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What to watch for, from a Louisville fan

  • verde said...

    Has Izzo ever lost to a Big East team in the tourney?

    No he's 5-0 against Big East.

    Buzzer Beater

  • verde said...

    Has Izzo ever lost to a Big East team in the tourney?

    No. There will be colliding streaks in this game and one will have to end. I've read that Pitino is 9-0 in Sweet Sixteen games. And Izzo has never lost in the tourney to a Big East team. UCONN in 2009 was in fact the only Big East team to lose by less than double digits.

    Moose Orgsky

  • I'm not going to be diplomatic about it at all. I think Louisville's chances of winning this game are below 5%. MSU is better at every position than Louisville both defensively and offensively. I think this game is a 15+ point game at the half at least and I would be surprised if Louisville had anything to cheer about the whole night.

    I just think this is an awful matchup for Louisville. We are more athletic, bigger, faster, and have better shooters than them. Only team's we will struggle with are teams loaded with NBA talent or ones that decide to turn the game into a game in quicksand.

    The only teams on our entire side of the bracket that I believe can beat us are Marquette and Kentucky and the only team that would be close to 50/50 is Kentucky. Say I'm drinking the green kool-aid, but I see a team like '00. A super talented team that just has a drive to win that cannot be stopped.

    jimmywalker

  • Jahlil Suggs said...

    Payne has a lung condition and has grabbed his jersey indicating he needs a blow at times this year and Nix is a big fella. I highly doubt Pitino would ever recruit a guy Like Nix. Louisville won the Big East Tourney, 5 in 5 running a full court press. Spartan rocky used the fact that we played 5 games in 13 days as an excuse for losing to Indiana. Louisville Has better Athletes, MSU has better Basketball players. Better basketball players when coached right often beat better athletes. The last team I can remember in the tourney that ran such an athletic full court press against us was Tennessee in the elite 8. Remember that saluting punk JP Prince? That worked out well for MSU, even though we only had 1 point guard in Korie Lucious. The '10 was a lot more athletic than this team. I see the full court press giving MSU a problem, but with all the ball handlers this team has it will adjust accordingly. State by 5. If Dieng gets in fouled trouble, State by 10+.

    With Appling, Green and Trice, MSU won't have a problem getting through the press. It's being able to score down low on Dieng that intrigues me. Nix and Payne have already gone up against a handful of lottery pick bigs (Sullinger, Leonard, both Zellers) but Dieng is on another level defensively to those guys (and if we can make it to NOLA, this game will be good practice for Anthony Davis). Defensively, while Siva is quick, so is Appling. Limiting Kuric from going off is the real key. Remember our last loss was because we weren't able to stop a bigger wing from shooting over us. Wood/Thornton/Kearney will be key in that department.

    bmrabbitt ●

  • verde said...

    Has Izzo ever lost to a Big East team in the tourney?

    No. We're undefeated agains the Big East in the NCAA Tourney under Izzo

    2000

    Syracuse - 75-58

    2007

    vs. Marquette - 61-49

    2008

    vs. Pittsburgh - 65-54

    2009

    vs. Louisville - 64-52
    vs. Connecticut - 82-73

    F Michigan

    AASpartan

  • bmrabbitt said...

    With Appling, Green and Trice, MSU won't have a problem getting through the press. It's being able to score down low on Dieng that intrigues me. Nix and Payne have already gone up against a handful of lottery pick bigs (Sullinger, Leonard, both Zellers) but Dieng is on another level defensively to those guys (and if we can make it to NOLA, this game will be good practice for Anthony Davis). Defensively, while Siva is quick, so is Appling. Limiting Kuric from going off is the real key. Remember our last loss was because we weren't able to stop a bigger wing from shooting over us. Wood/Thornton/Kearney will be key in that department.

    Luckily Kuric isn't a big wing at 6'4. I could see Wood, Thornton, and Kearney all locking him down.

    Jahlil Suggs

  • Jahlil Suggs said...

    Luckily Kuric isn't a big wing at 6'4. I could see Wood, Thornton, and Kearney all locking him down.

    True, but he is also longer than both Wood and Thornton and I've heard before that he has an insane vertical.

    bmrabbitt ●

  • Jahlil Suggs said...

