The Final Four Is Not On The Schedule - A Podcast Discussing Michigan State Basketball.

April 10, 2023: In a move that has been telegraphed for a few months now, senior guard Tyson Walker has elected to return for his "COVID Senior" season and will complete his college career on the 2023-24 MSU Spartans. There has been speculation for a few weeks now especially that Tyson would play another season with Michigan State and that he will be joined by Malik Hall.

Malik has not officially declared his intention to stay but every indication at the time of this recording was that he was going to return. Of note for Hall is that he had surgery on his foot, presumably to repair the stress reaction that plagued his the majority of last season and probably led to a dropoff in his outside shooting. Fortunately, surgery so early in the off season should give him plenty of time to return to game shape for the summer and prepare for his final season with MSU.

During the episode we discuss the somewhat clogged nature of the roster but how it could potentially work out to be an enormous strength for the team. Will we see a different offensive philosophy? How do the Freshmen fit into the equation? It's all here in this episode.

Are you looking for Spartan gear? There’s only one place to go to get your MSU T-shirts, hoodies, sweatshirts — Nudge Printing. Nudge is owned and operated by Gabe and Brittany, two MSU alums. The business is operated out of Michigan and screen prints super high quality products. They also have a large assortment of apparel for other schools as well as stickers for your wall, car, or computer. You can also buy our merchandise to sport around town where all the sales proceeds go to support the show.

If you have a home in Michigan you know the importance of clearing water efficiently away from your home off the roof. Unfortunately, the outdoor beauty of Michigan means you have to deal with leaves and debris that pile up in your gutters. Sometimes, those gutters also can’t keep up with the rain or leave puddles by your foundation. If you live in the Grand Rapids area (Muskegon to Saugatuck to Rockford to Lowell) contact Kurt Stauffer at the Brothers that Just Do Gutters. They are real professionals who will clean, repair, or replace your gutters and protect your home. Mention ‘final four’ to Kurt and get 10% off your service. 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

April 7, 2023: Another Big Ten Men's basketball season is in the books and as we predicted before the season began, it would be a very difficult year to predict winners and losers. The parity in the league was unprecedented this year as places 4-10 were separated by only 2 games. Purdue was the surprising winner of the league and won it easily by three games.

However, the season highlights the unpredictability that is probably accentuated by the addition of the new transfer rules and NIL. The continuity of teams and cohesion will be less going forward which will make consistency from year to year even harder for coaches and programs. This year is a good example of that as the Northwestern Wildcats finished second in large part due to a pair of senior guards who stuck it out in Evanston. Likewise, the almost complete roster changes at Michigan, Ohio State, and Illinois probably contributed to their struggles this year.

Are you looking for Spartan gear? There’s only one place to go to get your MSU T-shirts, hoodies, sweatshirts — Nudge Printing. Nudge is owned and operated by Gabe and Brittany, two MSU alums. The business is operated out of Michigan and screen prints super high quality products. They also have a large assortment of apparel for other schools as well as stickers for your wall, car, or computer. You can also buy our merchandise to sport around town where all the sales proceeds go to support the show.

If you have a home in Michigan you know the importance of clearing water efficiently away from your home off the roof. Unfortunately, the outdoor beauty of Michigan means you have to deal with leaves and debris that pile up in your gutters. Sometimes, those gutters also can’t keep up with the rain or leave puddles by your foundation. If you live in the Grand Rapids area (Muskegon to Saugatuck to Rockford to Lowell) contact Kurt Stauffer at the Brothers that Just Do Gutters. They are real professionals who will clean, repair, or replace your gutters and protect your home. Mention ‘final four’ to Kurt and get 10% off your service. 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

April 4, 2023: Kur Teng is the first commitment for MSU's 2024 class. Hailing from New England, Teng is a 6' 4" wing best described as moderately very effective shooter who excels coming off screens as a catch and shoot guy. Other huge positives are his coachability and interest in being in a situation where the coaching staff pushes him. Teng is a consensus top 40 recruit and bodes well for another strong recruiting class for Tom Izzo and the Spartans.

