Comments on: Final Four: Michigan State-Connecticut Preview, Analysis, and Prediction

By: JRod

JRod — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 00:43:19 +0000

I am quite happy to have been wrong about this game. Way to go Spartans! The Big Ten naysayers can suck it.

By: JRod

JRod — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 00:06:50 +0000

@KVB

Well, through 34 minutes I’ve been pretty much wrong about everything. But that’s good, because the Spartans are winning and UConn looks listless.

Still lots of time…WOW WHAT A DUNK! (Durrell Summers just dunked on Stanley Robinson as I’m typing).

It’s hard to imagine UConn being able to find a way back.

By: KVB

KVB — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 20:40:58 +0000

@KVB, BTW don’t get cocky and change your name to something dumb like The Swami or whatever. ;)

By: KVB

KVB — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 20:39:31 +0000

The ESPN predictor is a really cool way of making your predictions and research top notch. Awesome analysis.

By: Ms. K

Ms. K — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 19:48:04 +0000

Excellent analysis! This should be your job. You excelled in the perfect integration of hard facts and honest emotion. You can count on me keeping up with your predictions. Thank you for the hard work :)

By: Z-Rok

Z-Rok — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 04:32:38 +0000

@JRod,

I like your take on the upcoming matchup. As you can tell, the MSU-L’Ville game was a matter of gameplan, hustle and who could impose their will on the other team. As a result, MSU won on all 3 I listed. But in the UConn game, this will be different. UConn is a mirror image of the Spartans and can be debated, are more athletic than MSU.

-Both play man-to-man D.
-Both like playing in a half-court set.
-Both can adapt to other teams styles
-Both do not attempt a lot of 3 pt. shots.
-Both have ahtletic and underrated point guards.
-Both are great rebounding teams and shoot poorly at the free throw line before the tourney.

So what are the differences? They are few and here are the main keys.

1) Thabeet, like you said before, is like no other player in the country. He is a difference maker on offense and defense. In order for State to win this game, I think they are going to have to attack him straight on like Pitt did. I truely think that getting really physical with Thabeet will make him play recklessly and out of the norm. Have Kalin show him the ball while he is driving through the lane to make him commit and then dish it out to someone to make a play. Getting him in foul trouble early makes UConn a very different team.

2) Travis Walton. He is really going to be the big difference in this tourney. Look what he did to Collins of Kansas and Williams of L’Ville. He locked them up and made it difficult for them. I see a 2 point guard look from MSU and have Walton lock up on Price. Make sure he is at his hip at all times.

3) Who is going to step up. I think you will see Morgan finally get into the role of where he should be before he got sick. I think teams will not gameplan against him as much considering what he has done in the tourney. I saw in practice that he has a fitted mask on that looks like he is more comfortable in. I think that he will be matched up with Robinson and I like that match up b/c Morgan can take him off the dribble. But will he stay out of foul trouble??

I can actually can make about 10 other points but I didn’t want to state the obvious like rebound well, not turn the ball over etc.

But I’m with you. I reallllllly want State to win but it’s like looking at a bigger version of you in the mirror in Uconn.

By: JRod

JRod — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 15:40:24 +0000

@Christian, thanks a lot for the kind words. I did some pretty crappy and off-the-cuff predictions earlier in the year and during the football season and decided to get more granular and actually roll up the sleeves and do some research for these. Not surprisingly, the accuracy of the previews/predictions has been much better.

Good analysis yourself of what keyed the MSU victory over Louisville. I’ve put myself in the position of publicly predicting one thing while cheering for another. I really hope that on Sunday I’m sitting down to write an MSU-Villanova preview.

By: Christian

Christian — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 20:46:22 +0000

I googled MSU predictions and came up with your website… very nice! Couple of things in particular that I liked about the analysis. Instead of the usual so and so will win because they’re better, you look at how each team can win which makes more sense to me. Games are not black and white. I like examing different scenerios. MSU could have easily lost to Louisville but by keeping turnovers low, neutralizing the press, making their threes and playing great defense, they won easily. I believe you made most of these points in your game analysis. MSU playing that well was not the likeliest scenerio but it was a reasonable one… and sure enough, the right one.
Also, I get tired of the bombastic and obnoxious Vitale-like analysis which is based on three things: fixation with the ACC, irrelevant early season games and hype.
I also like that defense matters on this website. For God sakes, it’s probably more important than offense. For example, Louisville made some blocks causing eruptions from the crowd. MSU played tight man to man and the game’s momentum turned on a Travis Walton steal which prevented a Louisville lay up; that play was based on hustle, not flash. Causing offensive inefficiency matters. FG% against matters.
Anyhoo, keep up the nice work!