Michigan State (which is in Michigan) Post Game Thread

[Waquoit]

Very much hindsight view here, but his stock was probably highest after the 2nd championship.

I can't see outcoaching the coach of the eventual champs hurting his draft stock all that much. His team came ready to play in the big spot.

 

[HooperScooper]

That first foul on Silas has to be the most ridiculous foul ever called. Silas is bent over in a defensive stance far from Fear. Fear bends stretching his upper body under Silas's head. Then he suddenly jerks up with his elbow out hitting Silas.

It was pure bend and snap like in Legally Blond!

I'm still laughing about that one. How is this a foul on Demary?

 

[karstenkibbe]

Multiple F-bomb variations and calling the 5 guys in the huddle soft. Lip reading is a skill, my friends. I love Dan Hurley.

 

[I Bleed Blue]

The scowl to "alright, got that out. Anyways..." transition at 0:24 is hilarious 🤣

 

[huskyfan224]

Multiple F-bomb variations and calling the 5 guys in the huddle soft. Lip reading is a skill, my friends. I love Dan Hurley.

They cut off the best part at the end, it needed to go another 10-12 seconds lol. After he calmed down and stopped yelling, they broke the huddle and he turned it on again and yelled “wake the effe up!”

Dan is the man

 

[NJHusky]

I will probably get hammered for this take, but this team reminds me of the 23 team. Hear me out:
-- 2023 team had 3 guys who could run the offense. 2025 team does as well.
--2023 team had a couple of sharpshooters in Hawk and Alex, along with a killer in Cam. 2025 team has 2 sharpshooters (Solo and Mullins) and a plethora of players who can score in multiple ways. Oh, and we have a better version of Alex.
--2023 team had a defensive stopper on the wing. These two exhibition games tell me that Ross is going to be that guy. And did you see how Silas and Malachi defend the ball handler? And we saw Stewart defend the nation's leading scorer last year. Nasty.
--2023 team had guys who could create their own shots when the 3 was not working. 2025 team has that too. Solo looks different driving the ball. Objectively speaking, he looks more comfortable driving the lane. Alex looks more assertive driving to the basket. And Mullins is coming back kids. We didn't see Silas do this last night, but watching his Georgia days, he surely has that in his game.
****The biggest difference is the center position. 2023 team had Sanogo and Clingan. Enough said. Not going to argue against them. But if Bear comes back healthy, these last two games showed us that Riebe will be okay playing 15 minutes. And Koroma can play too. We are going to be okay at center.

I love this team. I do not think we know the ceiling yet, and that is a good thing. We are, after all, missing our starting center and our starting wing. And despite those injuries, we dominated an ACC team and a top 25 team. And please do not tell me that MSU is not a top 25 team. How many years have we heard that about a Izzo lead team only to see them play in March?

Jayden Ross looks different. Forget about his stats, and they are nice. I think he is different between the ears. In both exhibition games he badly missed on the first shots he took, and he did not let that affect him. Point of fact, he kept being aggressive. That is progress. Up until now, we have not seen what Hurley sees in practice. Well, we have seen it now in two exhibition games.

My last take is about fouls. I know that we committed dumb fouls, particularly in the second half. But the refs were calling a ridiculous game. A lot of the fouls called on the perimeter were not reach in fouls. They were ticki-tacki fouls that most refs dont call. The eye ball test tells me that this team will guard at a high level.

Good take, except Cam wasn't on the 23 champ team...he was 24

 

[JakeTheDog]

I didn't like seeing what Hurley said to his guy, it was something like you guys are soft with an explicitive. I don't know who he was seething at.

Hurley is a known quantity and all our guys know what they signed up for. I don’t think anyone on the team is going to be upset Coach got heated. His passion is a major reason these kids want to play for him.

 

[husky429]

Hurley is a known quantity and all our guys know what they signed up for. I don’t think anyone on the team is going to be upset Coach got heated. His passion is a major reason these kids want to play for him.

It's D1 athletics, not a middle school rec team. No issue with cursing out the guys once in a while, particularly when it's not even an individual but a group getting it

 

[FearThePups]

Hurley stated during preseason practice that he wasn’t going to run the same complex offense system that he installed the last three years. He said he was going to allow the players to play with more freedom.

From what I’ve seen in the two exhibition games, we aren’t getting nearly as many open shots.

Our offense doesn’t look any different than any other teams offense this year. It’s not sophisticated, it’s not hard to defend, it’s vanilla.

This year we have more shooters than ever and the complex offense that would get them open shots has been put on the shelf.

I saw a few glimmers of our fabled offensive schemes in the 2nd half. Maybe the plan is to gradually phase into it as the season progresses We have a lot of new guys. It doesn’t happen in 2 exhibition games.
On a positive note…. Like what I see from Reibe (played well for a true freshman and he’s not a stick), pleasantly surprised by Koluma, guards all seem to be able to handle the ball, turnovers minimal, Ross impressed but I need to see more like this, game would have been closer if MSU made free throws and horrible referees, ticky tack fouls.