We also discussed eight targets for MSU on the class of 2024 including Phat Phat Brooks, Jase Richardson, and Flory Bidunga amongst others. Finally, Eric recounted his crazy trip to the Final Four in Houston.

Are you looking for Spartan gear? There’s only one place to go to get your MSU T-shirts, hoodies, sweatshirts — Nudge Printing. Nudge is owned and operated by Gabe and Brittany, two MSU alums. The business is operated out of Michigan and screen prints super high quality products. They also have a large assortment of apparel for other schools as well as stickers for your wall, car, or computer. You can also buy our merchandise to sport around town where all the sales proceeds go to support the show.

If you have a home in Michigan you know the importance of clearing water efficiently away from your home off the roof. Unfortunately, the outdoor beauty of Michigan means you have to deal with leaves and debris that pile up in your gutters. Sometimes, those gutters also can’t keep up with the rain or leave puddles by your foundation. If you live in the Grand Rapids area (Muskegon to Saugatuck to Rockford to Lowell) contact Kurt Stauffer at the Brothers that Just Do Gutters. They are real professionals who will clean, repair, or replace your gutters and protect your home. Mention ‘final four’ to Kurt and get 10% off your service. 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

March 29, 2023: The 2022-23 MSU men's basketball season was a strange one in that it was marked by consistently inconsistent play. After a fast and very promising start against top rated Gonzaga, Kentucky, and Villanova, the injury bug hit MSU as Jaden Akins was shut down a second time (he had foot surgery before the start of the season) and Malik Hall suffered the same stress reaction injury in his foot which sidelined him for a number of weeks. MSU limped through the non-conference schedule with a loss to Alabama and wins over Oregon and Portland in the PK85 before getting destroyed in South Bend on what we can only assume were tired legs.

Big Ten play did not start out well as Michigan State fell on their home opener to Northwestern who turned out to be a pretty good team. In what became one very impressive trait for the team, they bounced back and won a road game against Penn State as they showed the ability to repeatedly get off the mat whenever they got knocked down. Big Ten play resumed after a few easy home non-conference games with a decent start until Malik Hall reinjured his foot and was forced to miss some time again. By this time, Akins had recovered and was starting to play more but the Spartans were playing good defense but struggling to score.

It wasn't until the end of the season before they got the offense humming just in time for the post season play. Unfortunately, they were unable to carry that over into the Big Ten Tournament where they continued playing the same leaky defense as at the end of the regular season leading to a loss in the opening round to Ohio State.

Fortunately, MSU put it together and played their best basketball of the season in the NCAA tournament and as a 7 seed defeated a tough 10 seed USC Trojans. They beat USC and second round opponent, Marquette, despite their worst 3 point shooting performances of the year on the backs of good defense and attacking the rim. Then, in the Sweet 16 the Spartans fell in overtime to Kansas State in one of the most entertaining games of the tournament.

Are you looking for Spartan gear? There’s only one place to go to get your MSU T-shirts, hoodies, sweatshirts — Nudge Printing. Nudge is owned and operated by Gabe and Brittany, two MSU alums. The business is operated out of Michigan and screen prints super high quality products. They also have a large assortment of apparel for other schools as well as stickers for your wall, car, or computer. You can also buy our merchandise to sport around town where all the sales proceeds go to support the show.

If you have a home in Michigan you know the importance of clearing water efficiently away from your home off the roof. Unfortunately, the outdoor beauty of Michigan means you have to deal with leaves and debris that pile up in your gutters. Sometimes, those gutters also can’t keep up with the rain or leave puddles by your foundation. If you live in the Grand Rapids area (Muskegon to Saugatuck to Rockford to Lowell) contact Kurt Stauffer at the Brothers that Just Do Gutters. They are real professionals who will clean, repair, or replace your gutters and protect your home. Mention ‘final four’ to Kurt and get 10% off your service. 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

March 23, 2023: In what will be remembered for a long time for both schools, Michigan State fell to Kansas State in the Sweet 16 behind an historic performance by Wildcat point guard Markquis Nowell who finished the game with 20 points and 19 assists. His assist total was an NCAA tournament record` and provided the Wildcats with just enough to defeat the Spartans in an exciting back and forth game.

