Is performing better than the sum of their parts.
They have us at 7th. Good couple paragraphs here..
“Hey hey, it’s Michigan State! OK, yes, sure, this is probably high. Maybe way too high! This is, essentially, the same team that was a No. 7 seed last year, albeit with one more offseason of collective improvement and cohesion. Three games in, we’re not exactly willing to entirelytoss out our preseason understanding.
On the other hand, though? Tom Izzo scheduled a strong start to the season, and so far it has massively paid off. The Spartans have played three games as of this writing; two of them came against Gonzaga and Kentucky on neutral courts. Michigan State lost the first, but only barely, and had a chance to win its visit to the USS Abraham Lincoln against the Zags last Friday night down to the final possession exchange. Then, on Tuesday, the Spartans outlasted Kentucky in double-overtime at the Champions Classic in Indianapolis, uncorking two of the most impressive late-clock out-of-bounds plays you’ll ever see, leading to game-tying dunks in high-leverage situations en route to the win.
As impressive as those plays were, though, the biggest thing that stuck out to us about Michigan State’s performance (particularly relative to Kentucky, which we’ll get to below) was its fluidity. Faced with a team that seems pretty clearly more talented in all sorts of ways, Michigan State made up for it not just by being more prepared in key moments but also just being more comfortable with each other, and with its understanding of where the ball needed to be. Guards A.J. Hoggard and Tyson Walkerwere decisive. They have a feel for each other. The spacing is smart. Mady Sissoko is a revelation. The ball moves, it swings, it swings again. Joey Hauser has figured out what his best shots are in this system, and how best to hunt them down. Michigan State quickly puts questionable defenders (C.J. Fredrick on Tuesday) into mismatches and then runs quick, easy little plays — simple stuff like an elbow pindown that got Hauser a wide-open look late — that maximize those brief advantages.
Michigan State didn’t put on some crazy offensive clinic Tuesday night, but it was by far the more fluid of the two teams. Fluidity matters. It illuminates skill; it multiplies the collective application thereof. It allows teams to become more than the sum of their parts. That’s Michigan State, at least right now.
They have us at 7th. Good couple paragraphs here..
“Hey hey, it’s Michigan State! OK, yes, sure, this is probably high. Maybe way too high! This is, essentially, the same team that was a No. 7 seed last year, albeit with one more offseason of collective improvement and cohesion. Three games in, we’re not exactly willing to entirelytoss out our preseason understanding.
On the other hand, though? Tom Izzo scheduled a strong start to the season, and so far it has massively paid off. The Spartans have played three games as of this writing; two of them came against Gonzaga and Kentucky on neutral courts. Michigan State lost the first, but only barely, and had a chance to win its visit to the USS Abraham Lincoln against the Zags last Friday night down to the final possession exchange. Then, on Tuesday, the Spartans outlasted Kentucky in double-overtime at the Champions Classic in Indianapolis, uncorking two of the most impressive late-clock out-of-bounds plays you’ll ever see, leading to game-tying dunks in high-leverage situations en route to the win.
As impressive as those plays were, though, the biggest thing that stuck out to us about Michigan State’s performance (particularly relative to Kentucky, which we’ll get to below) was its fluidity. Faced with a team that seems pretty clearly more talented in all sorts of ways, Michigan State made up for it not just by being more prepared in key moments but also just being more comfortable with each other, and with its understanding of where the ball needed to be. Guards A.J. Hoggard and Tyson Walkerwere decisive. They have a feel for each other. The spacing is smart. Mady Sissoko is a revelation. The ball moves, it swings, it swings again. Joey Hauser has figured out what his best shots are in this system, and how best to hunt them down. Michigan State quickly puts questionable defenders (C.J. Fredrick on Tuesday) into mismatches and then runs quick, easy little plays — simple stuff like an elbow pindown that got Hauser a wide-open look late — that maximize those brief advantages.
Michigan State didn’t put on some crazy offensive clinic Tuesday night, but it was by far the more fluid of the two teams. Fluidity matters. It illuminates skill; it multiplies the collective application thereof. It allows teams to become more than the sum of their parts. That’s Michigan State, at least right now.
