Bradley vs Michigan State - Discussion Thread

[JackTalkThai]

For the MSU fans - How seriously are the fans taking this game? With the announcement of the Champs Sports Bowl v. Boston College (I hope you whoop them), it seems like that has taken on most of the attention over on SpartanTailgate. Looking at the schedule, State has another tough road game following BU, heading out to Utah to take on BYU. Obviously this game is the highlight of our non-conference schedule, I can't help but think that MSU looks at the schedule and might overlook this game.

MSU fans aren't looking at the game as a "marquis" matchup but they are looking at Bradley as possibly a tougher game than BYU as Tuesday's game is a true away game where as the BYU game is being played at a semi-neutral site in Salt Lake City as opposed to Provo.

[IheartBU]

Any students out there who could pick up an extra ticket for tomorrow? I had a work thing that got rescheduled after the sell out, and the ticket office said standing room only for students ...

There could be some carbonated beverages in it for you ... the type, of course, depends on how old you look ... I mean ... are.

[Toyota12]

tickets

I have 2 extra tickets in section 21a upper bowl to get rid of..If you are interested you can e-mail me at younk12@hotmail.com

[abraveforlife]

ruffin, crouch, warren, and....

We all know what we are going to get out of Ruffin and Crouch. We all know Warren can step up and get it going as well. This has to be the game were cole-scott has a good night. I am serious, that guy can play and he can put some serious points on the board when he's clicking. He is going to get some playing time is this game. This is going to have to be an overall team effort. Sparty is getting stronger and stronger as the season moves along. The best thing about this game is that it's a big ten team that we are playing and not a horizon league team; so the refs are going to let the boys play....I hope. This will not be a tacky foul filled night. I can not wait, I am hitting the drinking establishments at 5. Go Braves!!!!!!!!!

[bigdaddystuck]

The X-factor for BU is going to be the new guys and how well they handle the intensity of this game. My guess is that Izzo has been preaching in practice the importance of this game for us. We are a team with nothing to lose!

If we lose, people will say "well MSU is a top 10 team!"....the pressure is not on us....all on them. That can be a dangerous thing for MSU. Hopefully we can jump on them right away and then maintain that the whole way.

I agree that if we fall behind early...by that I mean 10pts or so....it will be along day for BU.

I expect a good showing by BU, but see MSU winning it by 8.

[JackTalkThai]

It'll be interesting to watch two teams clashing with somewhat similar offensive gameplans. Both teams go at least 10 deep and both teams like to get out and run to take advantage of that depth. Now I say "somewhat similar" because there remains one HUGE difference btwn the offenses of both teams: Bradley has -six- players who have attempted 12 or more three pointers thus far this season. MSU has just two players who have attempted more than 7.

Three point attempts this year...

Bradley - 202
MSU - 93

[BuBraves55]

am i the only one worried about crouch? he usually doesn't get too many good looks against good/athletic teams

[dogsrus]

am i the only one worried about crouch? he usually doesn't get too many good looks against good/athletic teams

This is where someone else or a group of others need to step up. Izzo will be focusing on shutting down JC.....Book It. So JL has to and will need to come up with other options. If they want to double or at least run a couple guys at JC we need to find guys down low or make em pay in different ways.

One thing about JC he can pass, will not force things and can drive and pull up for the bunnies. JC struggled early with his dribbling but I think he's improved a bit latley.

JC will still get his looks......and when he does......ITS GOOOOOOOOOOOOD.

[ph]

am i the only one worried about crouch? he usually doesn't get too many good looks against good/athletic teams

No. I'm also worried.
I'm sure Izzo will tell his players that Salley sets good picks but never scores. If your player is Salley and he sets a screen, just double-team JC instead.

[Sparticus]

For the MSU fans - How seriously are the fans taking this game? With the announcement of the Champs Sports Bowl v. Boston College (I hope you whoop them), it seems like that has taken on most of the attention over on SpartanTailgate. Looking at the schedule, State has another tough road game following BU, heading out to Utah to take on BYU. Obviously this game is the highlight of our non-conference schedule, I can't help but think that MSU looks at the schedule and might overlook this game.

Just because a message board is talking about the football game doesn't mean the team won't be ready to go. Most of the Bradley game discussion on SpartanTailgate came before the Jacksonville game, about a week ago. Obviously with MSU getting selected to play in Orlando is dominating the board right now-but we will see Bradley talk start to pop up tonight and most certainly tomorrow.

Izzo on the other hand circled this game when the schedule came out. Most media were asking Izzo why he went with an easier non-conference schedule this year (nobody really knew BYU would be ranked and Texas would be top 5) and he was quick to mention the possible game with UCLA and then mentioned the game on the road @Bradley. I also watched the Tom Izzo One-on-One show last week on the B10 Network and he was very concerned with this week-and most definitely Bradley on the road.

A couple heads up for those of you who don't know much about Michigan State:

First of all, even though we havent played a "true" road game-we did play Missouri in Kansas City already this season. I don't expect the crowd to affect MSU's play that much. In that game against Missouri the Spartans responded well to the crowd and jumped out to a very early lead-even 16 points in the first half.

