Best case scenario at this point really. Only thing I’d change is hope Maryland gets the 7 and Rutgers drops to the 8/9, which will happen if Wisconsin loses to Iowa and Rutgers and Maryland each win their last game (all 3 would be 10-10 but Wisconsin would get the 6, Maryland the 7 and RU the 8).
If Indiana somehow beats Purdue, then they’ll move up to the 9 seed and knock MSU back to the 10. And if Illinois beats OSU, Purdue would still stay the 4 seed. That seems pretty great overall, especially avoiding Maryland as they scare me the most of the 7-10 teams, but I’m kind of looking forward to the idea of 3 straight wins over MSU
Maryland gets the 8 seed if they lose or if Wisconsin and Rutgers win. Otherwise Rutgers get the 8. OSU and Purdue as 4/5 is ideal cause I wouldn’t care that much if we lost to them comparatively as I would be if we lost to Iowa.
If Iowa loses they’ll get the 4 seed, otherwise Purdue and OSU will stay there
random Iowa comparison. Hawkeyes defense has a better KenPom rank right now than Michigan did in 2013 entering the NCAA tournament (56 vs 66), though 2013 Michigan did finish very strong in the tourney to end up top 40 on defense by the end. Not sure Iowa has a McGary level difference maker that will play heavy minutes in the tourney to make such a large difference, but Keegan Murray is a pretty good defender that will get minutes with Nunge being out.
If youre Malik Hall or Gabe Brown you can’t be thrilled about the idea of Langford coming back. I hope he does come back as I can’t see him materially improving them and the LOL factor and potential attrition it brings would be fantastic
I admire Langford sticking with it through all of these injuries and he still has some skills that would be useful in a reduced role (not in a situation where he’s leading the team in minutes.) But I’m not sure why Izzo would bring him back as a player unless he’s expecting tons of defections. If Henry, Watts, and Brown all leave I guess he could be a veteran to ease the transition…but geez. Give the guy a clipboard and have him be an assistant.
This just does not make sense. If your Izzo, why do you not just want to move on? If Langford comes back you know he will play 30 per game. Izzo can’t help himself. Means less time for the freshman and you would think Izzo would want a reboot of his program. Probably means the writing is on the wall for Rocket Watts and Izzo wants Langford as the “verteran guard” to bring along the frosh.
Just looked at Langford’s numbers for first time this year. Guy is shooting 37% from the field, he’s not exactly a playmaker or a defender. Not sure he has much of a future professionally, no matter what I just heard Rico Beard say on the radio. So I could see him coming back if he wants to extend basketball career. Maybe he’ll benefit and look decent if MSU gets or develops a real PG.
I’d love a rematch next Sunday. I mean, I’d be OK if we won a BTT title without playing them, but the best case is that we finish the season with three titles, beating every team we played at least once along the way.
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