Big Ten Basketball 2020-21 Discussion (Part 1)

College Basketball
2962

Chaundee will probably tell Juwan that he will guard Carr.

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2963

Also glad it was mentioned upthread but Minnesota didn’t cover themselves in glory either. Marcus Carr is a dude, Robbins played really well but other than that they were not very good.

2964

And Henry only got to double figures because he was in the garbage time lineup! Had nine points before making a who cares jumper.

2965

I gotta say. I’m sure it works for some players, but I don’t think everyone is going to be effectively motivated by being benched. I mean I guess the thinking is that if you aren’t motivated by that then you’re soft or something? But it just feels pretty counterproductive to have that mindset with players who you most likely need to win any significant amount of games this season.

2966

That’s just good coaching by Izzo to get the bench guy some run and confidence late in the game.

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2967

Aaron Henry is shooting 17% from three this season and Rocket Watts is shooting 27% from three this season.

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2968

Minnesota 2nd half line +5.5 was just about the most bizarre line I’ve ever seen. State had no interest in competing tonite. Thanks for the free money!! :moneybag::moneybag:

2969

Man a lot of us (me included) thought Michigan’s easiest conference stretch was at the beginning of the schedule but with Minnesota and Northwestern looking like upper half BIG Teams so far and Maryland looking competent the beginning of the schedule is going to be pretty difficult.

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2970

Hats off to MSU for getting up to 26% shooting for the game after shooting 16% in the 1st half. Also thanks for keeping me enthralled for 40 minutes, I usually turn off blowouts.

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2971

Maybe Izzo is like Harbaugh and he has difficulty coaching with the Covid

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2972

Obviously Sparty shot terrible, and it won’t be like that in all of their future games. What I don’t like about MSU’s team is that I don’t see one guy who truly makes the guys around them better. Henry and Loyer want to but don’t have the skill sets to execute it. They could really use a Mike Smith/ Frankie Collins type of PG, but they obviously don’t have it, in addition to the revolving door at the 1,4,5 positions…Very strange to see them like this

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2973

Are you telling me they couldn’t find some feature on a Minnesota team to swap in for the MSU one after this game? Or did they use the only one they had after Minnesota beat Iowa?

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2974

Hauser would be such a nice piece with even a little bit of shot creation, even though he wasn’t necessarily clicking tonight

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2975

I have a completely unprovable theory that COVID robbed Izzo of his perfect retirement opportunity at the end of last year. They had won a share of the regular season title, were probably the favorites to win the conference tourney and looked poised for a deep tourney run. Combine that with Winston’s last year, Howard’s recruiting success making the future questionable, and the fact that he’s seemed exhausted for awhile now, and it sort of set up perfectly for him to go out on the highest possible note.

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2976

I had that theory about the Ben Carter team!!!

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2977

I love how that team will always (completely correctly) be known as the Ben Carter Team. Didn’t they go like 18-2 in conference that year?

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2978

MSU and Michigan had the same questions going in:

  • Do you have anyone good at point guard?
  • Do you have anyone good at center?
  • Can you defend the post?
  • Can a high quality primary offensive option emerge?

Michigan has answered all four with a resounding yes, mostly because Hunter Dickinson, Chaundee Brown and Mike Smith are all better than we could have reasonably expected.

Michigan State has answered all four with a resounding no, because Thomas Kithier, Foster Loyer and the MSU freshman class are not that.

Franz and Rocket have had similar “breakout” seasons, the difference is Michigan has other high quality options at multiple positions and MSU just does not.

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2979

MSU AST/FGM in 2016: 71.3% (1st nationally, #2 Offense in Adjusted Efficiency)
2018: 67.6% (1st nationally, #10 Offense)
2019: 66.8% (1st nationally, #5 Offense)
2020: 65% (1st nationally, #10 Offense)

A lot of that is Cassius Winston and Denzel Valentine, but after tonight’s game, their assist rate isn’t going to be anomalous compared to recent MSU teams.

2980

MSU stinks and I love it.

7 Likes
2981

Watts: 96.6 ORTG on 24.7 USG

Franz: 118.1 ORTG on 19.1 USG.

Franz has also been a top tier defender and Watts…hasn’t.

3 Likes