play on tired legs.  We didn't. 

According to RealtimeRPI, we're #70 right now:

http://realtimerpi.com/rpi_Men.html

UTEP is #193 in their ranking.  Not sure why there'd be such a huge discrepancy with the KenPom rankings.

RealtimeRPI's GAMER projection has us going 18-13 and 8-10 in conference (it says 17-13, but they don't count the Concordia game).