    Payne has a lung condition and has grabbed his jersey indicating he needs a blow at times this year and Nix is a big fella. I highly doubt Pitino would ever recruit a guy Like Nix. Louisville won the Big East Tourney, 5 in 5 running a full court press. Spartan rocky used the fact that we played 5 games in 13 days as an excuse for losing to Indiana. Louisville Has better Athletes, MSU has better Basketball players. Better basketball players when coached right often beat better athletes. The last team I can remember in the tourney that ran such an athletic full court press against us was Tennessee in the elite 8. Remember that saluting punk JP Prince? That worked out well for MSU, even though we only had 1 point guard in Korie Lucious. The '10 was a lot more athletic than this team. I see the full court press giving MSU a problem, but with all the ball handlers this team has it will adjust accordingly. State by 5. If Dieng gets in fouled trouble, State by 10+.

    Meh. I watched Louisville a couple times and I'm just not buying the better athlete stuff. I'd love to see Louisville employ an all out press, but I just don't see it happening much. Maybe they employ some light pressure and then drop back into the zone or some 3/4 pressure, but I doubt we'll see 40 minutes of hell or anything. They aren't deep enough and Pitino knows we'll be ready for it with 4 days of prep.

    To me the key is ball movement. Watch the youtube video of the 2009 game. Look how good we moved the ball during a lot of the scoring sequences. We did a tremendous job of passing the ball and forcing the zone to move until we got open looks. We'll need to hit shots, but the key was ball movement. I'm guessing we'll see a lot of Green in the center of that zone near the free throw line with Nix or Payne along the baseline. Those guys are really nicely suited for that roll, but we'll also need to bury some perimeter shots.

    007Spartan

  • A couple other tidbits for you about MSU:

    - This is Tom Izzo's best passing team. As others have mentioned we don't have great shooters and individual scorers, but this is statistically one of MSU's most efficient offensive teams and it really has to do with our passing. We create very high percentage shots through ball movement. All 8 of our regular rotation guys have above average vision and passing skills (except maybe Adreian Payne, but he isn't too bad). Granted Louisville is the best pressing team in the country, but I believe we are a terrible matchup for a pressing/zone team in general because of our elite passing ability.

    - Elite perimeter defenders and very good perimeter rebounders. You hear about Green's rebounding I'm sure, but Appling, Wood, Thornton and even Travis Trice contibute heavily to our rebounding advantage. Any one of them, as well as Green can individually start a break off of a rebound. The best defense against MSU is usually high percentage shooting or sending nobody to the offensive glass (see Wisconsin, Saint Louis, Northwestern). I realize Louisville is a good rebounding team, but check the stats again UNC, OSU or any other good rebounding team. MSU just wins that battle against everyone.

    Buzzer Beater

  • Buzzer Beater said...

    No he's 5-0 against Big East.

    But Pitino is like 12-0 in sweet 16's! Something's gotta give!!! Being an avid craps player I can tell you, the dice don't have a memory. It doesn't matter if he's 5-0 against Big East. It doesn't matter Pitino has never lost a sweet 16 game. Those are games in the past. You can't look at past years to provide any edge in who's going to win the game.

    signature image

    darlin16

  • SpartanRocky said...

    Truth. Football equivalent of saying that it's hard to stop a team that can get pressure with just its front 4. lol.

    Seriously, Zones give MSU problems, but if you combine that with a press, it could allow MSU to get to the bucket before you can set up your zone. That's a concern for Louisville.

    Is there really any solid evidence MSU struggles against a zone? Wasn't it Minnesota that zoned us? We had a bad night but still won. Then teams tried to do it again after that and MSU torched it every time.

    Denim Chicken

  • Denim Chicken said...

    Is there really any solid evidence MSU struggles against a zone? Wasn't it Minnesota that zoned us? We had a bad night but still won. Then teams tried to do it again after that and MSU torched it every time.

    It was, Minnesota's zone that night I believe was a big surprise and we weren't ready for it. Once we learned to deal with it we destroyed it after that.

    jimmywalker

  • jimmywalker said...

    It was, Minnesota's zone that night I believe was a big surprise and we weren't ready for it. Once we learned to deal with it we destroyed it after that.

    Ralph Sampson III decided to play to his potential that game, if I remember correctly. And MSU missed an inordinate amount of 3s, including Wood, who had an awful night.

    The only time MSU struggles against a zone is when our shooters aren't shooting well. But you could say that about any team in the country. This team's passing is so good, and Wood and Thornton have been stroking it lately. I just don't see a zone being that big of an issue.

    Now, the way Louisville plays zone is not like most teams, with the mid-possession switch to man sometimes. But like someone mentioned, Izzo will have his guys prepared for that. Nix and Green are great passers, even better decision makers and have incredible basketball savvy. I think they'll be fine, but it I expect this to be a fun game to watch.

