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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.
Sorry I’ve been MIA the last couple weeks. Had a lot going on with the holidays and family. I hardly watched the PK85 because I’m EST and I turned the ND game off at halftime out of disgust.
We need to accept that MSU has not been operating at an elite level for three years now. This is the worst stretch of basketball we have seen since the new millennium. I don’t believe any of us should be looking at things with rose colored glasses right now. I’m very worried this year will follow the last two…start our hot and fade until a last gasp in March but not being a threat to reach a second weekend. There is legitimate fear this is becoming a Syracuse situation.
The Good:
Nothing. This is one of the worst losses in recent history.
The Bad:
1. We were outrebounded by Northwestern. Inexcusable.
2. When the game was there to steal…some of the most atrocious offensive possessions I’ve ever seen.
3. It’s obvious Malik Hall being out has torpedoed the offense and defense. But if you can’t even manage to be competent without one player, your overall team depth is bad.
4. Tyson Walker is the one bit of hope I have. But he can’t get into foul trouble and miss critical portions of the game.
5. You let JAGs like Berry torch you from three, and Buie is still finding a way to torture whoever was guarding him.
6. The Breslin is no longer the fortress it once was. No team is afraid to come in here.
7. We haven’t had an impact freshman since Jaren Jackson Jr. Recruiting rankings aren’t reliable, but talent is. We need to stack class after class following Booker and co.
The Injured:
Nothing significant.
I’d suggest you should relax. Poor performance? Yes. Clear need for significant improvement? Yes. Troubling parallels to the last two seasons? Yes
Syracuse? No.
My thinking re: Syracuse parallel is worry that MSU is no longer operating at the level they are accustomed to. I wasn’t alive in the 80s, but my understanding is that at their height, Syracuse wasn’t quite as consistently dominant as MSU has been under Izzo, so their drop to complete irrelevance is similar to MSUs drop to being a zero or one and done in the tourney.
There is absolutely cause for optimism starting next year, but that needs to translate to MSU getting back into the championship (B1G and national) conversation.