Fact or Fiction?
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“Tom Izzo says Spartans have chance to reach Final Four”
MSU plays Kentucky on the same day we play Duke… it’s all part of the Champions Classic.
Opinions on who wins this game?
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What’s the starting 5 for Michigan St? Appling, Harris, Dawson, Costello/Schilling, Payne? I don’t really know who’s starting in place of Derrick Nix this season. Anyway:
Keith Appling (6’‘1) Sr. - Andrew Harrison (6’‘5) Fr. Gary Harris (6’‘4) So. - Aaron Harrison (6’‘5) Fr. Branden Dawson (6’‘6) Jr. - Alex Poythress (6’‘8) So. Matt Costello (6’‘9) So. - Julius Randle (6’‘9) Fr. Adreian Payne (6’‘10) Sr. - Willie Caulie-Stein (7’'0) So.
The matchups from a size and athletic standpoint probably favor Kentucky. But, the chemistry and defense probably won’t be there early on in the season for the Wildcats. I’d like to say that MSU wins this game because they have so much more experience, but Izzo teams usually start slow and finish strong. I’ll say that Kentucky wins by a few points, but I hope Michigan State wins.
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I think Michigan State will when based on experience. Even though they sometimes underperform early in the year, I think they will be really good and will be Kentucky’s young guys so early in the year. There appears to be no consensus about who will replace Nix, but the other 4 are really good.
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I’d be very surprised if Kentucky wins.
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I think we can make it a consensus in here (so far) on picking MSU, based on their experience.
If you read the article, Izzo has high praise for where this team is already. KirkisMyHinrich is spot on describing Izzo teams as slow out of the blocks. Izzo likes to lose a few non-conf games every year in hopes of building a chip on their shoulders… plus, it gives him all the excuse he needs for grinding them through months of tough practice.
But come March, if the pieces fall right for UK… watch out!
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I was thinking that MSU’s starting lineup would be as following: Appling, Harris, Valentine, Dawson, and Payne. They would match up against UK like this:
Appling (6-1 Sr) vs Andrew Harrison (6-5 Fr) Harris (6-4 So) vs Aaron Harrison (6-5 Fr) Denzel Valentine (6-5 So) vs Alex Poythress (6-8 So) Branden Dawson (6-6 Jr) vs Julius Randle (6-9 Fr) Adreian Payne (6-10 Sr) vs Willie Cauley-Stein (7-0 So)
It looks pretty close. It will be fun to see who wins.
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Im for MichSt. The biggest challenge is MichState’s physical playstyle now getting whistled by the refs under the new daggum rule. I guess even the NCAA wants a more ‘civil discourse’ rather than the hack-&-slap defenses becoming so common…Hmm, they just took away the cornerstone of Shaka’s/Self’s/Izzo’s/Kryzyewski’s gameplan…
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Im thinking Michigan State has a great shot at winning it all in April…they have a ton of experience returning
I hope they slap Kentucky in the face and send them on a downward spiral right out of the gate
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MSU has experienced talent. UK has talent.
IMO, MSU will win.
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One more thing. This Champions Classic is my prediction for the Final Four.
