RIVALRY POD PART III: Michigan State 70, Michigan 64

3 Likes

I love how BQ was sympathetic to Illinois’ plight but then got fired up when thinking about their awful online fans.

I feel like BQ was a bit inconsistent with his logic.

On one hand he was talking about how MSU still isn’t playing that great citing Watts’ enigmatic performance, their efficiency numbers in this stretch, etc.

Then fifteen minutes later he’s talking about how screwed team X will be when they get matched up with MSU in round 1. I think that was the narrative side of Quinn coming out there.

I think it’s more about the perception that fans of a six seed would have when their first round opponent in the Dance is revealed to be an 11 seed MSU that seems to be getting its mojo back. If they watched the games, they should want Sparty and not want Winthrop, but the name on the jersey will make those fans want the opposite.

3 Likes

Is there some talk here about a potential rematch in the B1G tourney? Maybe I am wrong, but I see the UM potentially running all over MSU.

1 Like

Sure damm hope so

1 Like

sans Brooks I’d be concerned, but still lean to win for us

1 Like

Yeah. Brooks is an important player but even without him a fair bit had to go right for them and a fair bit had to go wrong for us.

Tbh, I’ll be very concerned about any game versus a decent team while Brooks is out. I don’t necessarily think that Brooks is the only thing holding the team together… but this is basically a 6 man team while Brooks is healthy and Juwan doesn’t have the Beilein instinct to play dudes 38 minutes. If you remove any starter, I’m not sure how good this team is.

6 Likes

@ReegsShannon Man I agree with everything you just said…except for the statement that Juwan doesn’t have the Beilein instinct to play dudes 38 minutes. You might be right…but we’ve literally never seen Juwan coach in a do-or-die game, ever.

It’s not that I’m saying you’re wrong, because odds are we’ll see too much AD and Johns and Zeb (if Eli is out), but we can’t definitively declare anything yet about Juwan’s instincts for elimination games.

3 Likes

I believe the best hope is that Michigan plays Sat/Mon of NCAA Tournament (r1, r2), then on Sunday(sweet sixteen) that would give him close to 3 weeks to get better. If Michigan remains as a 1 seed they still shouldn’t lose to a 16 seed, an 8/9 game should be much closer but this is why the BTT is important. Might be wise to get Zeb 7-10 mpg and see how things work because you most likely will need Zeb for some court time at various moments.

I kind of wonder why we didn’t see Terrence Williams for a stretch. kind of wondering if you want per sees less positional flexibility with some of our wings then others might.

I hope this isn’t necessary, but I wonder if we might see The return of Franz as point guard but hopefully that won’t be necessary