MSU vs. Indiana

I am still working on my promised follow up to my post last week.  What does John Lennon say?  Life is what happens while youre busy making other plans.  Has there been a more anticipated week a more hotly debated week in MSU football since Dantonio took over?  Maybe the first year we played UM after the little brother game.  Maybe Last years B1G championship game.  Also, I hate these watch ESPN app commercials

OFFENSE:  This is why the weeks is anticipated.  MSU showed signs of life offensively against OSU even while scoring only 16 points.  Maxwell stayed poised in the pocket  delivered the ball on the money and for the most part his receivers  made plays.   With that, there is a new wrinkle  to the offense.  Aaron Burbridge was named a starter in place of the struggling Bennie Fowler.  KJ from the only colors thinks that this has a weird vibe.  I could not disagree more.  Aaron has come in as a highly recruiter wide receiver, Fowler has not been struggling to get it done.   Along with that, Dan Roushar has described Burbridge as being able to catch everything that is thrown his way.  That is exactly what we need.

DEFENSE:  Defensively, this MSU team has performed very well.  Like a keep saying, the defense is not going to win us games, we still need to score points. For this game at Indiana, MSU needs to come out ready to hit someone.  Gholston, this week, has given his play so far this year a "C". What is he going to do to change that?  Adams got beat on a perfectly thrown ball last week, will a play like that happen with a lesser quarterback?  For Gholston, look for him to be attacking,  I think he is hearing it from his coaches and is getting worked in practice, there should be a lot of effort out of him.  Look for Adams to have another strong game and even come up with an interception. 

Overall this is a game that MSU should end up winning comfortably.  To start, Indiana will move the ball well and tack on some field goals.  Opposing that will be the MSU offense and Burbridge.  I expect MSU to throw to him early and I think Indiana is keenly aware of that.  Look for Burbridge to be used a decoy for Bell to pop out on a little wheel route.  But what about Bell?  He had disappeared against OSU.  Bell will get going early as they use the run to set up the pass.  Bell should break the century mark and tack on some touchdowns in the second half.  Well call this game 28-13 MSU

B1G Season Is Here!

And to be fully honest, I am not prepared.  I have been able to catch a handful of MSU games,  and did manage to see the last 5 minutes of the Indiana Kentucky game.  But man am I way off on being able to have any sort of analysis, especially when it comes to Indiana.  When watching MSU, there are three things that are evident.

1: Draymond is the key. 
Everything seems to flow through Draymond.  Green is the 100% leader of this team.  His game on the court really controls the tempo for the entire team.  If Draymond can knock down jumpers, were gonna beat almost everyvody.  If Green is snagging boards, then were pushing it on the break.  It will be intersting to see who guards Zeller.  Green is probably the best defensively to guard big men, but that matchup is terrible for us.  So is Nix or Payne though.  That will be an interesting matcup.  The MSU front court versus Zeller. 

2: 4 and 5 play.
So far this year, our 4 and 5 spots have been both up and down.  Depending on the lineup there is any  number of people that play the two big spots, Payne, Nix, Green, Dawson, Gauna. At time, any one of those players has looked really good (well, Green has looked good most of the year).  I think right now, the continual development of Payne is necessary.  Payne has all the tools to be a monster.  But it seems that his body cant keep up with his athleticism.  This both limits him minutes wise due to conditioning, and moves wise due to coordination.  It looks like at times he surprises himself with his jumping or quick moves.  With that,  Joe Rexrode has stated many times that in practices and scrimmages, Payne rains it from three.   That has yet to be seen in games.   Nix has been a serious positive.  His free throw % is only at 54% but it seems that he is confident as ever when shooting the ball from the stripe.  In the post, Nix is a load.  He has good moves, lots of up and unders, and great vision to get the ball to teammates.  For now, I like the idea of Zeller guarding Nix.  I think Nix's size could get Zeller into foul trouble if utilizied correctly IE, ball fakes and attacking the rim. 

3: We will need outside scoring.
This is pretty much a no brainier for almost every college basketball team, but especially true for MSU the last 4 years.  Wood has been a welcome relief for MSU when it comes to shooting over the last 5 games, hovering at about 50%, I am not sure what his eFG% is over that span (that's about the only worthwhile tempo stat).  Appling has shown the ability to shoot the three but his best game is leading a fast break.  He is no Lucas in the half court but has the ability to be a better finisher on fast breaks.  If Appling shoot it only when he needs to and build confidence in his game on the defensive end, that will bold well.  Travis Trice is shooting over 50% the last 6 games from three.  To me, Trice has been the most impressive player so far this year.  Trice's ability to stay hot will keep us in this game. 

Prediction:
Based on that last sentence, you can probably see where I am going with this prediction.  While we are home, the students are away and I believer the Izzo Alumni will be in attendance.  This probably wont be much worse than what the student section has shown so far this year, but still, students are students, who knows what they would pull.  This looks to be a great match up for MSU against what might be the second best B1G team.  I see Indiana sneaking this one out in a hotly contested game, and free throws will matter 77-72 IU. Prove me wrong State. 

(first post in a while, I need to get back into things)