Minnesota is a 6.5 favorite over Michigan State tonight. I think I like Minnesota at home here. It’d be a huge confidence booster for the Gophers and potentially another blow to what looks like could become a lost season for Sparty.
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Man, Nick Ward is a straight up cheater in all facets. Perfect player for sociopath Izzo to mentor.
Ward is gonna be a problem
He will destroy Wagner.
Wagner will probably have a good game offensively against him too…
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He has some very good low post skills but he has elite level flops and cheats.
Tom Izzo with 6.5 points against Richard Pitino is about the easiest money you can make.
Could end up being a very important win for MSU
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They’re so lucky Pitino doesn’t know how to coach offense. That second half was so brutal, and didn’t get a single good look in the clutch.
Can’t see that happening with the overall quality of the league and our returning experience. Barring a major injury.
If it somehow does, the heat turns up big time on JB.
MSU gets so lucky. All I wanted for Christmas was no Sparty bowl game and no NCAA tourney. Was that too much to ask?
Let’s be fair: FTAs were 45-22 in Minnesota’s favor. State’s best player missed the game. State didn’t get lucky.
Minnesota showed a lot, though. They’ve obviously come a long, long way from where they were last season. What we continue to see is that there are a lot more wild cards this season than last—Minnesota is viable, Northwestern might be tournament-caliber, MSU could be much tougher later than they are now, etc. Very few games look like an automatic win or loss.
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That’s not really a luck/non luck thing. Minnesota gets to the free throw line a lot, Michigan State doesn’t.
But silly to say that MSU got lucky… More that Izzo is just going to beat Richard Pitino in most of those situations.
Agree—I just meant that one can’t say State benefited from the whistle.
Also, in the aggregate, it’s true that FTAs aren’t luck. But in any one game, a team can benefit from or be hurt by inscrutable officiating. An example of that is the second half of the Wisconsin-Duke title game.
I think sometimes we take statistical concepts that absolutely apply over the long haul and assume that they also must in short-term contexts, which isn’t necessarily the case. Just because Minnesota goes to the hoop a lot doesn’t mean they’ll get the expected number of calls every single night.
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Oh gosh…I didn’t say state benefited from the whistle or got lucky. I’m simply saying they ESCAPED with a win in a game that they were looking to lose. Don’t read so much into it…geesh.
Minnesota was AHEAD by 13 points on their home court. And blew it. I get that they went to the line a lot. I get that Bridges was out. I’m saying, MSU keeps getting lucky and I simply want to see them lose every single game that they play.
If you watched the game, Minny deserved the FT’s they got, and so did MSU. MSU didnt even try attacking the basket until the second half. Ward maybe could’ve gotten a few more calls, but him at the charity stripe probably would’ve been to Minny’s benefit.
MSU “got lucky” that over the course of 40 minutes, Pitino couldn’t think of an offensive set other than “Coffey drive left for a tough basket.” But that’s really just a difference in coaching skill
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1 pt win over FL Gulf Coast…with help from the clock guy
3 pt game at half with St Johns (losing record)
5 pt win vs Wichita St (nice win)
4 pt win over Oral Roberts who are 4-10
8 pt win over Tennessee Tech who are 4-11
2 pt lead over Oakland at half
1 pt win over Minnesota in OT (down 13)
I just want Izzo to miss the tourney. That’s all I’m asking. Those above are 7 of their 9 wins. Makes me sick…just want them to lose!
Did you watch the game?
I don’t know, I kind of like it when Michigan and Michigan St are both good — makes the rivalry games even more fun and the wins more special