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

November 9, 2022: After dispatching its season opening opponent, Northern Arizona, Michigan State begins its non-conference gauntlet with the #2 ranked Gonzaga Bulldogs. The game will be the second time MSU has played on an aircraft carrier on Veteran's Day, the first being against North Carolina when Obama was president.

Aside from the unusual playing conditions, the Spartans will be tested by a prolific offense and national player of the year candidate, Drew Timme. We will very quickly see if Tom Izzo's decision to go with Sissoko and Kohler at the center position was a wise decision or one that may cost them dearly. Interestingly, Gonzaga's guards struggled against the backcourt of Tennessee during their televised exhibition game and may be where MSU tries to attack this team.

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November 7, 2022: Michigan State opened its season against the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks from the Big Sky conference with a final score of 73-55. Led by senior Joey Hauser who scored a double double with 18 pts on 6-12 shooting (4-8 from 3) and 10 rebounds the Spartans controlled the game from start to finish. Other performances of note was Pierre Brooks with 14 points on 4-7 3 pt shooting in 17 minutes and Jaxon Kohler with 6 points and 9 rebounds in 16 minutes of play.

Defensively, the Spartans held NAU to 32% shooting and 27% from behind the line and outrebounded them 46-37. Not an overwhelming performance considering that this is one of the poorer teams they will face this year. Encouraging signs though from Tyson Walker who was aggressively hunting for his shot even though they weren't falling and being an absolute terror defensively on NAU's guards.

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November 5, 2022: The season opener is here as Michigan State hosts the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks from the Big Sky conference. Last year, NAU was 9-23 overall and 5-15 for a last place finish in conference play. They finished ranked 340 in KenPom where they didn't do anything very well on either side of the ball.

Michigan State will look to get things set right before the gauntlet of games against multiple top 25 teams beginning on Friday against Gonzaga. There is some intrigue with this game whether Akins plays, can MSU return to its roots and rebound better, and will this be an opportunity for Steven Izzo to record his first collegiate points?

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November 2, 2022: Michigan State won the exhibition game over division 2 Grand Valley State University at the Breslin Center 73-56. It was a game where the Spartans trailed at half time 31-36 after a less than impressive defensive and rebounding performance.

The second half was a vast improvement as MSU held GVSU to 27% shooting. Most important, however, was that MSU looks to be in decent shape at the 5 with the play of a massively improved Mady Sissoko and intriguing play from Kohler and Cooper. Also of note was AJ Hoggard going 2-2 from 3 and combined with Walker for 10 steals in the game. The team looks like it will be a beast defensively at the guard position especially since we still haven't seen what they will be like with Akins, arguably the best athlete.

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October 31, 2022: The season has finally arrived (sort of) as Michigan State hosts the Grand Valley State Lakers to the Breslin Center on Tuesday, November 1. GVSU is a D-II school who has played MSU in the past and is coming off an exhibition loss to Eastern Michigan a few days ago in Ypsilanti. This will be our first chance to see how MSU looks in the middle with Sissoko, Kohler, and maybe Cooper taking turns.

Other questions will be how is the defensive rebounding and what will the combo of Hall and Hauser look like with Hall playing the wing.

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October 27, 2022: We sat down with Graham Couch of the Lansing State Journal and Couch and the Rube Podcast to get his thoughts on MSU's upcoming season and a host of other NCAA basketball issues. We talked about the potentially larger than expected role of Carson Cooper, whether Mady Sissoko can hang at the 5 spot, and what it will take for MSU to make a deep run in March or flame out and miss the tourney entirely.

Additionally, Graham gave his thoughts on how recruiting has changed and whether Izzo is changing his philosophy in the face of a general lack of talent in Michigan and the presence of easy transfers and NIL. Finally, we touched briefly on what might happen to the NCAA tournament if it expands and how Couch thinks it would be ok so long as they make certain provisions in expanding the field.

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October 25, 2022: MSU held a scrimmage in Knoxville, TN with the top rated Tennessee Volunteers this past weekend where we have only limited images and information. Reports coming out say that MSU held their own despite the absence of Jaden Akins although how the coaches approached the scrimmage may have been very unorthodox.

Rod and Eric then discuss how recruiting has changed over the past few years for Izzo and all coaches. They then delve into MSU's offers in the 2024 and 2025 classes and who they are after. Also, we provide some idea on what their prospects are.

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October 17, 2022: Our final Big Ten Preview installment is the most important - the Michigan State Spartans. We finished our annual preseason deep dive on each player, things to watch, and predictions for the year.

Exiting this year are Gabe Brown, Marcus Bingham, Max Christie, and Julius Marble. New players are freshmen Jaxon Kohler, Tre Holloman, Carson Cooper and grad transfer Jason Whitens (who was on the team last year but tore his ACL in the exhibition opener against Ferris State.)

Last year, the Spartans were fantastic shooting the 3 but uncharacteristically struggled to rebound the basketball and defend in the post. That contributed to their #42 overall KenPom ranking as they had one of the worst defensive rankings for an MSU team since 2006. Unfortunately, a lot of areas in which MSU needed improved play just didn't materialize last year. The team just didn't seem to gel and figure out their roles until perhaps the last two weeks of the year - just in time for the Big Ten tournament and NCAA tourney.

The most obvious question this year is what will happen at the 5 spot with the departures of Bingham and Marble. The spartans will have to rely on foul-prone Mady Sissoko and a pair of true freshmen in Kohler and Cooper to try and get by. If that spot struggles, it might be a very long year our guys as the Big Ten still have a lot of teams with good centers. The other big question is can players like Akins and Brooks elevate their game and become big time contributors.

Rod and Eric take the deep dive to prepare yourself for the season to come.

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October 13, 2022: Nothing better sums up the coming Big Ten season than Rod saying that he has Indiana as his number one team but doesn't think they will win the league. It's because there is massive turnover in rosters this year partly due to the transfer rule and partly due to a lot of high profile players leaving for the NBA draft.

Can second year coach Rod Woodson continue the late season roll that the Hoosiers created? Or will they continue to look a little bit like a team without a strong identity? Perhaps the suspensions and eventual firing of assistant coach, Dane Fife, is a sign of cultural problems within the program. Whatever the answers may be, it looks like we're in for one interesting year in the Big Ten where anything is possible.

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October 10, 2022: Chris Holtman was a successful head coach at Butler before becoming the leader at Ohio State. yet, despite being loaded with talent one could say that his tenure with the Buckeyes has been disappointing. Thad Motta showed what was possible at Ohio State with great recruiting classes, and perennially challenging for Big Ten titles and deep NCAA tourney runs.

Surprisingly, Ohio State was a very subpar defensive team last year negating the great offensive play they got from EJ Liddell and Malaki Branham. At some point you have to wonder if the less than spectacular results lead to a hot seat for coach Holtman. But for now, Ohio State will have to turn over most of their roster and rely on transfers and freshman to compete for a Big Ten title.

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