It’s a smaller point, but more time for Charles to mend as well during the day.
Well according to this statistic a 3rd matchup with MSU likely wouldn’t happen anyway, because Indiana is going to take care of Michigan State for a 3rd time, right?
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Charles can obviously be 100% healthy by Friday, but here’s the little conundrum I see:
- If he’s still not 100%, I don’t think he should play on a back-to-back, let alone possibly three days in a row.
- Do you play him Friday, sit him Saturday if you win and then play him again Sunday if you get there?
- Or do you just really limit his minutes Saturday or Sunday if you’re there?
I think he’s back Friday and eased in minutes-wise. What they do with him Saturday and Sunday if they’re there, I have no idea.
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To your point, If they cant beat Iowa (losers of 5 of 6?) without him or NW/ILL, they don’t deserve to be in the semifinals anyway. Id hold him out Friday, bring him back for Saturday, and if you get to Sunday, its a crap-shoot.
If he is good to go Friday, what’s the point of holding him out until Saturday?
Maybe hes ready for game action, but not 3 games in 3 days type of action? I would assume you’re right though. If hes ready Friday hes going to go. The element of him being a Chicago kid is going to motivate him to get out there ASAP one would think.
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Bet you’re right. Can probably do it Friday without him. Would be dreadful not to have him for the NC2As.
Man, it’s going to be a long week.
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Since he went through full warm-ups Saturday, I do think he plays Friday.
The other problem for Saturday is that tight turnaround time. If they win, right back at it at 2:30pm CST after the ~8:30pm CST.
Guess it depends on how his ankle responds and how he feels obviously. Gut instinct, with the tight turnaround should they win Friday night, they’ll sit him Saturday for rest with the intention of playing again Sunday if they win.
Guess the logic there would be that you can’t get to the second game without winning the first game.
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I think a strict eye on his minutes in both would make more sense that go one day and not the next. Unless of course he hurts it again Friday.
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I could definitely see that route as well.
In my mind, I’m envisioning how an NBA team would go about it since they deal with B2Bs. Missing 3 weeks, they would usually sit them on the second night of the B2B. Obviously this isn’t the NBA though.
Some people probably think this discussion is dumb or pointless, but not me. Sprained ankles have a good chance of getting re-injured until fully healed. This is a tough scenario coming back during the Big Ten Tournament. I’m really curious how this plays out with him.
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To be fair, I think the adage is more that it’s hard to beat a good team three straight times. There are surely a lot of games against bottom-feeders in that sample.
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Ahh the BTT. Absolutely one of my favorite segments of basketball. The season with rivals matchups and interesting road venues is fun, but there’s nothing like the bracket feel and win or go home situation.
That said, after hanging a few of these banners the past few years; winning another would be sweet and all but it won’t erase that bitter taste of two sparty losses and a lost regular season title 
Neutral court with the conference’s top officials probably does truly make Michigan the favorite.
Isn’t Ward supposed to be back for the BTT? If he is, then I’d say Michigan’s chances improve, even if Mathews can’t go.
Time to make a statement and grab a wave full of momentum heading into the dance. Let’s go boys. Balls to the wall.
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I think you play Charles on Friday just to make sure he’s good to go for the NCAAs and take it game by game after that. I think we can beat Purdue without him.
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Isn’t Ward supposed to be back for the BTT? If he is, then I’d say Michigan’s chances improve, even if Mathews can’t go.
Don’t follow this logic. First, I think MSU is a better team with Ward. Second, if Izzo thinks they match up better against us with Tillman, then all he has to do is play Tillman.
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Yeah, if Ward comes back and MSU plays Michigan. I think Ward takes Kithier’s minutes and maybe alittle bit of Tillman’s. But that’s it.
Seems the team that wins the tourney gets more love than reg season champ.
I’m curious why you believe they’re better with him?
With Ward MSU can’t switch all screens, he’d be driven to the hole just like Simpson and Poole did to Tillman only to be blocked (6 times) but to compare Tillman’s and Ward’s lateral quickness and ability to stay in front…I’d say Tillman > Ward.
On offense when Ward was healthy he was commanding nearly 1/3 of all their offensive possessions; usually post-entry offense, aka the most inefficient way to put up PPP, see fancy stats / any nba basketball game.
I also think Teske can contain Ward much easier than Tillman. Ward’s a banger, back you down offensive guy; similar to Happ’s game. He’s not a great passer and he’s not the FT shooter Tillman is either.
I’m happy to agree to disagree but I’d like to hear your rationale for believe Ward is the superior player.
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The reason MSU is better with Ward is that it doesn’t have to play Ward. It can still play Xavier Tillman. Ward is a better player than Thomas Kithier and gives an alternative option offensively.
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