MSU found its 3 point stroke which had been missing in the first two games of the tournament shooting 52% (13-25) but it just wasn't enough to overcome Nowell and his orchestration on offense. The Wildcats had 10 steals leading to a surprising 13-5 TO margin in Kansas St.'s advantage which effectively more than neutralized MSU's advantage on the offensive glass.

Although the season ended short of the Final Four, a trip out of the first weekend into the Sweet 16 is definitely a good ending to a season that was a struggle with injuries and inconsistencies. Perhaps it will be a building block they can use for next year. Now we await decisions from a few players to see whether they will move on or return to the team for another season.

Are you looking for Spartan gear? There’s only one place to go to get your MSU T-shirts, hoodies, sweatshirts — Nudge Printing. Nudge is owned and operated by Gabe and Brittany, two MSU alums. The business is operated out of Michigan and screen prints super high quality products. They also have a large assortment of apparel for other schools as well as stickers for your wall, car, or computer. You can also buy our merchandise to sport around town where all the sales proceeds go to support the show.

If you have a home in Michigan you know the importance of clearing water efficiently away from your home off the roof. Unfortunately, the outdoor beauty of Michigan means you have to deal with leaves and debris that pile up in your gutters. Sometimes, those gutters also can’t keep up with the rain or leave puddles by your foundation. If you live in the Grand Rapids area (Muskegon to Saugatuck to Rockford to Lowell) contact Kurt Stauffer at the Brothers that Just Do Gutters. They are real professionals who will clean, repair, or replace your gutters and protect your home. Mention ‘final four’ to Kurt and get 10% off your service. 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

March 21, 2023: Once again the Spartans find themselves on a little bit of a run in March. How far it goes is yet to be determined but their next obstacle are the Kansas State Wildcats. The Wildcats are the 3 seed and defeated Montana State and Kentucky to make their first trip to the second weekend since 2018 where they made it to the Elite 8 and lost to Loyola-Chicago.

Kansas State, out of the tough Big 12, has made this run largely on the backs of its defense and two players: 5'8" PG Marquis Nowell and 6'6" Keyontae Johnson. The diminutive PG was spectacular against Kentucky and Johnson has been a steady three level threat at the 4 for the Wildcats all season. The main weakness of this team is defensive rebounding which MSU is well below average for a Tom Izzo team.

The big questions for Michigan State is whether they will be able to find their range again from distance. Despite winning their first two tournament games, they have shot an abysmal 7-30 (23.3%) for 3 which is well below their season average. Obviously, they have to continue to play their best connected defense of the season but it is hard to imagine them continuing to advance without hitting their staple offensive juice from deep.

Are you looking for Spartan gear? There’s only one place to go to get your MSU T-shirts, hoodies, sweatshirts — Nudge Printing. Nudge is owned and operated by Gabe and Brittany, two MSU alums. The business is operated out of Michigan and screen prints super high quality products. They also have a large assortment of apparel for other schools as well as stickers for your wall, car, or computer. You can also buy our merchandise to sport around town where all the sales proceeds go to support the show.

If you have a home in Michigan you know the importance of clearing water efficiently away from your home off the roof. Unfortunately, the outdoor beauty of Michigan means you have to deal with leaves and debris that pile up in your gutters. Sometimes, those gutters also can’t keep up with the rain or leave puddles by your foundation. If you live in the Grand Rapids area (Muskegon to Saugatuck to Rockford to Lowell) contact Kurt Stauffer at the Brothers that Just Do Gutters. They are real professionals who will clean, repair, or replace your gutters and protect your home. Mention ‘final four’ to Kurt and get 10% off your service. 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

March 19, 2023: Michigan State advances out of the second weekend of the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2019 when they made their push to the Final Four. The Spartans defeated the Big East regular season champs, the Marquette Golden Eagles, 69-60 despite only making two three pointers on 16 attempts. MSU has been able to show off its famed versatility and ability to win games in a variety of ways already in this NCAA run.