Suton is the key for Michigan State. While everyone looks at Neitzel and even Morgan-if Suton gets rolling early MSU is very, very tough to beat. The reason why the Spartans played as well as they did against NC State was due in large part to Suton scoring the first 8 MSU points. If he gets going, it forces teams to pay attention to him which gives Neitzel and Morgan more room to work. However, in MSU's last game against Jacksonville, he picked up a couple early fouls and scored just 4 points. Against UCLA, he got into early foul trouble-and didn't attempt a shot.

Our 3 freshman will all see playing time and are very athletic. Kalin Lucas is one of the quicker guys in college basketball and Chris Allen has a great shot. I know some of you mentioned he hasn't been shooting all that well, but his percentage has gone up here in the last few games. He is a guy that you have to be careful with or he will catch fire. The other freshman, Summers, is probably the best athlete we've had in a long time. And if that compliment didn't sink in, go back and look at some of the athletes we've had at MSU here recently. Not kidding-this kid will be VERY good and will get solid minutes against Bradley.

Those are about the only 2 keys I will reveal. I'm leaving Champaign at about 4:30 central time tomorrow for the drive up. Very excited, good luck, and GO GREEN.

[BUBraves2006]

I'd be concerned about Crouch getting shots, but double teams certainly aren't the answer. Watch the old games from this year - we pass very well off those pick and roll plays and get tons of easy layups for the big guys.

Salley isn't a huge threat down low posting up, but he generally doesn't miss layups ...

[BradleyBrave]

Just because a message board is talking about the football game doesn't mean the team won't be ready to go. Most of the Bradley game discussion on SpartanTailgate came before the Jacksonville game, about a week ago. Obviously with MSU getting selected to play in Orlando is dominating the board right now-but we will see Bradley talk start to pop up tonight and most certainly tomorrow.

Izzo on the other hand circled this game when the schedule came out. Most media was asking Izzo why he went with an easier non-conference schedule this year (nobody really knew BYU would be ranked and Texas would be top 5) and he was quick to mention the possible game with UCLA and then mentioned the game on the road @Bradley. I also watched the Tom Izzo One-on-One show last week on the B10 Network and he was very concerned with this week-and most definitely Bradley on the road.

A couple heads up for those of you who don't know much about Michigan State:

First of all, even though we havent played a "true" road game-we did play Missouri in Kansas City already this season. I don't expect the crowd to affect MSU's play that much. In that game against Missouri the Spartans responded well to the crowd and jumped out to a very early lead-even 16 points in the first half.

Suton is the key for Michigan State. While everyone looks at Neitzel and even Morgan-if Suton gets rolling early MSU is very, very tough to beat. The reason why the Spartans played as well as they did against NC State was due in large part to Suton scoring the first 8 MSU points. If he gets going, it forces teams to pay attention to him which gives Neitzel and Morgan more room to work. However, in MSU's last game against Jacksonville, he picked up a couple early fouls and scored just 4 points. Against UCLA, he got into early foul trouble-and didn't attempt a shot.

Our 3 freshman will all see playing time and are very athletic. Kalin Lucas is one of the quicker guys in college basketball and Chris Allen has a great shot. I know some of you mentioned he hasn't been shooting all that well, but his percentage has gone up here in the last few games. He is a guy that you have to be careful with or he will catch fire. The other freshman, Summers, is probably the best athlete we've had in a long time. And if that compliment didn't sink in, go back and look at some of the athletes we've had at MSU here recently. Not kidding-this kid will be VERY good and will get solid minutes against Bradley.

Those are about the only 2 keys I will reveal. I'm leaving Champaign at about 4:30 central time tomorrow for the drive up. Very excited, good luck, and GO GREEN.

Cool. Thanks for the update. I didn't go past page 1 on Tailgate, so that's probably why I missed the discussion. Have a safe drive over.

[ser_solace]

I have no idea what to expect from this game. Heh. As long as the 2nd half BU team shows up for the whole game, I'll be happy. I agree that if we dig ourselves in a hole early, it would not be good. This isn't Loyola where we can easily go on a monster run.

If we do get in a hole though, I DO NOT want to see this team just give-up. Somebody better step-up and provide the needed energy to bounce back.

Definitely, Andrew Warren will probably need to step-up as JC will be hounded all night. Unless JC has an absolutely unbelievable game, I can't see him scoring too easily. Theron Wilson and Salley need to stay out of foul trouble, Theron most importantly.

[real fan]

Keys to the game for Bradley:
Get off to a good start.
Rebound
Shoot around 50% for the game
Force over 15 turnovers
Get good contribution from our bench.

[BUconnorD]

Similar to UofI last year

If you guys saw the UofI game last year, JC was hot until the big men started to get in foul trouble (ZA MVC PF leader...atta boy). they put their big guys on Crouch and BU was done. Up until that point, JC was as cool as the other side of the pillow.

Utilize Sammy M's Ruff's speed and get Warren, Theron, and JC on the perimeter hitting some 3's w/ their height differential.

of course, I never played basketball short of 8 year olds pretending to play a gamel, so this whole thing could be and probably is me talking out of my butt.

the most important thing is that the energy is goin and we freak out MSU.

see everyone tomorrow