- Anatomy of a Basketball Possession
Super sweet flowchart. (Hat tip: UMHoops.) - A Tough Decision
Why Mike Kebler didn’t get to play in the national championship game. - Big Ten in 2010
Beware Purdue. - It’s never too early to predict the 2009-2010 Big Ten basketball standings
The Daily Gopher agrees re: Purdue. - KANSAS DUO RETURNING TO SCHOOL; JAYHAWKS PRESEASON NO. 1
How many other teams bring back more than we do? - Spring game particulars
Next Saturday, 1:30. Cousins vs. Nichols. - Record crowd watches Spartans top Lugs, 12-2
The SW clan took this one in amidst a sea of rowdy MSU students. Good news: the Official Children of the Spartans Weblog both got baseballs from the Lugnuts bullpen guys.
Friday Morning Links
April 17, 2009 by kj
3 Responses
I agree with Bleeding Green and the Daily Gopher – Purdue would have been right there with us this year had Hummel been healthy all season. With everyone back and healthy, they should be the team to beat, although I’m not sure what they have coming in recruit-wise. We did not have Morgan at full strenght for the bulk of the Big 10 season, so that will give us a bump, but a full strength Morgan < Suton + Walton. We have to hope our returning players improve rather than tread water if we hope to win back-to-back championships.
I’m not sure how much better Lucas can get – he’s already a pretty complete player. That leaves it up to Summers, Allen, Roe, Lucious, Green and the guys who rode the pine last year to make up the difference. A healthy Morgan may make up for the loss of Walton and (maybe) then some – he’s not quite the defender Walton was (although he is pretty good) but he is a much better scorer and provides more rebounding. That still leaves us short at least half-a-Suton, and up to a full Suton, unless we get improvements from others. If the other guys (or incoming players) can improve enough to give us an extra half-a-Suton we should be right there in contention again.
Purdue’s 2009 class:
4-star PF, 3-star SF and a 2-star PF, according to Scout.
http://scouthoops.scout.com/a.z?s=75&p=9&c=8&cfg=bb&toinid=414&yr=2009
I would put Purdue as the top team as well, but I am a little surprised to see us 4th on Basketball Predictions.
http://basketballpredictions.blogspot.com/2009/04/2009-10-preview-big-ten.html
Official MSU basketball schedule comes out around September, right?
I disagree about Purdue. I think they have reached their potential. I didn’t see much improvement this year besides Johnson. I understand Hummel was injured and they will win a few more games if he is healthy. However, Grant & Moore definetely didn’t improve and might have even regressed. This team will play tough and compete but fall short of the B10 regular season title and lose in the sweet sixteen again.