I had the distinct honor of watching both a great individual effort by a pair of Spartans, and a terrible, horrible team effort in MSU's last game against Minnesota. I leave the game knowing a few things:
1. Raymar Morgan, especially against smaller lineups (and with Neitzel in the game) is unstoppable
2. Kalin Lucas is probably setting the bar too high (average fan will hate him later in the season when he only scores 10 and we lose a game) but is playing very, very well
3. When Neitzel comes around we are going to be very dangerous
4. Tubby is going to put the Gophers back on the map, and soon
Raymar still reminds me of Magic. He's tall yet agile, can run, has great hands, and he just finishes. Shots that have no business going in, quick releases, and a smile bigger than his head just have me thinking Magic. The other night Raymar cleaned up around the basket, scoring 31 points--mostly within 6 feet of the basket. If he could shoot free throws he would have had 35 easily. He also has to stay out of foul trouble. He picks up some seriously stupid fouls from time to time in the open court. Raymar will continue to do well so long as teams dedicate man coverage from the locker room to the floor on Neitzel. Offensive rebounding and Morgan will benefit most from double teams and scheme defenses on D.Neitzel.
Lucas is still playing very, very well. He's been less of a driving threat and more of a spot up shooter recently, which is nice to expand his game and help the bigs (and beats the shot clock, and softens the blow of Neitzel's 0-6 3 point shooting nights) but he still needs to take it to the basket. We need to draw those fouls. We need to get easy passes to the bigs off penetration to get them confidence. He's also setting himself up for fan outrage later in the season. He's bound to have a few down games...he is a freshman...and he's set the bar quite high. Lost in all this is how well Walton is playing. His defense and assist to turnover ratio isn't sexy to talk about, but he's quietly all big ten pg quality.
I thought it was his playing weight. The papers seem to think it's his wrist. Izzo is done making excuses and now says he's shooting bad and he has no idea why. The point is, we are looking pretty good w/out Neitzel doing squat. I mean, his shooting is just bad. Izzo pointed out that he's shooting a career high % from the field, but honestly, he misses everything. He had a nice runner in the lane last game...and that's about it. He missed all 6 of his 3 point shots. Some badly. Most pretty wide open. Once he comes out of this, once he finds a swagger (he's pump faking and passing up shots he would have taken without thinking last year) we are going to be very, very good. I hope he turns it around in time for Lucas to have a fall off, cause again, you can bet a freshman playing this well is going to slump at some point.
The Gophers should be pretty bad. I mean honestly, talent wise at least, this is the worst Minnesota team is 5 years. They really just don't have a lot of talent. Tubby has them playing hard, smart, and within their means. They play defense. They hit 3's. They go inside and exploit mismatches (see: Goran Suton vs anyone with a pump fake and quick first step). They created TERRRRIBLE defensive rotations for MSU (the WORST part about last game was watching about 4 plays where people either slipped to the basket unguarded or had open 3's unguarded. Completely unguarded). Tubby will make them a winner is less than 5 years. I expect a Gopher share of the BigTen once he has his own recruits. I also think Weber (Illinois) might be gone soon. They lost at home to Penn State this week and are just playing erratic basketball.
Bo Ryan is still a turd and still looks like Moe from the Simpsons.
Um, there's a phone call for Oliver...um...is Oliver Clothesoff here? No? What about Amanda Hugenkiss? Can I get a Amanda Hugenkiss?
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