[December 30, 2023] Indiana State (11-1) at Michigan State (6-5)

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SycamoreStateofMind said:
Man… I’m emotionally spent. Just about an hour away from Terre Haute. Just having a hard time coming up with words.

Like that’s the environment you dream of playing/cheering on your team in, you could feel the intensity, so much on the line for really both teams MSU can’t afford another non P5 loss at home no matter our metrics - InState can’t afford to lose ever in general it’s a stacked deck. It was just a heck of a battle - thought Michigan State deserved a ton of credit for the level they played at. Thought they were really good on the glass and took Avila completely away from us. Swope and Bledson were really good - Bledson missed some big shots but he competed his ass off.

I could keep going… Just really disappointed in the final - I thought we would win. I still think we’re one of the top 25 teams in the country it’s just going to take a long time to prove it now. Time will tell I guess. I had fun just wish it was a different outcome.
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Pretty much where I’m at. I debated all along going or not and mostly cause I feared making the trip and coming home with an L. We still had a great time and you take the opportunity to play in those environments every time.
We went to dinner right off campus surrounded by MSU fans and had multiple people come up to our table to say how tough our team is and think we would be a tough out in the NCAA T.

It’s just really hard right now not to feel a little bit down as I was determined we we would make our mark with a “signature” win. Just think when they throw up your tourney resume on CBS: “Quality Wins: @ Michigan St.”.
With all that said, we’re 11-2 with 2 P5 losses and 2-0 in conference play. One game at a time right? But yes, I’m looking at beating Eville and an Iowa sweep for a home game against Belmont @ 14-2!

Boys need to take it easy the next day or two and put the hard hats back on!
 

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Yeah - I’m glad I made the trip the environment and the level of play was really really high. I don’t like making the trip or should say over the course of my life have hated making road trips to watch teams that just aren’t ready to compete and don’t rise to the occasion and that just wasn’t the case today. We just got beat by a better team today that honestly on a neutral court we probably would have had a lot better chance to beat down the stretch.

So I don’t feel bad about making the trip or taking the day to support that effort - it was an elite effort. I just hate losing. I think for an at-large it was a must win game for multiple reasons. I think the margin for error is so small from here on out. The margin for error in STL is basically win or go to some broke dick tournament. For this team anything other than the NCAA tournament will be a massive disappointment. They are too good. And don’t take my word for it. Take Izzo. Take Bruce Webber apparently. A lot of big time college hoops minds - not my dumb ass. Soo yeah. It was a big loss.
 
I know exactly what you mean about the environment. Everytime ive gone to see ISU play in an away game with a great crowd I’ve always thought “these guys deserve this at home too” but the program can never seem to maintain success long enough to get that environment consistently.

Really hoping we keep winning and the town shows up the last few home games with the regular season championship on the line. Hulman Center is as loud as any arena I’ve ever been in when you get about 7k or more in there. Hope we can do it a few times this season.
 
I know it’s been brought up many times and obviously nothing changing, but still think JD could have given us 5 minutes. Downhill player that could have got something going at the rim, physical rebounder and would have helped keep our bigs out of foul trouble.
 
SycamoreBlue3209 said:
I know it’s been brought up many times and obviously nothing changing, but still think JD could have given us 5 minutes. Downhill player that could have got something going at the rim, physical rebounder and would have helped keep our bigs out of foul trouble.
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Agree totally, like we talked about last night. At least give him Wolfe’s wasted minutes.
 
SycamoreStateofMind said:
Yeah - I’m glad I made the trip the environment and the level of play was really really high. I don’t like making the trip or should say over the course of my life have hated making road trips to watch teams that just aren’t ready to compete and don’t rise to the occasion and that just wasn’t the case today. We just got beat by a better team today that honestly on a neutral court we probably would have had a lot better chance to beat down the stretch.

So I don’t feel bad about making the trip or taking the day to support that effort - it was an elite effort. I just hate losing. I think for an at-large it was a must win game for multiple reasons. I think the margin for error is so small from here on out. The margin for error in STL is basically win or go to some broke dick tournament. For this team anything other than the NCAA tournament will be a massive disappointment. They are too good. And don’t take my word for it. Take Izzo. Take Bruce Webber apparently. A lot of big time college hoops minds - not my dumb ass. Soo yeah. It was a big loss.
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The pain in my side are the idiots who will continue to say...who have they beaten. We've had 2 chances for Q1 wins, both on the road, both losses. You know who else doesn't have a Q1 win on the road right now? Michigan state. The deck is truly stacked. We won't likely get a single Q1 home game this year, and no one is going to want to give us one.
On the other hand, what kind of dick committee member is willing to take the heat on leaving out a 30-3 conference champion.
 