The game was tied at around the four minute mark before everyone on the team made winning plays to seal the deal. Walker hit shot after shot, Hoggard directed traffic and hit a wide open Hauser for his only three, Sissoko made two enormous blocks at the rim, and Malik Hall pulled down a huge offensive rebound with 1:30 minutes left. MSU won with its grittiness and defensive connectedness never allowing Marquette to get comfortable in their offensive execution.

Be sure to get your Spartan Gear and apparel at Nudge Printing.

Gutter work in West Michigan? Hit up [email protected] and his highly professional team at Brothers That Just Do Gutters to repair, clean, or replace.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

March 18, 2023: Michigan State advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament by defeating USC 72-62 March 17 and will face the #2 seed Marquette Golden Eagles from the Big East who advanced by beating Vermont. Marquette won the Big East and the Big East tournament and is a dangerous team led by head coach, Shaka Smart. Smart doesn't employ his 'Havoc' defense that made him famous in his days as VCU's head coach but they do play a high pressure half court attack.

On offense, they are a versatile team that can shoot extremely well inside the arc and doesn't turn it over. However, they are an average 3 pt shooting team and a poor rebounding team on both ends. The question for MSU is which AJ shows up and if it's the great one like in the USC game, can they break that pressure and get some easy looks for threes and twos? If MSU brings that defensive effort again it is possible that we could be witnessing another historic run for a team coming from the 7 seed.

Make sure your gutters are clean and in working order. If not, and you live in the Grand Rapids area contact [email protected] to get the team at Brothers that Just Do Gutters on the job. They will do a great job and get it done fast.

Visit Nudge Printing to get your Spartan apparel.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

March 17, 2023: Michigan State entered the 2023 NCAA tournament for the 25th year in a row and the second as a 7 seed. This year, MSU faced the USC Trojans and like last year, will head into the weekend with a chance to make the Sweet Sixteen. The Spartans headed to half time tied 34-34 but came out in the second half with a renewed focus on defense holding the Trojans to just 33%. Couple that with some good offensive execution and MSU ran away with the game winning comfortably by 10.

The outcome of the game was a little surprising because this is a Spartans team that usually needs good production from behind the arc to score enough to win. However, today they hit only 5 threes but were lethal inside the arc against the #2 two point shot defense in the country. MSU advances and will play Marquette in the second round on Sunday.

Head over to Nudge Printing to get your Spartan gear.

Gutter work in West Michigan? Email [email protected] at the Brothers that just do gutters.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

March 15, 2023: Erik Qualman was a manager on MSU's basketball team in 1990 but ended his career on the team with a jersey. He played with Steve Smith and Shawn Respert and was involved in the NCAA tournament as both a manager and teammate. He tells us what it's like as a player on the team and what it was like with Jud Heathcote and Tom Izzo running the show in the Breslin Center.

Qualman is best known as a 5 time best selling author and professional public speaker who has presented all over the world. His books have been featured in the Wall Street Journal, on 60 Minutes, and has been used in Universities and even NASA. A sitting professor at Northwestern University, he will be giving the commencement speech at MSU this May. He has been focusing a portion of his time recently to promote supporting MSU students by the Give Green Day Fund.

You can find him on LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram.

Support Spartan Strong by going to Nudge Printing and purchasing your shirt there. Gabe and his team have been working to support MSU students affected by the shooting on campus.

Finally, if you need gutter cleaning, repair, or replacement contact [email protected] from Brothers that just do gutters to get them taken care of. A great professional team in the Grand Rapids area.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.