LOL. Consider me out on people saying MSU is going to win the conference. How you can you still play two bigs (who can’t shoot) like this is beyond me…
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They really don’t have any other options. Their depth looks like this:
Winston - Loyer
Langford - Brown
McQuaid - Henry - Ahrens
Goins - Bingham
Ward - Tillman - Kithier
They really don’t have anything as far as stretch four options. Man that roster just is not very good.
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Bingham seems like the obvious choice at 5. They could play small with Henry or Brown at the 4, but Izzo would never. Maybe McQuaid, if Izzo actually thinks he’s their best wing defender
I think Henry and Brown are both intriguing options as small ball fours. Wouldn’t be surprised for that to become a thing. Not sure why Izzo wouldn’t do that when he played Bridges there all freshman year.
Not sure that Bingham is physically ready especially to play the five.
Ward/Tillman gives you something at the five spot. Both guys can finish, post up, defend the rim, crash the offensive glass, etc.
The big reason they couldn’t go smaller last year was because there wasn’t really enough guard depth which will make Loyer’s development interesting.
Izzo only played Bridges at the 4 because he literally had no other options. And Bridges was muuuuuuch more of a big than Gabe Brown is. The biggest three players on that team were Ward, Bridges and Goins.
It just would not be very Izzo at all to play a skinny freshman guard at the 4 spot. Henry I could see a little bit more since he has some build, but I still couldn’t see it happening very often.
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You are confusing their conference results with their March Madness results.
Conference results with two bigs continue to be very good. March madness…not so much.
Yeah, not saying they shouldn’t play Ward/Tillman at the 5… it’s just the four spot. You present two potential options there.
hmmm
Trying to hide Winston and Loyer on defense
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It’s going to be a disaster. Izzo is going to go crazy (not stale) when his boys are giving up offensive rebounds left and right. Izzo is going to be so in their heads (not stale) and it will compound their issues and hurt their performance. I will enjoy every minute of it (not stale).
Izzo has already fired up the excuse machine while throwing kids he recruited under the bus. Yea, it’s the state of Michigan’s fault that you recruited guards who are physically incapable of defending.
It will be a disaster.
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Do you foresee Winston and Loyer on the court together? That would be interesting. I’d think Henry or Brown being ready to contribute would help them a lot more.
For 30 minutes? Nah, but I can see it for a few minutes here and there. Run one of them off the ball and try to set them up as a shooter.
Winston, as far as NBA, in my opinion, is a 2 guard trapped in a point guards body. He is a fine college PG but doesn’t have the requisite athleticism to play in NBA. But… I will watch with an open mind this season and reserve the right to change my opinion.
I think he and Loyer will play together and it will be fun watching them. I’m a fan of their offense game.
Dane Fife said today that Miles Bridges and Jaren Jackson “were late developers and not highly touted”. I had to listen twice to make sure he really said that. I don’t think I agree with that
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I am not familiar with the guys you are talking about. I vaguely remember a skinny kid from Flint and I think his name was Miles? Jaren Johnson? Was he that tallish guy who played basketball for MSU a little bit?
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Skinny kid from Flint still gets me 
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People often forget that Magic Johnson really wasn’t that good of passer in the NBA until after Tom Izzo took the assistant coaching job at Northern Michigan University.
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