Who is Michigan State? Profiling the Spartans, Maryland's Second Round Matchup
by Ben Broman on Mar 20, 2010 11:00 AM EDT
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PrintLocation: East Lansing, MI. Home of the Michigan State Sparten.
Nickname: Spartans Mascot: Sparty. Once caught with inflatable doll.
Coach: Tom Izzo. Also known as the only legitimate challenge for Gary Williams' claim to the title of best coach in America. He's also never stepped out of the shower, looked in the mirror, and said "God, you did good." Gary does that four times a day.
Best Player: Kalin Lucas. Burst onto the scene last year with a great tournament; has since been overrated by many fans and analysts alike. He's extremely quick, but undersized and has an average shot. The quickness, however, could be enough to do Maryland in.
Hey, Their Best Player Did Something Bad Too: Namely, give a nasty elbow. Not as funny as Coleman's facestomp, but Kalin Lucas seems a pretty mellow dude. I think I would enjoy chilling with him.
Previously Known By Maryland Fans For: Providing a big Thanksgiving win (well, loss for them) that gave Maryland an NCAAT bid. So we like these guys.
What They Do Well: Rebound and play defense. They're a traditional Big Ten team that boxes out and gives a team-wide effort to cleaning the glass. They also play tight defense and force low-percentage outside shots.
What They Don't Do Well: Hold onto the ball and force turnovers. MSU's only true weakness has to do with the turnover aspect of the game, as they give the ball away more than they would please, and hold onto it less.
So Is That Kind of Like the Opposite of Houston? Yes.
In a Nutshell: Like I said, opposite of Houston. Whereas the Coogs were a high-tempo attack that had one major player, Michigan State is a methodical squad that balances its points out evenly. They have more than their share of TOs and don't force many, and will trade giving up twos for giving up threes. It'll be an interesting one.
I Want More: Read our first look.
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Opposing view
Hey, I’m an MSU fan, and just wanted to come over here a nd see what you guys thought of the game tomorrow.
I don’t know much about Maryland, but I can give you some info on MSU. For those of you who saw the game yesterday, that was esentially a microcosm of our season. When we are focused and playing to our potential, we can play with anyone. However, if we lose focus, we fall apart.
As far as the players, I would agree with the game preview in that Lucas is overrated as a player. He is fast, but his jump shot has been lacking most of the season, and he seems to have trouble finishing at the hoop. He did score 24 last night, and his jump shot looked real good, so maybe he is coming around. Durrell Summers is the X-factor for this team. He scored 10 of our first 12 points, on perfect 4-4 shooting, and then finished the rest of the game scoring 2 points on 1-11 shooting. If he is focused and has his shot is falling, this Spartans team is darn near unstoppable.
As far as the post players, they are undersized, but they make that deficiency up with tenacious play. Draymond Green is only 6’6", but he has been compared to Charles Barkley in that he is undersized, but still pulls down every rebound in sight. Delvon Roe has been somewhat disappointing this season for us, but we found out several weeks ago that he is going to need knee and wrist surgery after the season. He is still playing through the pain, and doing a pretty good job, considering. Raymar Morgan has been pretty inconsistent throughout he season, but he is a senior, and realizing his playing days are coming to an end. Over the last four regular season games, he averaged over 19 points per game. Last night, he got into foul trouble early, and hardly played in the first half. This is our worst nightmare, as he usually folds inward, and is lost for the rest of the game. However, he was arguably our best player down the stretch last night, getting a tip dunk to put us up by four, and then icing the game at the line. I don’t know much about your post players, but I expect they will have a much tougher time against our front line than Houston’s.
Chris Allen is arguably our best perimeter defender, and I expect to see him matched up on Vasquez most of the night. He is statistically our best 3-point shooter, but he hasn’t been scoring much lately.