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Huff77 said:
The pain in my side are the idiots who will continue to say...who have they beaten. We've had 2 chances for Q1 wins, both on the road, both losses. You know who else doesn't have a Q1 win on the road right now? Michigan state. The deck is truly stacked. We won't likely get a single Q1 home game this year, and no one is going to want to give us one.
On the other hand, what kind of dick committee member is willing to take the heat on leaving out a 30-3 conference champion.
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What heat? They won’t face any heat for leaving out any mid-major. They are more likely to face heat for leaving out the 11th place Big Ten or ACC team. Mostly because those teams have large enough fan bases to make noise.


I agree with you and many others on here that we are good enough to be a tourney team and deserve strong consideration. But after years of watching teams like Monmouth get left out for an 18-14 P5, you start to realize the committee is full of shit when they tell you what their “criteria” is. Their criteria is picking whoever they want, typically the biggest name. Actual basketball ability has little to nothing to do with it. Almost every member of the committee is a P5 whore
 
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Huff77 said:
The pain in my side are the idiots who will continue to say...who have they beaten. We've had 2 chances for Q1 wins, both on the road, both losses. You know who else doesn't have a Q1 win on the road right now? Michigan state. The deck is truly stacked. We won't likely get a single Q1 home game this year, and no one is going to want to give us one.
On the other hand, what kind of dick committee member is willing to take the heat on leaving out a 30-3 conference champion.
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Yup this is it… We would be fine at 30-3 the reality is that’s going to be a really tough road. Possible?! For sure. If you get to anything close to that the Q1 convo isn’t a problem we will be fine. The win today just bought us a little breathing room I feel. Now we have none.

Truth be told - given the amount of credit we’ve earned from well respected ball minds around the country I could see a 27-6 + STL championship runner up getting us in.

We’re okay - we just have to settle back in and go on another run. That was a good ass measuring stick in a tough environment. I’m not sure I’d change much - at the end of the day that’s the type of game your going to have to win on the road in the Valley, in STL and eventually in March. That’s the environment and level so it won’t be new to us when it happens again. Hopefully! JS won a lot of games and is getting a ton of respect - he will get us going again.
 
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That’s an athletic environment that you wish for every game as a player, coach, and fan. The lost stings, but the experience was worth making the trip. Our team competed their tails off and gave us moments in the game for something to cheer for. When we went up by 5 there was an ISU, ISU, ISU chant that could be heard from the upper bowl down by our teams bench. There was a lot to be excited for and reasons to stand up and cheer while be surrounded in the sea of green. I’ve always had a lot of respect for Michigan State and Coach Izzo, they are a good basketball team that we made uncomfortable and had on the ropes, but just couldn’t finish. The MSU fans really played into their momentum from the 10 minute mark down to the buzzer. Also, credit to MSU for their game day experience as Coach Izzo even commented on in his presser.

It’s time to buckle up and take care of conference play and be a championship team that we are capable of.
 
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SycamoreBlue3209 said:
I know it’s been brought up many times and obviously nothing changing, but still think JD could have given us 5 minutes. Downhill player that could have got something going at the rim, physical rebounder and would have helped keep our bigs out of foul trouble.
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I too would have liked to see JD get at least a little run. Coach has said he's our best rebounder. He can't help from the bench and we were having trouble rebounding especially in the first half.
 
bigsportsfan said:
I watch or go to every game and he never does anything. Maybe your data includes Lipscomb and Morehead.
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The data doesn’t show the times Mich St. blew past him on defense and either dunked the ball(twice) or converted for the score as he stood there. On offense he he not a threat. He has showed nothing! Shetlar or Daughtry could do no worse.
 

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Not to take anything away from Robbie but I think he was intimidated from the tip off. It's a shame he had a game like this after all of the national hype he has received.
 
Well, I've been letting this game marinade for a bit. First off, I will tip my hat to Michigan State. They were well prepared and did a really good job of limiting our cutters to the basket. I thought we played pretty well, other than about a 4 minute stretch in the first half and the last four minutes of the game when we looked gassed. MSU exposed our shallow bench depth at the 4/5 slot. I too was hoping to see Daughtry get a run, but for some reason coach doesn't think he is ready to help us. I was dang proud of all the Sycamore faithful that made the trip. We were loud and engaged the whole game even though we were jammed at the top behind one of the baskets. That was a big time atmosphere and we proved we belonged. I am disappointed we lost, but proud of the effort. On our way from the arena to the parking lot we had a few MSU fans compliment our team and fan turn out. I am not a moral victory person, so I am not seeing it as that, but I will say I was proud to be in attendance to cheer on our team. These guys fought hard, just came up a little short. Time to start another long winning streak!
 
bigsportsfan said:
I watch or go to every game and he never does anything. Maybe your data includes Lipscomb and Morehead.
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It is posted thru 10 games leaving out two blowouts. Everyone has a bad game every once in a while.
I trust the coaching staff to recognize contributions and to try things.
You guys complain the starters play too many minutes and then criticize efforts to solve a problem like getting pounded on the boards by playing a veteran, big guard.
 
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