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Welcome to The Final Four Is Not on the Schedule discussion board. A forum for the serious and casual MSU fan. Opinions welcome – stay respectful.
Nothing more and nothing less. Both teams nowhere near what they’re supposed to be right now. Hats off to Oregon for fighting like that. We’ll do the podcast tomorrow but some quick thoughts.
-for all the mistakes down the stretch, six straight FT makes from AJ, Mady and Tyson got it done. This has the look of a good FT shooting group and that bodes well. So does the fact that they’ve already been in so many tight games and had pressure makes.
- That said re AJ, he is in need of a good 40 minutes something fierce. Just another spotty effort…the late TO was only one manifestation of it. He has to be much, much better than this for MSU to have the season they’re aiming for.
- Seniors tend to mean a lot in winning or losing. The two MSU had playing were massive. Tyson has become the leader IMO…you see him taking on a vocal role and I’m all for it. When you make plays, you earn that spot. Joey had some huge makes and was a tower of strength on the glass.
- I think Pierre had a B sort of game, which is a big improvement over last night. Wasn’t super dialed in with the shot but with Hall and Akins out, they need point production and he gave them that. Decent game defensively…tough possession late where he gave up the 3 to Richardson but MSU shouldn’t have switched on that one IMO…I know that’s the philosophy but I don’t think you can do that in that situation, with essentially one guy capable of beating you. Pierre did draw a nice charge though and I thought played harder. Good for him…it’s at least a small step forward.
- 20 assists on 27 made field goals and only 8 TOs. Really solid effort in that area and in terms of ball movement, back to Spartan basketball principles after a one night vacation.
Now beat Portland on Sunday and this becomes a pretty decent weekend, all things considered.
Agree on Hoggard ... he had a little more trouble getting to the rack with the length of Oregon. I blame that last TO on the staff as well. You have 3 timeouts left when he gets trapped. With so little time, the staff has to say "if you have trouble, we have 3 TOs, use one. I know izzo wants to play through traps and loose balls and not use TOs but in that situation, you use one.
A win is a win and Oregon is likely a bubble or in the tourney so that Win will help down the road. Gutty performance by Joey too. Mady played better.
@spartanironman I have to believe he was told that. Even if not…he’s a third year player and your point guard. No excuses there IMO. Zero.
I was only able to watch highlights but I came away really impressed with Walker. If Hoggard does not get in gear, I can see Walker and Akins taking over at the guards spots.
I was only able to watch highlights but I came away really impressed with Walker. If Hoggard does not get in gear, I can see Walker and Akins taking over at the guards spots.
I see what you're saying ... but I think Walker is really effective at the 2 spot. He's fine at the 1 but I think he's been great at the 2 without having to run the offense. Hoggard penetrating helps Walker with the kick out threes. We gotta have Hoggard play consistent.
@rodmsu1968 A couple things ... 1) they just came out from a TO, so if they told him that, it would have been top of mind. If that's case, that's a horrible decision by Hoggard but i'm guessing, they didn't. 2) I think you're underestimating the Staff/Izzo's approach to NOT using time out on loose balls and traps. He's drilled that into them and that's IMO why the Staff has to tell them to use them in that situation.
I hope i'm right because I think Hoggard normally has pretty good judgement. I think he took the ball out in both critical situations vs. UK and made great passes and showed great patience.
@spartanironman yeah….we’re going to have to disagree on AJ’s judgment. That’s the #1 thing he needs to improve. He also made some terrible decisions down the stretch against Villanova. We’re talking about the point guard here…the standard has to be high.