Spartan weaknesses

[tower912]

First, a disclaimer.   MSU is my second favorite team, so I am doubly peeved about this matchup.  They have several weaknesses. 1. Unbalanced scoring.   Stop Neitzel and you are halfway home.
2.  Their bigs are strong and aggressive, but not particularly fast.  Ooze may be able to beat them down the floor and done of them will beat any of our bigs off of the dribble.  Yes, Fitz may be able to guard somebody.
3.  Their young 3 is prone to dumb fouls.   Where have we heard that before?
  Other things we will have to pay attention to.
Rebounding.   If we hold our own, we will win.
Keep Suton from having a big day.   He is their only big who can remotely create his own shot.
Run.
Feed Wes and get Morgan in foul trouble.   Keep feeding Wes.
MSU has won one game outside of Michigan all year, at Penn St.  They can be had.  If we play like we did against Pitt and St. Johns, we will win.   If we play like we did against ND, we will lose.
Bring on the Heels.

[spartan3186]

MSU is also my second fav team (hence the nickname) and I'd pretty much agree with that assesment, although I'm a little worried about suton, he's a big with a european playing style, one that ouse may never have seen before so thats the matchup to watch. If we don't get Morgan in foul trouble we are in HUGE trouble because he can light us up in an instant. I think this game will give us big trouble w/o mcneal because we need someone who can lock down Neitzel, Cubillian is going to need to step it up big time and we're going to have to switch like crazy, they like to run neitzel off of screens, kind of like we did wih novak last year. Heres hoping for a big game out of DJ, i think we're going to need it. Hopefully the coaching staff will spend a lot of time with the game tape from MSU vs Wisonsin part III cause thats how you stop neitzel.

[LastWarrior]

Why not put DJ on Neitzel?  DJ has shown that he can be a shut-down defender when he puts his mind to it.

[GOMU1104]

Why not put DJ on Neitzel?  DJ has shown that he can be a shut-down defender when he puts his mind to it.

Cant have him running all over the court, and through all of the screens set by their big bodies. We need DJ's energy to run the break and be effective on offense. He could probably guard him in spurts, but not for the whole time.

Im confident that Cubi has the toughness and intensity to be in Neitzel's hip pocket all night.  After Cubi, I would put Wes on him, hopefully his length can disrupt his shot...

[Norm]

I like State too after Marquette. I've watched a lot of games, and if it is close in the end, I think MU will win. Neitzel, as good a shooter as he is, has missed more shots then he's made at the end of games. I would guess his shooting percentage under 2 minutes to go is about 20%. He hit some big shots this year vs. OSU and WI, but he's not clutch at the end of games. (Now watch him drain a 3 with no time left to beat us....)

[KingIzzo]

Disclaimer: I am a MSU fan

MSU's biggest weakness are turnovers and Izzo admits as much. They are very young, only have 2 juniors on the team and no seniors. Someone posted that Neitzel isn't clutch at the end of games and thats not entirely true. He scored 11 straight (I believe 11) late the the UW win. Since teams have started gearing up for him he has been used as a decoy many times to open up shots for Suton, Morgan and Joseph.

I would be curious to hear what MU's weaknesses are. I have heard that u guys are streaky shooting (like everyone else) and turnover prone. Is that a fair assessment?

Anyway should be a fun next couple of days and here's to a fun game. Hopefully the winner can move to the sweet 16.

[Norm]

KingIzzo,

I brought up Neitzel missing shots at the end of games, but I did point out he was great against OSU and UW this season. I'm a State fan (MU first though), and I've just watched games where MSU misses most of their shots near the end, with Neitzel taking a lot of them. It probably had to do with the fact that Neitzel was a freshman or sophmore when taking those shots, and he has improved in clutch situations this year. he reminds me a lot of MU's Travis Diener, who got more clutch as his career went on at MU.

[Sgost8]

To clarify, MSU has won 4 road games this year:  Tournament win over Texas, win over BYU at the Palace in Detroit, Penn St, and Northwestern in Big 10 tournament in Chicago.  That being said, MSU is like the rest of the Big 10 when it comes to road wins (rare in conference play).
I think we have a young team but seems to have performed OK on the big stage (tournaments) and against then-#1 Wisconsin at home.  Also lost by 2 points at Ohio State and at Wisconsin (their buzzer beater).

