Going by bracketmatrix.com, PSU is still two spots ahead of Nebraska. Reverse the result of their game and PSU gets a pretty good bump. It would probably be a quadrant 1 win. The resumes of teams near the bubble are close.
Would be fun to make the semi against MSU and have the crowd behind us. A man can dream. . .
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I wonder if the polite New York crowd would dare to get on Sparty.
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Thats what we did @ Nebraska, but their help D scraped down and helped off their man heavily, not afraid of our shooting. Moe, Matthews, and MAAR would get 2 feet in the paint and then swarmed by their length, and we didn’t have anyone with Dwalt’s ability to just pull-up after the switch. Louisville had to account for four 3pt snipers (+/- Zak), and decided to see if Moe could beat them at their switching game; which, as we all remember so fondly, he did masterfully. I loveee how Pitino’s career ended.
I think penetration by Z and the newly studly MAAR will be key, and then up to Moe, Duncan, and Poole to make them pay for helping off of the perimeter.
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Oh, if we get there, I will be decidedly impolite. And LOUD.
4 rows off the court if we get to that one. Sweating our first and then our second if we win the first, but when you buy tickets in advance, I guess you’re always sweating…
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Sounds like Mizzou has been tampering with Cook and he’s probably gone.
If so… man… Iowa is done
Maybe someone there will actually pass him the ball.
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Martin has to be among the top 5 dirtiest coaches at this point.
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It would be a huge loss but Iowa is an intriguing team that was really young this year. I’m not sold on them being good next year because I don’t know that I trust Fran, but there are some pieces there.
A very reliable source told me Mark Smith is transferring from Illinois. MSU a very likely landing spot.
https://www.illinoisloyalty.com/Forums/showthread.php?t=24383&page=5
Illinois message boards appear to be corroborating that. Tough hit for Illinois
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Tough hit indeed, that absolutely sucks for a coach trying to pick up pieces that were completely shattered when he came in. So hard to do when you don’t have committed players on your roster. I can’t even imagine how much more difficult our rebuild would have been if a freshman Manny Harris had transferred after our terrible 2008 year. While Smith obviously wasn’t as important to his team it still sucks.
Why didn’t he just commit to them last year? Think they were a finalist for him IIRC
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Probably liked Izzo/MSU more (I remember there was a lot of talk that he was definitely gonna commit to MSU at the time) but decided he wanted to stay in state due to state pride/closeness to home/etc.
Then, he probably decided this year that he really hates Underwood and can’t deal with it anymore I guess.
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I believe it came down to Illinois and MSU, although I could be wrong. Kentucky sniffed around but I’m not sure there was anything real there.
He must be convinced that any brouhaha over the Bridges family’s $40 meal of ketchup packets is the extent of the wrongdoing at MSU.
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Not knowing what happened between closed-doors, Smith had an objectively terrible season. Regardless of what’s true or not, it wouldn’t shock me if a kid who had nothing but success as a HS and AAU player, suddenly faced with a failure, pointed the finger at his new coach, especially if there was any personality conflict involved. Also, just by watching the guy on the sidelines, I’d conservatively say that playing for Underwood takes a certain kind of personality.
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