Great call. Forgot about that.
I was just throwing out random teams. Michigan State embarrassed UNC and Notre Dame around this time last year and looked like they might go undefeated.
Just pointing out that Michigan and every other team in the country will look different in February and March.
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Definitely a long season, absolutely agree.
This team just feels different and I have no doubt their defense will still be elite come February and March.
I have confidence they improve instead of slump because thereās a lot more room for improvement on offense. (As you called out up above.)
Overall, I honestly wouldnāt be surprised they drop a couple head scratchers because this team gets up for the big games and I wouldnāt doubt they donāt get up enough for a couple opponents. (Thereās probably going to be around 5-6 losses in Big Ten play, Iām saying I think two of those may be head scratchers.)
Thatās also the reason I see great things for this team. They donāt want to beat good teams, they want to go for the kill and run them off the court.
Brazdeikis was once again unreal. Heās like a basketball cyborg who occasionally shows emotion to throw the humans off of his trail.
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I feel optimistic about the possibility of this team getting significantly better. Poole and Iggy seem to be improving defensively every game. I am a little shocked by how well those two are doing defensively as I was not expecting much from either of them to be honest.
I will say this: I am not expecting a great conference record and I will not be too disappointed if we end up 4th or 5th place in the conference. These big ten teams are the real deal. It is going to be a blood bath and the big ten teams are going to emerge stronger because of it and will likely do very well in the tournament.
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Occasionally? He does it all game haha
This is just my controversial and perhaps biased opinion but there were early signs that MSU was a good but not great team last year. They had long stretches, within games,early last year, where they looked so unbelievably boneheaded.
Heās not a plodding big man though. He moves very well. Heās the best overall big man defender that Iāve ever seen at Michigan and part of that is his ability to stay with opponents on the perimeter. He would be able to guard a stretch 5 or a guy that pounds it on the block.
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No argument here, they did. Ultimately though, they still won the Big Ten (weak schedule be damned). Thatās still a great year.
Tournament loss is all on Izzo, as all of us here know well. He ruined that team.
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Right, I said as much in my post. I have doubts he can stay with a good stretch 5 though, but heās at least passable in that regard which is a win.
Iām not sure Teske is a āploddingā big man. 
Heās BIG, thatās for sure, but he moves his feet so well for a big guy. It was mentioned in the recap and I noticed it live that he did an outstanding job of staying in front of Nassir Little late in the game. That was impressive, especially after having already played 25-30 minutes at that point!
Edit: Oops, didnāt see Baconās comment or your response. 
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I agree with what youāre saying. I think Brandon Johns could be a tremendous asset to us if he can figure it out. I still like him better at the four than at the five as I think Isaiah gives us a great option at the small ball five, but wherever Coach B decides to use him, I think could he help us.
As for Eli, Iām one of his biggest fans. I believe last year he was much too tentative and deferred too much to the other guys. It got him into a funk that he struggled to get out of. He was more aggressive early in the year when he earned the starting job, which is what many of us are saying he needs to do this year, and I think he is showing more of that aggressiveness and growing into his role.
As for the trap last night, I believe it was the first hard trap UNC threw at us, though I may be wrong about that. He initially had Mathews on the wing but hesitated, then it was too late and he panicked. UNCās length on that trap was tough, but I think Eli will learn from it and get better.
My only other area of concern would be free throw shootingā¦Duh. I hope we get that cleaned up before it bites us!
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Teske was gassed at portions of the game. I donāt think he ever played 33 minutes before. The second 3 he missed was more fatigue than anything. He only played that many minutes because of Livers foul difficulties. Teske took it to a new level last night. Clearly more athletic than last year
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WMU, AFA, Binghamton will be a huge stretch for Brandon Johns ā even the practices during that time and over the holiday. That was around the time when Isaiah Livers started building some confidence last year.
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I absolutely agree! I think Coach B sees the same kinds of things he saw with Isaiah last year, and if thereās a way to make it happen, Coach B is the guy to get it done. I also suspect Isaiah, himself, along with Charles and X will be working on Brandon, too!
Thatās why I was so impressed with the way he stayed in front of Little late in the game. I didnāt expect it, I was nervous when JT found himself out there on the wing with Little (almost out on an island!), and he handled it!
Couple of the fellas need to up their FT%
Matthews .595
Teske .438
Simpson .429
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Yeah, I am not trying to put Brooks down at all. I just want him to believe in himself. I think he can really take it up notch if he were more confident. I was not too worried about how he handled the trap. It was a tricky situation and they almost got Z with the trap too. I think Brooks looks a little nervous when he is driving. His floaters looked really rushedālike he is afraid his shot will get blocked. It is just a process where he realizes how good he is. Just a few games ago he was not shooting open 3ās and he has cleared that issue up I think. The main point I was trying to make is that I have a theory that he is nervous about what shots he can and canāt get off because he has to go against Michigan Defense in practice :). I canāt say I blame Brooks for being nervous. Haha.
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To Matthewsā credit, heās closer to 70% after going 0-of-5 in the opener.
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My conceivably wrong headed opinion: Brooks is not a PG. I donāt trust Poole either and heās the only other viable alternative until DeJulius is ready. Simpson I have complete trust.