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2013-2014 B1G Men's Basketball

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Jaxbuck said:
Anyone else beginning to doubt the awesomeness of Sparty?
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Before the season started I was surprised that so many experts pointed at Sparty as the clear BIG favorite. I can't put my finger on it, but there is something missing from that team that a lot of the true MSU powerhouse teams had. It might be that Payne seems to disappear too often or they don't seem to be quite as strong on the inside overall.
 
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Buckeye737 said:
Before the season started I was surprised that so many experts pointed at Sparty as the clear BIG favorite. I can't put my finger on it, but there is something missing from that team that a lot of the true MSU powerhouse teams had. It might be that Payne seems to disappear too often or they don't seem to be quite as strong on the inside overall.
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Yeah, I think you're right that the difference between this MSU team and their better teams in recent years is the strength of the frontcourt overall. This team has Payne who is very good but inconsistent and they don't have any other players above 6'6" that are good in the frontcourt. Derrick Nix was a beast for them the past couple years, at times they are missing his presence no doubt.
 
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To take it a step further about MSU, their weakest area in Pomeroy's ratings is getting to the FT line, as their rate of FT attempts to FG attempt is one of the 50 lowest in the country. So without Nix (who had the highest FT rate on their team last year) they are definitely not drawing fouls and getting to the FT line as often. But really I see that as part of the overall weakening of their frontcourt, as Carolina was able to exploit their mismatch in the paint in more ways than just keeping the MSU bigs off the foul line.
 
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I don't know for sure but the games I have seen them play Appling (sp?) is their primary ball handler and makes the offense go. The problem for Sparty so far seems to be that he will disappear for long stretches at a time.
 
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DZ83CK said:
Yeah, I think you're right that the difference between this MSU team and their better teams in recent years is the strength of the frontcourt overall. This team has Payne who is very good but inconsistent and they don't have any other players above 6'6" that are good in the frontcourt. Derrick Nix was a beast for them the past couple years, at times they are missing his presence no doubt.
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I agree with you regarding Nix and I will take your word about them not getting to the foul line as often as they had in years past but this year they seem to be more run oriented and seem to be shooting more three pointers that in past years but I have not seen them that much. I mention the latter two because that could be a reason they are not getting to the foul line as much this year as in years past.. It certainly is it because Tom is not working the officials:)

However, I would.sleep on them as usual. They always seem to get better as the season progresses. My biggest worry in the conference is Wisconsin. They have so many weapons you cannot just key on a couple of their players and they are pretty deep. Lack of size is thier only weakness from what I have seen of them.
 
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BVistahC said:
College Basketball columnists (Duke alum Seth Davis leading charge) keep saying Collins will lead NW to multiple tournament appearances. I don't know about that one, unless they expand to over 100 schools for TV.
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It will probably take some time but it will be adjusting to see if the Northwestern administration made a major mistake by letting Carmody go and hiring Collins. I just do not think Northwestern can recruit the type of athletes needed for basketball to run Collins type of style. He might prove me wrong but if he does it is going to take around 4-5 years before there is any dramatic change in Northwestern basketball. They just do not have the facilities to pull in the recruits needed for Collins' system. I just think basketball is a much different animal than football.
 
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