In all, I expect the game to be a close one throughout. One statistic that I don’t think has been mentioned is that on one day prep, Izzo has only lost twice, once last year in the national title game, and once in 2007 against North Carolina in a 1 vs. 9 matchup. Given Gary Williams’ failures in the second round, and Izzo’s success, it will be interesting how this one turns out.
Gettin ready
Thanks for the interesting post, Beef.
I have spent a lot of time in the upper Midwest (mostly Badger country – been to Kohl Center many times – much fun – except for Terps, became somewhat a Badger fan), and some of you folks are the friendliest nicest in the country – I appreciate.
Too bad that someone has to lose. Needless to say, it will be a compelling experience one way or other.
I think this statement applies to the Terps as well
“When we are focused and playing to our potential, we can play with anyone. However, if we lose focus, we fall apart.”
We have lost focus in some games this year. Sometimes for a half, or a large part of a half, but that can be enough, especially in the tourney. I wouldn’t put much stake in the 2nd game GW vs. TI argument. The Terps played extremely well when we had to play 100 games in a week earlier this year. First games, second games, whatever. Md has beaten MS a couple of times within the past few years, and they have beaten us once. I doubt that that matters much either. These are different years, with different players. It should be a good close game, that will come down to the fundamentals, rebounds, turnovers, free throws, etc..
Gary Williams for President!
Jordan Williams freshman Manbeast
How civilized
Thanks for the analysis. MSU is always a well-coached and athletic team and I was not happy to see them in our second round despite the fact that they’ve had kind of a down year, esp. compared to the great run they had last year.
I think Maryland’s the better team this season but if Summers and Morgan are on fire it is tough to stop the Spartans. That said, the Terps have shown that with Vasquez, Milbourne, Williams, Hayes and Mosely that we have 5 guys who can go on spurts and really make a difference, let alone Bowie and Tucker who have each had their moments this season.
Also worth noting is that Michigan State has not beaten a truly good team — (their Feb. 28 win over Purdue was PU’s first game without Hummel) since they beat Wisconsin Jan. 9. That’s their only win over a ranked team this entire season other than that weakened Purdue win. They’ve come up short against OSU, Illinois, Purdue (when they had Hummel) and only beat Penn State at home by two points.
When you consider MSU has only beaten injured Purdue and Minnesota (a first round exit) since Jan. 23, and we’ve beaten Florida State, GT, Duke, VT and Clemson since then, we’ve clearly been the hotter and more consistent team over the last few months.
Beefman
you beat me to it. Green in particular needs to be controlled on our defensive glass. This would be a PERFECT time for Gary to say: ‘OK guys, just kidding, everyone start boxing out.’
Just something weird
I think in your breakdowns you should say “in a turtleshell” instead of nutshell.
Best results
Today – how about this: WA, Wake (ACC pride – how about it?), TN (is a great state), Kan (we want to beat them), Nova (local fave), Old D (Virginia a good state), But (Gordon Clark was a great philosopher), K State (I not much for Mormonism)
Barn burner
Nova – St M – minute and a half to go, tie game
Tough question
I’m just considerin that big tough turtle with the white wings that I saw in the stands for the Duke game, and am thinkin about the way that Turtle is ready to take on whoever stands in the way, with success, and perhaps it would be most glorious to beat the top teams all the way up, but, either way would be fine, no?
Have the Terps
lost a game this year when they’ve led at halftime? Tomorrow will be a tough game for sure, but if the Terps are + or – 5 points at the half, I think they would be in good shape given their propensity for raising their game in the 2nd half.
by Jason Middlekauff on Mar 20, 2010 4:14 PM EDT reply actions
Certainly quicker, but not as big/strong
If Coleman goes from 0-60 in 5.2, Lucas does it in 4.8. But he doesn’t finish as well as Coleman does, and can be stopped from getting into the lane by a stronger defender.
Do we need a standardized Testudo Times terminology?
Fast to me is about running the floor. Quick is about stop and go, changing direction, and accelerating over short distances. Lucas may be faster than Coleman but I don’t think he is quicker.
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