2018-2019 B1G Basketball Thread

[betarhoalphadelta]

Was worried with 2:00 left that we would allow an MSU run to go into halftime. Great way to not take the foot off the gas and finish the half strong. 

[ELA]

Was worried with 2:00 left that we would allow an MSU run to go into halftime. Great way to not take the foot off the gas and finish the half strong.

Based on what?  Ward making a prayer three with the shot clock expiring?

[betarhoalphadelta]

The team around Carsen is really growing up. Carsen is contributing well everywhere but the scoreboard, shooting 1 for 8 so far. Everyone else is picking up the slack, which has been improving consistently through January. But I was worried the competition level would slow that down. 

[betarhoalphadelta]

Based on what?  Ward making a prayer three with the shot clock expiring?

Based on watching Purdue eat a banana, throw the peel on the ground in front of themselves, and then slip on it... Too many times. 

[mcwterps1]

 

It's like tournament time, all year long? 

[Anonymous Coward]

I didn't catch much of the first half, but did notice how Purdue is picking up Winston right away on every inbounds pass. ELA is probably right that Sparty has lost its legs after a long week down two starters. Still, they're a transition team. And Purdue is forcing them into half-court offense, which really changes things for Izzo. That's been Yaklich's #1 strategy against him.

[bayareabadger]

Based on what?  Ward making a prayer three with the shot clock expiring?

I mean, there’s always a worry a very good team will start playing well against your team. 
Granted, you’d have needed another empty possession/MSU score or two. 

[ELA]

The team around Carsen is really growing up. Carsen is contributing well everywhere but the scoreboard, shooting 1 for 8 so far. Everyone else is picking up the slack, which has been improving consistently through January. But I was worried the competition level would slow that down.

McQuaid is shutting him down for the second time this year.  That's literally the only positive thing MSU did that half.

[ELA]

I didn't catch much of the first half, but did notice how Purdue is picking up Winston right away on every inbounds pass. ELA is probably right that Sparty has lost its legs after a long week down two starters. Still, they're a transition team. And Purdue is forcing them into half-court offense, which really changes things for Izzo. That's been Yaklich's #1 strategy against him.

That hasn't been a problem this year.  Iowa did the same thing.  Most good teams have followed that blueprint this year.  MSU is just simply missing a ton of open three pointers, and Purdue is shooting 50% from deep and creating turnovers.

[ELA]

Winston missing a pair of FTs, both short, tells you all you need to know

[bayareabadger]

Weird time in the conference. 

3-4 good teams are in a bad way, depending on if you think OSU’s win at Neb snapped them out of it. But between OSU’s 1-5 run, Neb losing three in a row and one of its best players, IU with six losses in a row and that MD-Ill result, that group seems to be underperforming. 

The question is how long these struggles last. Are the temporary? Longer term? Maybe I’m just thinking about my team and the road ahead. Are they still good teams, as Purdue was at 9-6? Or is something more wrong? 

I still can’t get a read on Iowa or Minnesota. The Hawkeyes have a good record, but the numbers aren’t hyper bullish. Minnesota has some pretty nice wins, two not great losses and are projected to not finish well in conference. But I can’t truly buy the idea they’ll be a solid underdog at home vs UW 

[Anonymous Coward]

That hasn't been a problem this year.  Iowa did the same thing.  Most good teams have followed that blueprint this year.  MSU is just simply missing a ton of open three pointers, and Purdue is shooting 50% from deep and creating turnovers.

Maybe it hasn't been as much of a problem, but there's definitely a continuum (of being better in transition than half-court), and Iowa's defense probably isn't a good enough test of it. It's another reason why M-MSU will be fascinating, as those will be the games where MSU's transition will be hardest to keep up (as well as the hardest transition for Michigan to gunk up).

[ELA]

More troubling going forward is how many hugely bad plays per game Goins is making.  He's a former walk on, so anything exceeds expectations, but him really elevating his game on both ends was big at helping us defend stretch bigs.  His shooting has been bad, too many defensive lapses, a number of lazy passes that turn into easy transition baskets.

[mcwterps1]

Winston missing a pair of FTs, both short, tells you all you need to know

Yep.  There's more experience and depth on MSU's squad though. They should be able to chip away.
Little too early for the "overrated" chants though.