RIP to the couches in East Lansing
8 Likes
Iām projecting a 3 seed.
Bad news is I do not believe we get Detroit and we get 2 seed Duke in S16.
I still wouldnāt be upset with a 4 seed in Xavierās bracket. And truly believe Kansas is overrated.
3 Likes
I guess at this point Iām pulling for Duke to win ACCT so they get a 1 seed
4 Likes
As long as Michigan gets a 3. If they get bumped to a 4, then we want Duke to stay on the 2 line. Still a lot in limbo here.
2 Likes
I feel like weāre talking too much about second week opponents here! Iām just as interested in watching the potential 5 and 6 seeds as I am a team like Dukeā¦
ā¦But Iāll bite. Does Duke defend well enough to really scare anyone? Theyāre obviously Duke, so theyāre going to score. Iāll be honest that I just havenāt watched enough of them this year to have an opinion, just the highlights.
2 Likes
KenPom #10 defense
I thought all season long Duke could be an early upset pick because of defense/chemistry issues but then I watched Marvin Bagley put 33 and 17 on Notre Dame last night and Iām not really skeptical anymore. Theyāre also up to 10th defensively on kenpom somehow. Seems like the switch to all zone actually worked.
2 Likes
I do not think they are great on defense at all, which is why Coach K has went mostly to all zone (yes a Duke team playing zone). They are going to give up shots, but they have the length and size to make shots difficult. They have figured a few things out here late in the season that make them scary.
1 Like
Duke scares me because at some point weāre going to end up with Duncan on Bagley and even though Duncan has really gotten stronger on D that just isnāt fair. And on the other end Bagley on the wing in that zone covers a lot of ground.
Dukeās jump to #10 defense is impressive, and kudos to K for swallowing his pride and making the switch and kudos to players for buying in. But, the interesting part about the matchup is ~if~ Michigan can figure out the zone, I am entirely confident that K wont have a counter other than maybe switching to their awful man-to-man.
I also think Duke can be tricked into shooting 2s while we shoot 3s. In the halfcourt, they dont do a great job of getting open 3pt shooters. Allen and Trent Jr. are both good shooters, but I think our backcourt can limit their open looks. Duke thrives on offensive rebounds and transition, both defensive strengths of ours. Letting Bagely and Carter get their combined 40 is fine, as long as we are cleaning up the glass.
Seth is so high on Michigan
3 Likes
ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi: "Confident Michigan State will be ahead of Michigan on the seed list. So if a spot in Detroit is open (MSU) will get it."
ā Matt Charboneau (@mattcharboneau) March 8, 2018
Despite Michigan having a better resume in every way.
ā Jordan Strack (@JordanStrack) March 8, 2018
Better RPI. Better SOS. More top 25 wins. Beat them head to head by double digits twice. Won the conference tourney. Michigan has 6 top 50 wins. MSU has 2.
Other than that, it makes total sense. https://t.co/OIF24lI0t4
1 Like
Auburn getting trounced by Bama in the 2nd half. Possibly good for us as they are also on the 3 line.
3 Likes
My absolute dream scenario is that MSU gets stuck with a 3 seed and they end up catching Collin Sexton or Trae Young as an 11 seed in the second round. Imagine Cassius Winston guarding these guys
6 Likes
8 Likes
Hop on board chip! Iāve been saving seats for converts since January. I know Iām a " homer" in most eyes but Iāve been advocating for the program the last two years for a reason. Itās not just blind optimism. They showed me things at different points to lead me to believe they were legit contenders. Particularly this year Iāve felt very comfortable that we can run with anyone outside of a red hot duke. Besides free throws ( which I believe is a hundred percent mental at this point, particularly forvz!) I donāt see a weakness on this team at this point. Unlike past years we can maintain whenever we hit a scoring drought which is kind of common in coach bās system along with any team that shoots lots of treās.
Years past weād fall behind or blow the game when it hit a 4 or 5 minute mark drought. Now due to our amazing defense and rebounding we can fight through and keep the games close or hold the lead.
I truly believe our depth and balance is just too much for most teams to handle. You never know who will show and torch you for 15-20 on any given night. Combine that with moe, maar and Charles who are usually good for 10-20 each and our offense is pretty tough most nights.
If Duncanās play continues and he can end his up and down career like Irvin did then we might have something very special on our hands.
I see lots of three seed pairings with duke as our 2 and thatās a nightmare scenario particularly if they go zone. I havenāt watched them lately bit that would be horrible for us. Iām praying we get paired with auburn or some overhyped big 12 or sec team. This is the first time in years though where Iām really confident and not to scared about the pairings. I just hope the layoff didnāt hurt. You canāt name 5 teams playing better than us right now.
Doesnāt really seem like they would fall below Michigan though, does it?
I really canāt imagine Izzo would put Winston on Young or Sexton.
With the gaming of the RPI by the SEC this year, probably not. Although Crashing the Dance has us 1 spot behind them. We have the best win with @MSu, but they have @Tenn and 2 more Q1 wins.