Is Michigan State a Top 10 Team this season?

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pmgz

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From what I can see of MSU and other teams in the country, I dont think so.

MSU may be the best in the Big 10 (yet to be seen, imo) but the 2010 version is not as good as many past teams.

Thoughts?
 

I think college basketball as a whole this year has this issue. You don't have (yet?) well defined lines of top 10 or top 5. I personally think that 3 teams have seperated themselves from the pack and are the teams to beat those being Kansas, Kentucky, and Texas. After that you have a whole slug of team that on any given day could beat anyone-'Cuse, WVU, Purdue, Duke, MSU, 'Nova. After that you have a huge bulk of teams that are pretty good and will vary thought the season-I would include the Gophers in this group. IMO I think it comes down to the fact there isn't a team like UNC last year who was clearly that much better than everyone else.
 

pmgz said:
From what I can see of MSU and other teams in the country, I dont think so.

MSU may be the best in the Big 10 (yet to be seen, imo) but the 2010 version is not as good as many past teams.

Thoughts?
Click to expand...

I felt the exact same way - but it's probably because we were in the game there, and should have won yesterday. However, we didn't - and that's what good teams do. They may not be flashing or dominate by 30 points every game, but they find a way to win. Plus, MSU's defense will always keep them competitive.

I think another thing with Izzo's teams are, they always seem to get better in the season. They don't stay stagnant, or regress, they typically show improvement - so I'd expect that this year too.
 

pmgz said:
From what I can see of MSU and other teams in the country, I dont think so.

MSU may be the best in the Big 10 (yet to be seen, imo) but the 2010 version is not as good as many past teams.

Thoughts?
Click to expand...

They definitely rely too heavily on the jump shot for my tastes as a top ten team but as they showed yesterday they have a number of capable jump shooters so I'm undecided. Yesterday they could have played with anyone (especially in the second half) but its basically impossible to avoid a shooting slump at some point and they are hurt by them more than most teams.
 



I think they're top ten if Izzo can keep Lucas focused and the rest of the team in line. So far he seems to be doing that but not without effort.
 

They don't look like a top 10 team to me. They are too weak inside and teams that can pound inside will give them a lot of trouble.
 

Grunkie

grunkiejr said:
They don't look like a top 10 team to me. They are too weak inside and teams that can pound inside will give them a lot of trouble.
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That is my thought as well. IN the past, the inside game of MSU was stellar. Green is really good, from there not so much.
 

They certainly have top ten talent, but I don't believe the players are used to their best capability. I give Izzo credit for recruiting, but his coaching is hardly more than shouting and screaming.
 



They definitely have some issues, but they're probably (barely) a top ten team because there aren't that many great teams this year.
 


MillionMoves said:
They certainly have top ten talent, but I don't believe the players are used to their best capability. I give Izzo credit for recruiting, but his coaching is hardly more than shouting and screaming.
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Really? If that was the case, every good recruiter would have gone to the NCAA tourney every year in their 15 years as a head coach, including 5 Final Four appearances, 1 runner up, and one national championship. I hardly think you have those kind of results with the players just coaching themselves ;)
 

GopherLady said:
Really? If that was the case, every good recruiter would have gone to the NCAA tourney every year in their 15 years as a head coach, including 5 Final Four appearances, 1 runner up, and one national championship. I hardly think you have those kind of results with the players just coaching themselves ;)
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Maybe he is thinking of Matta?
 




MSU seems to always have a good team ranked very highly at the start of the year. They usually start slow and get better throughout the year and peak at the end of the year and make a run in the tournament, so in March I definitely think they will be a top 10 team.
 

Mich St

Certainly one of Top 10 teams midway through this season.

Probably #1 team in Big 10 also.

Gophers should have W the game.
 

pmgz said:
From what I can see of MSU and other teams in the country, I dont think so.

MSU may be the best in the Big 10 (yet to be seen, imo) but the 2010 version is not as good as many past teams.

Thoughts?
Click to expand...

Top 5 I would say. The only thing missing is a big man in the middle. Who in the country is better? Texas? Kansas? Duke? Kentucky? None that I see.
 

Michigan State is certainly good but not top 10 in my opinion this year. I just can't see them making a deep run in the tournament.
 

jovs said:
Top 5 I would say. The only thing missing is a big man in the middle. Who in the country is better? Texas? Kansas? Duke? Kentucky? None that I see.
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You think MSU is the best team in the country?
 

grunkiejr said:
They don't look like a top 10 team to me. They are too weak inside and teams that can pound inside will give them a lot of trouble.
Click to expand...

pmgz said:
That is my thought as well. IN the past, the inside game of MSU was stellar. Green is really good, from there not so much.
Click to expand...

The thing about that concern, however, is there just aren't very many college teams that are good at pounding the ball inside. The college game has absolutely become a game of good guards and athletic forwards. Good big men are nice, but certainly not a necessity to make a Final Four run. MSU has good guards and athletic forwards. They have turned into a better team than I thought they would be. Lucas is actually playing better now than he did last year. His outside shot is better, he's becoming a better leader. Green is the most improved guy in the league. Summers, Allen, Lucious, etc. can all get their own shot and can hit it. They have 4-5 legitimate scoring weapons AND they defend and rebound.

Their main weakness is complacency. They can at times put it on cruise control (as they did in the 2nd half against IA and to a certain extent against us in East Lansing). My guess is come tourney time, Izzo will have them ready and they won't get complacent. They'll get a nice seed and could easily make another run to the Final Four.
 

Izzo, Syracuse

"They certainly have top ten talent, but I don't believe the players are used to their best capability. I give Izzo credit for recruiting, but his coaching is hardly more than shouting and screaming."

Huh? I'll just leave it at no comment.

Regarding the best teams in the country. ... I'd add Syracuse to the mix. I like everything about 'em. They have coaching, talent, bulk (Onuaku, Jackson), experience, athleticism, a stud (Johnson), good PG play (Triche) and a perimeter sniper (Rautins). If I had to pick one team to win it all right now, I'd take the Orangemen.
 


Two of their three losses were @ Texas and @ North Carolina, and in both cases they were right in the thick of it late. I think they've shown to be worthy of a top ten spot. And if history shows anything, they'll be even better as the year continues.
 

From The Barn is right, name 10 better teams right now. I can pick 6 (in no particular order) - Kansas, Kentucky, Syracuse, Texas, Villanova, Georgetown. Certainly no one in the Big Ten.
 

mich st

This is the same team that was in the national championship game, minus Suton and Walton! Yes they are weak in the middle, just like every team in the country minus (Kentucky, Texas, Kansas, Georgetown). They were too small for Carolina with Suton. They are definitely a top 10 team, and depending on the matchup will be at least in the sweet 16, maybe final 8.
 

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