That’s kind of how I was thinking and do we really trust Gabe Brown to have a better season than Hakim Hart?
Maryland’s depth is definitely an issue but MSU’s lack of a potential star has me a bit concerned about the roster.
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Scott was one of the breakout players in the league IMO. Ayala is not going to be a first team Big Ten guy but he’s a proven Big Ten starter with a lot of experience and a reliable shot.
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Rumors are that Walker won’t start over Hoggard to start the season 
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Torvik expected record is 2.9-2.1 over the five games in February, the January stretch is almost exactly 3-2. I think that first stretch is still harder, but mostly because I think Iowa and wisconsin are way worse than Torviks rating.
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Delicious.
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that just means Hoggard has taken a huge leap forward. MSU will have two All-B1G caliber PGs.
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After last season, the fact that MSU is apparently this close to beginning 2021 with a Hoggard-Bingham/Marble/Sissoko (pick your choice) as the starting 1 and 5 is just so funny to me.
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Yeah it’s very yikes inducing from my perspective. Basically replace Henry and Langford with Christie and Brown and you have the same core rotation as last year.
I do think Akins will get tick quickly and I like his game a lot. And I think Christie will be their best player pretty clearly from day one. But the shot creation concerns from last year are still all over this roster if Tyson Walker isnt a 30 minutes per game guy.
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After this news I am dropping MSU to 7th in my B1G rankings
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What were the offseason rumors about Rocket Watts last year? Or Joey Hauser?
I feel like generally that negative offseason rumblings are way more “real” since there isn’t incentive to let them out and lie. I also don’t think the Rocket rumblings were ever super positive (seems like people just said “who knows but he was good at the end of the year and it’s MSU”). Hauser was definitely a big miss (blame Quinn).
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I just am hesitant to buy into any offseason “rumblings” in any circumstance.
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To be fair, everybody had Rocket and Hauser highly ranked (they were 13th and 14th preseason on your list with Insidethehall).
The reports on Walker struggling that I’ve heard are different than typical offseason hype for a variety of reasons. I’ve only heard second hand accounts so I can’t be overly specific but it’s not “AJ Hoggard looks like a different beast and is winning the job!”
I do think overhyping Akins and Christie could definitely be a thing, but I love their games personally
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My point isn’t really about MSU at all, just the nature of offseason chatter like this. There’s usually some kind of motive behind most of it. Usually better off just trying to make sense of the data points that you have with your own eyes.
He’s trying to short squeeze MSU. Me, I buy the dip
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To be clear, I’m not referring to buckets. I’m referring to who originally shares the info. I’m not even sure where this report is coming from or has been reported either.
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It’s been mentioned by DK on a few of the audio-based content projects him and the Spartan Hoops guys have put out over the last month. Sources are people I don’t know who have practice access. I looked quickly because I swore there was something written on it, but I couldn’t find anything and that’s probably intentional on their part at this point.
It was also a major behind the scenes talking point when I was collaborating with them on the Top 10 Big Ten Guards piece. I had Walker on mine originally around the 10 spot and the other guys pushed leaving him off.
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Gotcha. My point is just that “point guard who just came in looks behind point guard who has been here” (in June practice) is just something I’d take with a grain of salt. Especially when we are pretty confident that “point guard who has been here” isn’t great.
This applies to “offseason buzz” about Michigan or anyone else too.
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That’s very fair and a much more reasoned way to view it than my instant ability to overreact haha
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