Game Thread: #3 Ohio State @ #5 Michigan State

[rmilia1]

Disappointing?
It's not so disappointing as it is frustrating. Izzo gets 8-9 fully healthy guise for an entire game? No team in the country can touch them.
As it is, I'm thrilled, amazed, astounded and proud as fuck that MSU is where they're at right now.
For 32 minutes last night, against the unbeaten #3 team in the country, they showed themselves to be exactly what most cbb fans figure they are: A likely FF/NC team.
For the next 8 minutes OSU showed themselves worthy of their #3 ranking...incredible comeback...(were it not for two seniors' -Appling & Payne- incredible defensive effort at the buzzer the 'comeback' would have been complete.)

Only in the sense that I truly thought MSU would be a dominating team this year and they have definitely shown a lack of intensity in alot of games this year. I still think this is a FF team BUT so far this year they seem to be going through the motions more often than most other Izzo teams I can remember. Of course that speaks to their talent level that they have only lost 1 time playing a tough ass schedule while doing so.

 

[H2S]

Excuses are for losers...

but for winners?
I think, for this year's MSU squad, it's more of a 'general shitty health' matter than a 'head malaise' matter...mostly.

Only in the sense that I truly thought MSU would be a dominating team this year and they have definitely shown a lack of intensity in alot of games this year. I still think this is a FF team BUT so far this year they seem to be going through the motions more often than most other Izzo teams I can remember. Of course that speaks to their talent level that they have only lost 1 time playing a tough ass schedule while doing so.

As noted above, Payne has a bum foot. Harris has a bum shoulder and bad ankles. Appling has bum multiples (legs, ankles, shoulders, etc.) All three are playing in obvious pain and should probably not be playing at all. Dawson is Jekyll/Hyde (sometimes still tentative, lazy after his ACL recovery 18 months ago)/(sometimes unstoppable when his head's screwed-on tight.) Costello just got back from 3 weeks out with MONO? (mono? really? geez o!)
That's Izzo's starting 5.
#6 man Trice is perpetually sick - with momentary lapses of health. The rest are just talented kids with a lot to learn.

Payne wasn't supposed to play at all last night. Someone said they could see Appling's calf muscles twitching into knots. Kids are giving their all. Might not be pretty, but they win...so

 

[mr.hockey4242]

There are some thing I have learned in years of watching college basketball.

1 of them is to never under any circumstances call Michigan State disappointing until they lose their final game.

Izzo works magic when it matters. I pretty much ignore what happens thru February for MSU and to an extent Louisville. Because I know those teams will peak in March.

 

[dcZONAfan]

Disappointing?
It's not so disappointing as it is frustrating. Izzo gets 8-9 fully healthy guise for an entire game? No team in the country can touch them.
As it is, I'm thrilled, amazed, astounded and proud as fuck that MSU is where they're at right now.
For 32 minutes last night, against the unbeaten #3 team in the country, they showed themselves to be exactly what most cbb fans figure they are: A likely FF/NC team.
For the next 8 minutes OSU showed themselves worthy of their #3 ranking...incredible comeback...(were it not for two seniors' -Appling & Payne- incredible defensive effort at the buzzer the 'comeback' would have been complete.)

Slow down there fella...one thing I don't see from this year's team that is different from the last, I don't know, 10 years is that they aren't an elite rebounding team. They are good as always, but I think if you put them up against Arizona's front line we have a decided advantage in that department, and that is something Izzo's teams have always had the edge over the teams they play in. If both teams played their best, it would be one hell of a game, that's for sure.

 

[gpm1976]

Seems the only replay they show is the angled camera view from above...another side angle from below clearly shows the ball at least 1-3" off the rim...indisputable no brainer stuff.



Am assuming you know he's from Dayton; that he grew up overcoming serious self-esteem & "slow learner" labels; that he made a promise to the grandmother who raised him to get his college Degree...all of which translates into a pretty wonderful story. Gary Harris decided to not go pro after last year. Payne & Appling don't want to be Izzo's first two 4-year players never to have played in a Final Four.

btw, the kid's been playing with a nasty case of plantar fasciitis all season...that Degree is nice insurance.

Plantar fasciitis - National Library of Medicine - PubMed Health

Actually, I know very little about him.. but he seems like a good kid. Good luck to you guys down the stretch. Seems that MSU has the same problem we do from time to time... the intensity drops and they forget how to play!

 

[dcZONAfan]

For the record I had plantar fasciitis, it FUCKING SUCKS. Took over a year to go away and, mind you, I wasn't trying to be a division one athlete. Same injury slowed down Antonio Gates and Tim Duncan for years. I hope for Payne's sake that it goes away but I find it hard to believe that it will since he will continue playing on it. Take a look at Jimmy Graham's production this year (especially yardage, not so much touchdowns) after he sustained the injury. Makes a HUGE difference, and I am incredibly impressed by Payne's performance after learning about this. I assume they mentioned it on the broadcast but I was gleefully listening to Phish's New Year's MSG run instead of allowing Dan Dakich's comments make me want to kill a human being

 

[cwerph]

For the record I had plantar fasciitis, it FUCKING SUCKS. Took over a year to go away and, mind you, I wasn't trying to be a division one athlete. Same injury slowed down Antonio Gates and Tim Duncan for years. I hope for Payne's sake that it goes away but I find it hard to believe that it will since he will continue playing on it. Take a look at Jimmy Graham's production this year (especially yardage, not so much touchdowns) after he sustained the injury. Makes a HUGE difference, and I am incredibly impressed by Payne's performance after learning about this. I assume they mentioned it on the broadcast but I was gleefully listening to Phish's New Year's MSG run instead of allowing Dan Dakich's comments make me want to kill a human being

Jared Sullinger had the same thing his sophomore year. It makes you walk funny, which leads to back problems. It really does suck.

 

[H2S]

Jared Sullinger had the same thing his sophomore year. It makes you walk funny, which leads to back problems. It really does suck.

Sullinger didn't need plantar fasciitis for his back problems. That fall he took (I think, against Purdue?) flat on his back from 4-5' up still makes my crotch tighten just thinking about it.

 

[H2S]

Slow down there fella...one thing I don't see from this year's team that is different from the last, I don't know, 10 years is that they aren't an elite rebounding team. They are good as always, but I think if you put them up against Arizona's front line we have a decided advantage in that department, and that is something Izzo's teams have always had the edge over the teams they play in. If both teams played their best, it would be one hell of a game, that's for sure.

Won't deny State's not up to it's perennial dominance on the boards this year...there's probably not a stat out there that Izzo's more pissed about...but

3 of the teams that MSU has beaten have higher Rebounding Margins...State out-rebounded 2 of them. #3 Indiana 32-31; #4 Kentucky 28-44 (ugh); and #24 Texas 41-28 (Arizona is #5)

Rebound Margin | DI Men's Basketball Statistics - NCAA.com

No doubt Arizona vs Michigan State would be a hell of a game. I'd love to see it.