 

[karstenkibbe]

I saw a few glimmers of our fabled offensive schemes in the 2nd half. Maybe the plan is to gradually phase into it as the season progresses We have a lot of new guys. It doesn’t happen in 2 exhibition games.
On a positive note…. Like what I see from Reibe (played well for a true freshman and he’s not a stick), pleasantly surprised by Koluma, guards all seem to be able to handle the ball, turnovers minimal, Ross impressed but I need to see more like this, game would have been closer if MSU made free throws and horrible referees, ticky tack fouls.

Arthur Kaluma taking that G-League to NCAA opportunity? Impressive get this late.

 

[husky429]

I saw a few glimmers of our fabled offensive schemes in the 2nd half. Maybe the plan is to gradually phase into it as the season progresses We have a lot of new guys. It doesn’t happen in 2 exhibition games.
On a positive note…. Like what I see from Reibe (played well for a true freshman and he’s not a stick), pleasantly surprised by Koluma, guards all seem to be able to handle the ball, turnovers minimal, Ross impressed but I need to see more like this, game would have been closer if MSU made free throws and horrible referees, ticky tack fouls.

We didn't run much of our main offense. No need to give future opponents the scout.

 

[HooperScooper]

Good take, except Cam wasn't on the 23 champ team...he was 24

It's pretty cool that we have so many championships that we can't keep track of all of them. Syracuse fans wish they had this problem. 😀

 

[Chin Diesel]

Based on Hurley's comments when he returned after the 2024 draft process it was communicated to AK that he had guaranteed money coming his way, which would have put him in the early 2nd round territory similar to AJax. I don't think his chances were nearly as high last season(hence the return) and if he has similar issues shooting and finishing as he did last season then I think that pushes him further away from where he was after his sophomore year. If he can shoot closer to 47-48% from the field and 38-40% from 3 along with everything else he does out there that should put him where he hopes to be. Staying isn't the issue, he just gotta perform and not fall off a cliff again.

I have learned to hate when AK catches on the perimeter, tries a head fake and then tries to drive. Never works against better defenders. I'd rather him catch and shoot in motion, or catch and immediately put ball on the floor to drive.
The head fake hesitation gives defenders the chance to square him up and deny both the 3 point shot and the dribble penetration.

 

[RuffRuff]

I have learned to hate when AK catches on the perimeter, tries a head fake and then tries to drive. Never works against better defenders. I'd rather him catch and shoot in motion, or catch and immediately put ball on the floor to drive.
The head fake hesitation gives defenders the chance to square him up and deny both the 3 point shot and the dribble penetration.

100% - mechanical and easy to anticipate. Needs to ditch it altogether. I can’t remember the last time I even saw him gain a step with it.

 

[DRBackup]

I have learned to hate when AK catches on the perimeter, tries a head fake and then tries to drive. Never works against better defenders. I'd rather him catch and shoot in motion, or catch and immediately put ball on the floor to drive.
The head fake hesitation gives defenders the chance to square him up and deny both the 3 point shot and the dribble penetration.

I fee like he could really benefit from a quick dribble to get set and then shoot. A lot of his misses are when he catches out on the perimeter in transition when he isn't quite set.

 

[UCLJ0211]

2 threes, an impressive finish at the rim, and quick hands on D. I was impressed

 

[Dogfish]

That first foul on Silas has to be the most ridiculous foul ever called. Silas is bent over in a defensive stance far from Fear. Fear bends stretching his upper body under Silas's head. Then he suddenly jerks up with his elbow out hitting Silas.

It was pure bend and snap like in Legally Blond!

YES! It's at the 1:30 minute mark. As soon as I saw that my first thoughts were "here we go"! Feels like we've been playing 5 v 6 since the Calhoun years.

 

[Spaceman213J]

UConn committed a lot of legit fouls, but there was a bunch of horrible calls. I thought the refs worst mistake was that for the first 2 minutes they let it be very physical. Demary was pushed down on a loose ball and Reibe was fouled, but it was a no-call. Refs need to establish how they are calling the game early. They can't not call it early and then flip a switch and start calling a foul when a player breathes on another.
Love that the coaches agreed to add another foul. Both are very smart and know starters and key role players playing against bench warmers doesn't really help the players especially in a game where you are trying to evaluate and teach.

 

[Scottobot]

34 fouls and 4 guys fouled out? 44 foul shots for MSU. Wth? And I was making fun of Michigan in the game against St. John's? I was out tonight so couldn't watch the game but what was with all the fouling?

Boxscore:

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It seemed like the refs had assumed that since this in an exhibition game both teams should play “nba all star game defense” and not get close enough to touch someone on defense. But neither team wanted to actually play that way and each team cared more about practicing their physical defense than not committing fouls