Two observations from yesterday's game

[RF2044]

We all said the same thing about Harden and Olidipo when Cuse took them to the woodshed- wonder if he will end up in their class. He was not impressive though

No, I'll disagree there. Bridges isn't anywhere near either of their levels [especially Harden]. He's a physically mature kid dominating college ball, who is partially a fabrication of BiG media hype. He's more Schea Cotton / man among boys than he is Harden.

 

[Cheriehoop]

I was shocked how fat and unathletic most of them were.

I mean compare someone like Bridges and Bagley from a POY perspective. It’s laughable

Wonder if conditioning and fatigue played a part also. We don’t usually take quick shots but use almost the entire shot clock before shooting. Defending for that period of time takes conditioning and focus. We stayed focused and played tough D even after losing out on multiple rebounds in a row. Doubt they were used to that type of frustration on offense and instead hoped to hurry up the tempo by playing faster, quicker shots. You have to be in great condition to play great defense and frustration leads to both physical and mental fatigue.

 

[50YRsofCuse]

Izzo in his halftime interview seemed more concerned about pushing the pace instead of working the ball to get a good shot. The game plan was to push the pace and when that didn't happen they were unprepared in the half court set. They had the wrong guy in the middle of the zone and had no clue what to do. Izzo made no halftime adjustments just stated we need to push the pace more. Terrible coaching job by him IMO.

I understand why they had Carter in. He was an experienced big man who knew how to pass. They stationed him adjacent to the free throw area and hope that he could get the ball inside to Ward and Bridges. He did pass well to an open man just not that much inside.

 

[STEVEHOLT]

Remember the one win? A total dismantling of the zone after half-time adjustments. Worst I've ever seen. At that point, I never wanted to play Izzo again. I'm shocked that he hasn't won any against us since.

It was more a function of having AJ Granger , mateen cleeves, and mo Peterson wake up .

This MSU team was not in the same stratosphere as that one .

 

[SUskibum]

No, I'll disagree there. Bridges isn't anywhere near either of their levels [especially Harden]. He's a physically mature kid dominating college ball, who is partially a fabrication of BiG media hype. He's more Schea Cotton / man among boys than he is Harden.

Exactly.

Bridges is to college BBall as Paul Harris was to high school BBall

 

[FrancoPizza]

This is why Duke is going to be such a tough matchup... They can put Bagley or the other big dude at the logo and he can easily initiate the offense from there and they have their other big guy to do a ton of damage on the baseline. Additionally their guards can get to the logo with the dribble also. I don't think we can hold Duke to a low enough score that our poor poor offense can overcome. The only way we win is if Battle, Brissett, Howard have career days on offense.

I'd take my chances with letting Bag just shooting 15 footers. Deny everything else. JB made a comment post-game that makes me think there's a slight possibility that he'll follow that strategy.

 

[PhatOrange]

Wasn't the top of key bank shot 3 pointer also a shot clock buzzer beater? Plus they had another shot clock buzzer beater in the 2nd half,

Never the less they ended up banking in 2 freaking 3 pointers. now that's lucky

 

[cuseinseattle]

It's unprecedented. I mean, just think about if somebody had told you those two statistics before the game, what you would expect the outcome to be.

Lose by 20

 

[malpearl31]

The fact carter and tillman played more than ward and Jackson is historically bad.

This. Ben Carter had played a total of only 43 minutes in the Big 10 regular season. Izzo for some reason played Carter 23 minutes yesterday - and played Jaren Jackson, Jr (a consensus lottery pick) only 15 minutes.

I think this board would have melted down if Boeheim had similarly benched a future pro for a guy who had only scored 13 points for the entire season prior to that game!

 

[Ghost]

I was shocked how fat and unathletic most of them were.

I mean compare someone like Bridges and Bagley from a POY perspective. It’s laughable

Someone (maybe you) commented on that in the game thread about 3 minutes into the game and I laughed...because it was true. Why were they all so fat?

 

[AZOrange]

Someone (maybe you) commented on that in the game thread about 3 minutes into the game and I laughed...because it was true. Why were they all so fat?

It was me. It made no sense

 

[VaBeachOrFan]

Wasn't the top of key bank shot 3 pointers also at the shot clock buzzer? Plus they another shot buzzer beater in the 2nd half,

Never the less they ended up banking in 2 freaking 3 pointers. now that's lucky

I counted at least three MSU shots -- including that freakin' water-polo shot off a good Matt Moyer block -- that were made with one second or less on the clock. That halftime highlight shot had about 0.4 seconds left when it left his hands. One of the other shots actually hit below the rim and climbed up over it. Wish our shooters were that "talented."-VBOF

 

[longislandcuse]

I can't envision another reason why they would be so thoroughly unprepared -- I mean, they went 30-4 prior to facing us. They were one of the best statistical offenses in the country, they were huge inside, had depth, etc. And yet, they looked inept.

I can think of some B1G reasons why...

 

[moqui]

The thing that surprised me about Izzo is that if anyone saw his interview at the end of the first half with Allie LaForce, she asked him about our depth and possibly pushing the pace to wear us down. He emphatically stated that the pace was going to change in the second half, and it didn't. I was so puzzled by that. And secondly...why in the world did he not put Miles Bridges at the free throw line against the zone. I was waiting for that to happen almost as if it were a given, but he didn't do it. I feel that he would have absolutely crushed us there. I love Izzo, but man did he let his team down in that game.

1 - jb's counter was to make sure the defense got back quickly
2 - best way to push pace is to press, but you can't do that when you're missing shots

 

[sugrad68]

I counted at least three MSU shots -- including that freakin' water-polo shot off a good Matt Moyer block -- that were made with one second or less on the clock. That halftime highlight shot had about 0.4 seconds left when it left his hands. One of the other shots actually hit below the rim and climbed up over it. Wish our shooters were that "talented."-VBOF

Bridges also banked in a 3 pointer. So there were 2 banked-in 3-pointers and I remember 3 shots that just beat the shot clock/buzzer.

 

[BludOrange]

Bridges also banked in a 3 pointer. So there were 2 banked-in 3-pointers and I remember 3 shots that just beat the shot clock/buzzer.

Game was over after the second banked 3.

One bank is good luck, use the bank twice, and the basketball gods become upset.