Am I an MSU apologist? No, just a fan.  But I think MSU, like MU, has not gotten the benefit of the "whole story" this year and thus crappy seeding.

I look forward to a really good match up.  Too bad about McNeal, but we have had to play with sick players this year and had 2 months of "injured reserve" too, from Joseph and Morgan during out-of-conference play, and that is tough to deal with.

[msu1991]

I'll ditto Sgost8's post.

State lost a few road games on the road, that they should have one, had circumstances been different (@ Purdue- two players out with injuries, @umich-three starters had the flu, nothing left in the tank after beating Wisky and Indy. They also lost @ Wisky on a buzzer beater. One of our guys was practically tackled on a screen and no call).  So, MSU could easily have been 3-4 wins more. 90%+/- of Big ten teams lost on the road in the BT- save OSU.

MSU weaknesses are turnovers and dumb penalties (lack of depth).

Strengths- this team has taken on Izzo's attitude and toughness. They are gritty and play tough.

I think MSU and MU are very similar team, excellent coaches. Should be a great game.

[rocky_warrior]

Glad to have a few spartan fans for this discussion...

As for MU's weaknesses...
- Shot selection.  We're not as "streaky" as before with the exception of probably James.  Most guys on the team know when they've got a high percentage shot and when they don't.  When James is playing well, he falls into that category.  Other times, he can feel the need to take over a game and hurt us with ill-advised shots that have no prayer (though, occasionally 1 or 2 of those will go in two).

- Frontcourt scoring.  You'll see at least one thread on the board lamenting our lack of big men.  Barro has improved by leaps and bounds this year, but he still has a hard time creating his own shot.  He frequently scores 10+, but it's usually from the guards creating an opening and then dishing him the ball right under the basket (or in the alley behind the basket).  After Barro, you've got Hayward who plays a lot of PF and has a nose for the ball, but is not a "big".  Kinsella who is 7ft but doesn't play inside.  Burke who is a Soph and still learning.  And Lott who can bring a lot of energy, but doesn't have enough moves.

- Turnovers (since they were mentioned).  McNeal is our most turnover prone player, so this is actually less of a weakness.  It's not generally *that* big of a deal with McNeal because it creates a frenzied pace on both ends, and that leads to more run-outs for MU.

- Fouls to give.  Fitzgerald and Hayward both have a knack for picking up lots of stupid fouls.  Without McNeal available this can lead to problems near the end of the game if one or both aren't available.  They've both picked up a lot of slack in the scoring.

- Defense.  This is the biggest problem with McNeal out.  We played a decent game against Pitt in the BET, but never really stopped them from scoring.  We need the other guys to bring a lot of energy, and avoid stupid fouls that make them tentative on defense.

My call for the game - if Kinsella can hit two 3's you're doomed.  We're undefeated when he hits at least 2 

[spiral97]

My call for the game - if Kinsella can hit two 3's you're doomed.  We're undefeated when he hits at least 2 

His key season stats:

• 80% 3pt shots (4-5) (#1 on team)
• 50% FG shots (5-10) (#3 on team behind our walk-on Kuphall who is 100% and Barro who is 60%)

Offensive juggernaut! 

[NavinRJohnson]

I think these teams are pretty evenly matched and I expect a close game. For that reason I think this game comes down to three things - 3-pt shooting, FT's and rebounding. The two are very similar in terms of the shooting percentages, with MSU having a slight edge (although if you subtract McNeal, they'd probably be almost identical), with MU being the superior rebounding team. In the end, I think our guards' ability to clean the glass will be the difference in this one. Looking over MSU's last 10 or so games, with only one exception (loss at UW) when they lost the rebounding battle, they lost the game. One of the reasons they were able to play UW so tough this year is that the Badgers are not a very good rebounding team.

If MU can connects on enough of their 3-pt attempts and FT's, I think they should win the game.

[KingIzzo]

I wouldn't say the MU is a superior rebounding team to MSU. MSU lead the B10 in rebounding margin and was top 5 or 10 nationally. I would say that they are similar but neither is superior.