Michigan St or Florida

[TheHeemyMonster]

All the preseason ranking are out and it looking like we have 2 highly skilled teams to deal with this season on their won home courts. With that being said, which team does everyone think we have a better chance to beat?

Michigan St is ranked higher than Florida as far as preseason rankings are concerned but I am still not convinced. We should know Michigan St a little better than Florida and we know we can play with this team because of how last years match up turned out. We will have a few more games under our belt when we play this team but so will they so I am not sure if that is really much of an advantage.

My vote is for Florida. We will be playing this team early in the year which I think could be a big advantage. Also I think the home court advantage would be stronger with Michigan St since they are more of a basketball school then Florida is. Also we already saw what Michigan St can do on their own court 2 years ago....Thoughts???

[amettrick]

I'm not so sure you can necessarily call Michigan St. more of a basketball school than Florida at this point, considering the Gators have won two of the last three national titles. I'd have to imagine Florida fans are pretty enthusiastic about basketball these days.

Having said that of course, I have to agree I think we have a better shot against Flordia than we do Michigan State. We took a pretty good team to East Lansing two years ago and got pretty well flattened, so that's obviously one hell of a tough place to play.

I'd like to think we have and chance to beat both of them though!!

[bugregshu]

I would think we have a much better chance against Florida. They only have 3 players who are upper-classmen (1 SR, 2 JR) and since we play a young team so early in the year, anything can happen. Michigan State looks too good and too experienced in the frontcourt on paper for us to win IMO.

[TheHeemyMonster]

I'm not so sure you can necessarily call Michigan St. more of a basketball school than Florida at this point, considering the Gators have won two of the last three national titles. I'd have to imagine Florida fans are pretty enthusiastic about basketball these days.

Having said that of course, I have to agree I think we have a better shot against Flordia than we do Michigan State. We took a pretty good team to East Lansing two years ago and got pretty well flattened, so that's obviously one hell of a tough place to play.

I'd like to think we have and chance to beat both of them though!!

understand your point. I guess when I think of Florida as a college I think of football before basketball everytime. I would just think at atmosphere at Michigan St would creat a more difficult place to play than Florida

[BradleyBrave]

We have zero chance to beat Florida. Over the years, BU has fared well against teams in the Big 10 and Big East because BU plays and up-and-down, athletic style of basketball that neither of those conferences tend to play. They play a much slower, plodding type of game and have trouble keeping up with the BU's (and also why most of their teams have failed during the tournament).

On the other hand, the SEC plays the exact same type of basketball that BU likes to play - up and down, athletic. The only difference between SEC teams and BU is that the SEC teams generally have much bigger, and much better athletes and players. Case in point - BU against Mississippi St two years ago, and BU against Vanderbilt last year. We were undersized and not as athletic as either team. I'm afraid it's going to be a lot of the same against Florirda, except that we'll be playing against the class of the SEC instead of middle-of-the road teams like Miss St and Vandy. They play the same way we want to play, only much, much better. If we have any chance at all, it's against Michigan St.

[cpacmel]

We have zero chance to beat Florida.

Might as well not even play the game, since BU has zero chance of winning.

There's always a chance. That is why we play the games.

[TheHeemyMonster]

Might as well not even play the game, since BU has zero chance of winning.

There's always a chance. That is why we play the games.

Agreed. Didnt expect this one out of you BB. I thought you were the one who was exicted for this one. Florida football game the night before. Florida being tired and hungover for the game Whats up with that???

[LG281]

There's always a chance. That is why we play the games.

I hate agreeing with a redbird fan...but its the truth. Whats up BB...somebody take whiz in your wheaties this morning?

[houstontxbrave]

We have zero chance to beat Florida. Over the years, BU has fared well against teams in the Big 10 and Big East because BU plays and up-and-down, athletic style of basketball that neither of those conferences tend to play. They play a much slower, plodding type of game and have trouble keeping up with the BU's (and also why most of their teams have failed during the tournament).

Come on Zero chance? When exactly have we fared well against at Big Ten 10? And the logic that a slower plodding team has problems keeping up with BU hasnt exactly worked out to well for us versus MSU the last two times we played them.

If we can get fare officating at Florida we have a chance to play with them. I do not believe we never have any chance to not beat anyone, negative thinking gets nothing but negative results but I guess if that negativity allows for restful sleep and less disappointment, have at it, but I prefer to think we have every chance in the world to beat anyone we come up against.

