Tough loss. We had many opportunities to win this game. Can't put it all on Hall because there were so many opportunities. I hope and think we will grow from this. We will need to see what Michigan State becomes. They are deep and I think they will go far. I can't believe there are more than 25 teams better than them. Our defense was good and the game looked sloppy on account of our defense - although none of the talking heads were giving our team credited. We needed to capitalize on the shots in the paint. It's different, but I am enjoying this team. Valentine does not hesitate to extend the rotation. I am not sure that Porter would have gone that deep. Knight and Schweiger are both gifted, but I thought they seemed a little out of sync. It could have been MSU's size that threw them off.

I’m seeing some shade being thrown at Hall. My post history displays that he’s frustrated me in the past, mainly with his free throw shooting. He made a mistake at the end of the game taking that last shot, but he’s been great during the other games this season.

What lost us this game was not capitalizing on MSU’s 20 turnovers. We shot 37% from the field, that’s pretty damn bad. There were so many missed layups it was disgusting. If we run that game back, I think we’d beat MSU. We looked like the better team, I’m hoping everyone can learn from this. It was a depressing loss but if that’s what it looks like when we have a bad game against the 12th tallest team in the NCAA loaded with high star recruits against a legendary coach then I think we’ll be fine.

Edit: I don’t even think we had a bad game, I think MSU’s length gave us some issues. The team performed well and I’m proud of their effort. Hopefully we can take advantage of Auburn being tired from going into double OT.

These are tournament teams we’re playing this weekend. It’s going to be tough, but we’re showing we’re tournament worthy. Whether it pays off or not, it will at least make us better.

For some perspective. Wisconsin just won the Maui invitational. We know what we did to them a few months ago.

It’s all about how you take this loss…

The truth of the matter is, we made mistakes, and we were within three seconds I’m going to overtime with the best team on our schedule. We can place blame and get down on ourselves - or we can acknowledge that we just went toe-to-toe with one of the top 10 historically great teams in the country, learn from it - and run off 20+ wins in a row. WE WILL NOT PLAY A MORE TALENTED TEAM THAN MSU FOR THE REST OF THE REGULAR SEASON. So hopefully - we are angry, and we show the rest of our non con and Valley opponents who the hell we are.

Agreed. Although tomorrow’s game will be against a team with as much talent or more. At least right now. But the overall point is solid.

Glad to see some more posts with a little perspective. Emotions were high earlier.

Side note:

We should have used this play for the tie!

_________________
MBB Scholarship Chart

My two cents on the game today.

1. As a program, moral victories don’t count anymore. Our expectations are for us to do more than just compete. It sounds insane considering all the years we were lousy, but it is a fact. This game should have been won.

2. We have not finished in the lane very well all year and today it bit us. We have been flipping the ball up soft near the rim all season and today playing an bigger more athletic team there were a ton of blocks. Hutty in particular was lax near the rim and even Knight missed some bunnies down low. We have to clean that up.

3. We started the game off by playing too much one on one. We got rolling around the 12 minute mark when we started moving the ball and having motion.

4. Our transition game today was awful. Too much driving out of control in traffic and too many lost possessions.

5. Why THREE time outs left in the bank at the end of a tight game? They do you no good in locker room. In particular when Hall got the rebound with 19 seconds left in traffic surrounded by the trees was our not bench not screaming for a time out? We could had the last shot to win or go to overtime. It reminded me of when we lost to Bradley at Arch Madness and we were down 1 or 2 points with 3.1 or so seconds left and had the ball out of bounds under the basket. Lucas was getting ready to inbound and looked right at the bench at Porter and Mullins and was asking if they wanted a Time Out. We did not call one and Marcus ended driving into traffic and throwing up a crazy shot. We lost. Now, I can’t blame Tate. He did play his rear off. He’s in the heat of the moment trying to rebound and score. The bench, with the ref on that side by the bench, the staff has to scream for that time out.

6. We started slow looking for threes today again. This is a product of not running motion, screening, cutting and making a defense move. This is how we get our threes. Running offense until defense makes a mistake or we shake someone free. We don’t have guys that can dribble and step back and make threes on a consistent basis.

7. I was surprised that Welch did not play more in the second half. When we went on the big run in the first half, he was on the floor for most of it. He also has more diversity in his offensive game than Hutty or Knight as he can step out and shoot it. Schweiger got off to a rough start, but he hit a 3 and was on the bench pretty quickly thereafter not to return.

8. Norris to me was a little shaky most of the game. He hit some shots late and got going a little, but he is someone we rely on and early in the game we need him.

9. It wasn’t all bad. The defense was great and forced a ton of turnovers. We hung in there on the boards. We did not let the early 9-0 deficit dissuade us. We fought hard. Now, we have some issues that are correctable and we need to pay attention to those details and make better decisions. This team is GOOD. It has not hit its stride yet, nowhere near. Drew is sharp, but he needs to look back and see where he might have called time out and how he can become better. I will attribute some of the slow start to playing a big, quick, athletic team for the first time this year and maybe some nerves. Last year we relied on Krut early to get us going. I am not sure trying use Hutty in that role is the way to start games this year. I would rather we come out, full motion and run that beautiful offense that we are not seeing as much as we should be.

Now don’t get me wrong. This team will win lots of games and get better. I am not down on them at all. It’s going to be fun to see it grow.

Agree with a lot of what Mudville said, especially the note on Welch. Thought he played great at the 4 spot in the first half, outside of one defensive miss in transition he had a great game

Any down talk of players in here is rediculous, especially this early in the season. Hall played very hard on both ends, benefitting the team in many ways that do not even show up in the box score. Consistency inside will take a half season to develop, be patient with the bigs. Coach V will have this team where they need to be. Go Ramblers!

MSU beats UCONN by 4.

_________________
MBB Scholarship Chart