What ten years ago would have looked like 2 non conference cupcakes--consecutive road games against Bradley and BYU--was a great test for the Spartans in the modern era of Men's College basketball. The Bradley (I think they were the Braves at one time, we'll call them...the Briskets) Briskets have, like many college teams, decided to live and die by the great equalizer; luck and the 3 pointer.
Perhaps the greatest example of this is the Grinnell College men's team (in Iowa) who are "known for a unique style of play that includes rotating five players in and out as often as possible, pressing the entire game and shooting more than 50 3-pointers." 50. Fifty. Five Zero. Last game a Grinnell player set a new NCAA single game assist record with 34. His dad said he could have had more assists, had his son's teammates made more than 23 of the 86 attempted 3 pointers off of passes FROM HIS SON ALONE. Bradley is not that bad, but they, like Michigan's new scheme, are from the same mold. High screens, constant perimeter motion, and lots of 3's.
Bradley stayed in the game for quite a while, but were POUNDED on the boards. Multiple players were in double figures for rebounds. I think MSU had more offensive rebounds than Bradley had total, on both ends of the floor.
BYU was a much more well rounded team than Bradley. While the 3 pointer was a big part of the BYU game plan, it was an inside out (or at least looking at the post) offense. Actually, it was often outside in; swinging the ball around the perimeter and forcing a defender to scramble and leaving a cutting post player open after bad rotation. In the first half MSU could do very little right. Defense started very poor and got somewhat better before the half. The offense was just plain bad. Turnovers were terrible. Very lazy and sloppy play on offense.
After the half MSU came out strong and simply locked the big man down. Rebounding was Spartan dominated on both ends. Raymar Morgan can do pretty much what he wants when he wants. Suton has really thrived when he isn't the only scoring threat. Neitzel has yet to come on really strong and show that unstoppable offensive performance he made routine last year. The second half was pretty good for Drew, but still wasn't the swaggering "give me an inch and you've given me too much" attitude where he can score at will.
Gray played well. Naymick is a great post defender. Summers is going to be too good to keep on the bench before long. Allen still loves to shoot. All the time. Lucas is so fast it almost isn't fair. He pressed on an inbound, stole the ball and scored before the other team knew what happened. He has helped Walton pick up the pace and makes it possible to keep Neitzel off point when Walton is getting a breather. It's nice to have 3 great ball handling guards.
Next up is Texas at the Palace. With this win and a 75% winning percentage or better in the Big Ten, especially winning a couple on the road, and MSU could be looking at a 1 seed in March. Considering that Ford Field is a Regional host that would be very, very big. Much like the 2000 run that started at the Palace. But that's a ways off.