[BradleyBrave]

Come on Zero chance? When exactly have we fared well against at Big Ten 10? And the logic that a slower plodding team has problems keeping up with BU hasnt exactly worked out to well for us versus MSU the last two times we played them.

MSU is a top 10 program. You can play any style in the world with them and it probably wouldn't matter. However, we were beating them for 35 minutes last December, and we also destroyed Iowa last season, and gave the Illini all they could handle for 35 minutes the season before. Our record against the Big East speaks for itself, as does our record against the SEC.

If we can get fare officating at Florida we have a chance to play with them. I do not believe we never have any chance to not beat anyone, negative thinking gets nothing but negative results but I guess if that negativity allows for restful sleep and less disappointment, have at it, but I prefer to think we have every chance in the world to beat anyone we come up against.

Hey, I hope we go down there and shock the world. The original question of the thread was asking which team we had a better chance to beat, and I said Michigan St. Sorry that didn't sit well with some folks. We're playing a true road game against the two-time defending national champions, who waxed our league favorite by 30 points last year. I'm sorry if I don't think we have a chance to beat them.

[SFP]

I still say we have a better chance against Florida. They are younger period and Mich St will not take us lightly after last year. I also disagree with the faster pace game hinders us. Kansas was a faster team when we beat them. We did not lose to Memphis because they were faster but because they were bigger and longer. We have fixed that and I'll take our guards against just about anyone right now. I hope AW is 100% for that one because he will have a field day!

[Grassman]

Msu or florida

MSU 0 chance; They know us and will not take us for granted.
Fla 25% chance: They do not know us, if we can get out early,of course, at this point, I don't know who we are either, maybe?

[lefty]

We have zero chance to beat Florida. Over the years, BU has fared well against teams in the Big 10 and Big East because BU plays and up-and-down, athletic style of basketball that neither of those conferences tend to play. They play a much slower, plodding type of game and have trouble keeping up with the BU's (and also why most of their teams have failed during the tournament).

On the other hand, the SEC plays the exact same type of basketball that BU likes to play - up and down, athletic. The only difference between SEC teams and BU is that the SEC teams generally have much bigger, and much better athletes and players. Case in point - BU against Mississippi St two years ago, and BU against Vanderbilt last year. We were undersized and not as athletic as either team. I'm afraid it's going to be a lot of the same against Florirda, except that we'll be playing against the class of the SEC instead of middle-of-the road teams like Miss St and Vandy. They play the same way we want to play, only much, much better. If we have any chance at all, it's against Michigan St.

I guess we are all going to pick on you some BB. I am too lazy to do the research in regard to SEC and BT competition...but I'm giuessing the BT stacks up fairly decent in Final Fours.

I think a team like BU can beat any other team on their home floor,has a decent chance on a neutral floor, and small chance on the road....I don't think I would call it zero chance against either team but the odds won't be very good for sure.

[houstontxbrave]

I guess I look at basketball a lot differently then some here. There is no way our program has a zero % chance of winning any game. We are not Chicago State. This negative no way we win or a low chance of winning is crazy. Its basketball and we have a very good program, anything can and does happen when the ball is thrown in the air... ask Kentucky.. ie if you both forgot losing at home to San Diego and Garnder Webb, or Syracuse who lost at home to UMass and Rhode Island last year and WSU the year before, or Illinois who lost last year to Tennessee Tech last season... see sometimes miracles do happen.

Yes we are underdogs in both games but to think we have no chance is not fair to this team or this program. In either case we go in to the game tied 0-0 and its 5 on 5 and we have a chance to win at either place.

With that type of negative attitudes no reason to even go to either place and infact there is no reason to ever play a BCS school. Just schedule WIU, EIU, NIU and Loyola and call it a schedule.

I guess both of you thought we would have zero chance v Kansas, v Pittsburgh, v Virginia, how did that work out for you?

[bugregshu]

We have zero chance to beat Florida....

....the SEC plays the exact same type of basketball that BU likes to play - up and down, athletic.

Couldn't you also make the argument that since they play the same type of basketball as us, that's an advantage. We practice defending against that style of play everyday in scrimmages. Since we are a more experienced team on paper, and have more experience playing up-tempo basketball AS A TEAM, i think we may stand a chance against Florida. You really can't stress team chemistry enough in competitive sports.

If all the pieces fall in place, the combination of inexperience, style of play, and early scheduling with Florida may result in a possible upset in my opinion.