    Denim Chicken

  • What Louisville board do you come from?

    Jahlil Suggs

  • I keep seeing people on SC talk about how we are in trouble against the press. In my opinion, there isn't too many teams out there with better passing ability from 1-5 if you have Nix, Green, Thorton, Wood, and Appling in the game.

    signature image signature image

    Michigan State University is the university of Michigan

    Bailey1149

  • Thanks for the update!

    2 things, pressing MSU who essentially plays 3 guards with a 6'7" guy who can pass over the press could kill a team. There is a reason why teams give up on the offensive glass v. MSU. It's not because MSU is slow, it's because teams know that you have to beat MSU's O in the half court. Spreading the floor and keeping guys up court pressing just opens the floor up for Green to find someone.

    Stopping the 3 isn't that big a deal v. MSU..MSU rarly shoots them and prefers to not depend on them. If that's what Louisville is hanging its hat on then fine. What did MSU shoot like 7 total in the first 2 games combined?

    signature image

    RPMadMSU

  • When Louisville presses, I can see Izzo using a similar strategy that they used against Florida in 2000. They inbounded the ball to Hutson, who then diagonal passed it to a streaking Cleaves or Bell to break the press. I can see Green using his court awareness and passing ability to fill the role of Hutson from that game, with Appling, Woods and Trice being the secondary receivers for his passes to get the ball up the court. Just need to make sure Trice and Appling don't try to over-dribble - which I would guess they will do a few times.

    Cement23588 ●

  • darlin16 said...

    But Pitino is like 12-0 in sweet 16's! Something's gotta give!!! Being an avid craps player I can tell you, the dice don't have a memory. It doesn't matter if he's 5-0 against Big East. It doesn't matter Pitino has never lost a sweet 16 game. Those are games in the past. You can't look at past years to provide any edge in who's going to win the game.

    Izzo's S16 record is pretty good too. 7-2 I think. Lost to 1 seed UNC in 1998, lost to vacated 1 seed Memphis in 2008.

    So...7-1 actually.

    Is Louisville a 1 seed? Does the year end with 8?

    signature image

    RPMadMSU

  • bmrabbitt said...

    True, but he is also longer than both Wood and Thornton and I've heard before that he has an insane vertical.

    He's not that long and he's completely different from Buford. Buford has an NBA game with all his step backs and 1 on 1 moves while Kuric is much more catch and shoot and good in transition

    GoState3

  • RPMadMSU said...

    Izzo's S16 record is pretty good too. 7-2 I think. Lost to 1 seed UNC in 1998, lost to vacated 1 seed Memphis in 2008.

    So...7-1 actually.

    Is Louisville a 1 seed? Does the year end with 8?

    And....who coached that Memphis team? Dirty, f**king joke. If Izzo beats that dude, will he be "just" nice, real nice, or whisper in his ear "get the fuck out of my face" nice?

    This post was edited by Loose Stools on 3/19/2012 at 8:43 PM

    Loose Stools

  • and want to amplify that the 2 centers create match up issues for defenders. 2 different styles. One very athletic, rangy and shot blocker...the other solid position player with surprisingly quick feet and post moves. It is constant pressure on the other teams big and if one style is easily stopped, the other usually is very successful.

    buckeyesparty

  • a

    This post was edited by bleeblee 479 on 3/19/2012 at 10:08 PM

    bleeblee 479

  • Something MSU and UL fans can appreciate....

    John Calipari

    Newly minted SEC Coach of the Year John Calipari has led more schools to the No. 1 seed, and had more victories vacated from the records, than any other coach.

    www.theonion.com
    signature image signature image signature image

    LooseGoose2012

  • Jahlil Suggs said...

    What Louisville board do you come from?

    Here's the big Louisville fan site:
    http://www.cardchronicle.com/

    The main board:
    http://mbd.scout.com/mb.aspx?s=17&f=2755

    And heres' the youtube channel for all our game highlight reels. Apologies in advance for the EUD (Excessive Use of Dubstep):
    http://www.youtube.com/user/VillenHD?feature=watch

    Cardsfan

  • Izzo has plenty of time to prepare for the press, zone to match up. Give Izzo time to game plan and hide the children. While we will give them Payne... We will also run them out ot the gym.

    State has played and experienced more then cardinal.

    God, I feel like I could shit in a towel... Is it Thursday yet...

    This post has been edited 2 times, most recently by northandwells on 3/19/2012 at 10:35 PM

    northandwells

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