[Cracked Sidewalks] Mississippi State Preview

[The Sultan]

This Marquette team is already written off by most.  Certain media listing games like Duke/Bellarmine and Arkansas/Louisville as games to watch today while leaving out Marquette/MSU.

The Big East media is also has Marquette as an afterthought. Today is the perfect day to change the narrative. Winning this event would be massive for this season.

It would be fantastic for Marquette to win this, but it is a small tournament made up of four pretty average teams - at best. I don't think any narrative is going to significantly change based on this.

[DoctorV]

It would be fantastic for Marquette to win this, but it is a small tournament made up of four pretty average teams - at best. I don't think any narrative is going to significantly change based on this.

It would change the narrative of scoop doe, wouldn't it?

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

Caught the Mississippi State/South Dakota game. MSST looked very good though it was one of those games where it was hard to make good judgement due to the poor play of the opponent (but that's what great teams do, dominate bad opponents). MSST switches on everything defensively. They don't care if 6'1" Shakeel Moore ends up guarding the 5 or if 265lb William McNair ends up guarding the 1. That's how strong and athletic they are on defense. I was impressed by Tolu Smith's ability to guard in space though he did pick up a couple of tick tack fouls away from the basket trying guard smaller players. I think that should be a point of attack to try and get Smith in foul trouble early.

They forced a lot of turnovers but it felt like that was mostly incompetence by the Coyotes. South Dakota couldn't get anything inside. MSST's length kept them from driving and any coyotes that did get through were erased by a help defender. The only success the Coyotes found was when they could get quick passes around the perimeter until it found an open guy but MSST's length makes that hard to do. The Bulldogs were surprisingly poor on transition D, they often didn't know where to go and it led to a lot of open shots for SD (that they mostly missed).

Offensively, MSST either dumped it inside for a postup or held the ball and tried to go 1 on 1 with 10 seconds or left on the clock. Sometimes they would kick out to an open shooter who would usually miss. They are very agressive on the offensive glass. If we can gang rebound, there will be transition opportunities going the other way. Key is going to be making Tolu Smith catch the ball away from the basket. He has some face up game but not much. If he catches the ball within 8 feet, it's almost an auto bucket

I like that this is their first game away from home and that we are the first real team that they have faced. I think that can help give us an edge. While all of their games ended with comfortable margins, they were losing in the second half to both TAMU Corpus Christi and Akron. They responded in both cases with massive runs to put the game out of reach but it show some vulnerability.

[The Sultan]

It would change the narrative of scoop doe, wouldn't it?

Well yes...and I guess that counts more than anything!

[Jay Bee]

Miss St has played a lot of their bench... nobody has gotten consistent big minutes. Hopefully there is also a factor of us having had guys play more minutes than them.  Come out strong, run these f%oker's and bring home the victory