I think they probably get to 9 games- they still need to makeup Indiana and Michigan, but those seem doable depending on the conference decisions. I don’t know that 3-6 (13-13 overall) gets them in and even 4-5 (14-12) might be dicey depending on what they win- something like Indiana x2, at Maryland, and at Purdue isn’t that impressive IMO.
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Yeah if in the hypothetical world MSU gets 4 more wins, it’d be better for them to not make up their 2 missed games. Cause 5-9 against Q1 is a plausible at large. 5-11 becomes dicier. Also depends on who those wins are against as you said. At least one of those would have to be against Michigan, Iowa, Illinois, or OSU
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I think I missed the newspaper article where Hoggard asked to go back to the bench. It was truly a sign of leadership to volunteer to go from starting PG and the player who is going to turn MSU’s season around to only playing 10 minutes per game off the bench. I don’t think Hoggard’s courageous decision received as much fanfare as Watts and Hauser did.
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I know MSU has had about 47 different starting lineups so maybe they’ve already tried this, but it seems to me that the lineup using all their best players at once is a jumbo one:
1 - Henry
2 - Langford
3 - Hall
4 - Hauser
5 - Bingham
Again that’s just “best players at once,” not necessarily “best lineup.” I assume Hall would be roasted by opposing 3s and Hauser’s defense is an ongoing issue. But I doubt Henry could be any worse on defense than Loyer and Watts, even against smaller and quicker guards. Bingham is still good for a handful of bonehead plays on offense but he’s at least rounding into some form of rim protection above the 11th percentile that MSU has been getting to date.
I’d like to see that lineup play against five Brandon Johns clones. I’d set the line at Brandon Johnses -2.5.
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What would be the ideal MSU bench rotation to face the three reserve Brandon Johnses?
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Kithier, Brown, Marble forsure. That one’s a toss up but I’m still taking Bench Johnses
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I’m assuming MSU gets in. We’ve seen this before. Izzo’s program is like Dracula. PSU had the stake ready, up 58-54, but missed the heart and now Drac is alive again.
I expect us and Illinois to beat them but could see them winning any of the other games. (You know OSU’s win streak will end against them. OSU will shot 3-25 from 3 that day.)
I just have seen this play out too many times before.
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Yes, Count Drac is the one character we have suspiciously NOT seen Sir Tom dressed up as. Little misdirection there. . .
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Good news for MSU… a lot of chances for good wins.
Bad news for MSU… no chances for easy wins.
They have two Big Ten wins over teams other than Nebraska. Long way to go. Basically every remaining game on the schedule would match their “best win of the season” and they have to do it … 4-5 times.
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Not sure about their OSU matchup but I agree that MSU will get in, at least as of today. I think last night was a turning point. No shtick.
They looked lost and deflated for most of the 2H but just enough things went right to claw out the win. Felt like a moment from which Izzo traditionally squeezes a lot of juice.
That said . . . if it comes down to the game(s) against us and we are the ones to deliver the stake through their heart, that would be epic.
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You can Count on it. I’m so sorry.
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MSU has 5 games against ranked teams remaining, along with @ Indiana (Archie owns Izzo) and @ Maryland. I don’t see it.
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I don’t think I could imagine a more unwatchable game than MSU @ Indiana
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Izzo taking a cruise to Archie Island? I’m all about it
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Three weird ones in the B1G tonight:
- Indiana @ NW
- Rutgers @ Iowa
- Wisconsin @ Nebraska
Has MSU ever made a late season run that got them in the tournament? Doesn’t seem like something they do very often
I came away from that game last night still thinking MSU is a $hit-show, but PSU missed some really good perimeter looks throughout (which happens), and its a notch in the win column. But from a look-forward perspective, I just don’t see them collecting very many Ws from here on out unless teams shoot well below their averages on open looks.