Well, we certainly took a pounding from MSU in the BT championship game, and I think a lot of people were expecting that, once Sparty got everyone healthy. Granted, those who keep harping on how State was not completely healthy for most of the BT season have to be reminded that we didn’t have McGary for one single minute of conference play, and still managed to win the thing by three full games.
Yes, we have lost some frustrating games the last couple years as a result of playing a smaller, less physical lineup (Arizona comes to mind as well), but in line with what GregGoBlue points out, it’s fair to ask how many games we might have lost with a bigger lineup that we didn’t because of lights-out shooting by our guards and wings. Could we achieve a better mix of the two? Maybe. But we’re probably not going to out-compete teams like Kentucky, Duke and Kansas for elite big men, and the better course may be to go all-out for the kind of players that fit into Beilein’s system.
Those teams also have to match up with 4 shooters and the spread. I would love to see another great Big man but the three ball is an equalizer to size from a scoring perspective.
Well, we certainly took a pounding from MSU in the BT championship game, and I think a lot of people were expecting that, once Sparty got everyone healthy. Granted, those who keep harping on how State was not completely healthy for most of the BT season have to be reminded that we didn't have McGary for one single minute of conference play, and still managed to win the thing by three full games.
Yes, we have lost some frustrating games the last couple years as a result of playing a smaller, less physical lineup (Arizona comes to mind as well), but in line with what GregGoBlue points out, it’s fair to ask how many games we might have lost with a bigger lineup that we didn’t because of lights-out shooting by our guards and wings. Could we achieve a better mix of the two? Maybe. But we’re probably not going to out-compete teams like Kentucky, Duke and Kansas for elite big men, and the better course may be to go all-out for the kind of players that fit into Beilein’s system.
Lol, I conveniently forgot about the pounding we took in the B1G tourney from MSU; I must have experienced some post-traumatic memory loss.