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Articles by Sam Tyler
Inter-Scrimmage Signposts: What Michigan State must show before Duke
Between Michigan State's confident domination of an overmatched Incarnate Word squad, a narrow but ultimately not-very-close loss to Connecticut, and Sunday's final preseason scrimmage against Marquette, Spartan fans and the coaching staff have plenty to consider. As Tom Izzo noted in his postgame press conference, the Spartans approached the UConn contest with their familiar early-season strategy of deliberately disrupting their own rotation.
Here are the four things that will pave a victory path for MSU over Auburn
Tonight, Michigan State is a six-point underdog against the #1 overall seed in the tournament, Auburn, though, pretty clearly, Duke is the best team in the tournament, at this point. Michigan gave the game away against Auburn Friday night in almost stunning fashion. Up seven, with 12:45 left to go in the second half, Michigan looked to be cruising. So what happened?
Spartans Illustrated - Here is why I picked Michigan State Basketball to go to the Final Four
Michigan State's regular season was derailed by the seniors not stepping up enough, and generally suffering from disconnect from the ‘team’ at different points (1-2 of the seniors, or Jaden Akins were off seemingly every game of the season). This team began to ‘read its own press releases’ in the summer, and did not commit to the nitty-gritty of excellence quite enough.
Spartans Illustrated - Sober MSU Basketball Analysis: Player assessments and lessons from 2015
After losing to the Wisconsin Badgers for a second time this season, both in lopsided fashion, the Michigan State Spartans’ record sits at 12-8 overall and 4-5 in conference play in the 2023-2024 season. This year's team entered the season with a roughly top-five ranking and Final Four aspirations.
Spartans Illustrated - Michigan State men's basketball stuns No. 6 Baylor in dominating 88-64 win
Saturday afternoon offered an exciting, but challenging matchup for college basketball fans as the undefeated and sixth ranked (9-0) Baylor Bears took on the Michigan State Spartans (4-5) in a neutral court matchup at Little Caesar's Arena in Detroit. The game did not disappoint as MSU's high-flying performance dominated the Bears from start to finish in a 88-64 victory. The win margin is the largest over a top-10 team in Spartan program history in fact.
Spartans Illustrated - Michigan State routs Georgia Southern in 86-55 victory
Sitting at 3-3 on the season, Michigan State came into its home contest Tuesday evening with Georgia Southern having just fallen out of the AP Top-25 poll. With lofty preseason expectations significantly diminished, and with the Spartans comfortably off the national radar, Tom Izzo’s crew began the task of recreating a team in their own preseason image with a comfortably dominant performance against an over-matched opponent.
Duke Beats Michigan State 74-65 in Champions Classic Showdown
Key points: Duke defeats Michigan State 74-65 in the Champions Classic event in Chicago Michigan State struggled with their shooting, particularly from three-point range Tyson Walker and Jaden Akins had strong performances in the second half for Michigan State Duke defeated Michigan State 74-65 in the Champions Classic event. Despite a strong defensive start, the Spartans struggled to score from beyond the arc.
Spartans Illustrated - Champions Classic Recap: No. 9 Duke defeats No. 18 Michigan State 74-65
Michigan State men's basketball, ranked No. 18 in the country, came into its showdown with No. 9 Duke, which was played as part of the Champions Classic event in Chicago, in need of a dramatic improvement on defense and from beyond the arc as a collective. While the team made significant strides, the balance of the effort proved insufficient to overcome the talented Blue Devils team as the Spartans fell by a final score of 74-65.
Michigan State Men’s Basketball: Notre Dame Preview
Dale Young-USA TODAY Sports Where: Purcell Pavilion, South Bend, Indiana When: Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2022 at 9:15 p.m. ET TV/Streaming (within the U.S.): ESPN2 The Spartans survived a brutally difficult trip to Portland, Oregon, which forced Tom Izzo’s team to play three games in four days without two of its top six players.
Michigan State Men’s Basketball: Portland Preview
Photo by Adam Ruff/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images Where: Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Portland, Oregon When: Sunday, Nov. 27, 2022 at 5:30 p.m. ET TV/Streaming (within the U.S.): ESPN The Spartans picked up a crucial victory against Oregon in the second game of the Phil Knight Invitational (PK85) despite mounting adversity.
Michigan State Men’s Basketball: Oregon Preview
Troy Wayrynen-USA TODAY Sports Where: Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Portland, Oregon When: Friday, Nov. 25, 2022 at 11:59 p.m. ET TV/Streaming (within the U.S.): ESPN As soon as I wrote the Alabama preview, naturally the news of Malik Hall’s stress reaction in his left foot broke (a stress reaction occurs when the bone is severely bruised or damaged, but no actual fracture has occurred). Hall’s absence doomed the Spartans in a game the team likely wins comfortably if playing at full-strength.
Michigan State Men’s Basketball: No. 18 Alabama Crimson Tide Preview
Dale Young-USA TODAY Sports Where: Moda Center, Portland, Oregon When: Thursday, Nov. 24, 2022 at 10:30 p.m. ET TV/Streaming (within the U.S.): ESPN After a dominant 33 minutes against Villanova, the Spartans let the undermanned, but determined, Wildcats back into the game, and, ultimately, barely escaped with a home win. The core of that team-wide near letdown falls on A,J. Hoggard.
Michigan State Men’s Basketball: Villanova Preview
Marc Lebryk-USA TODAY Sports Where: Breslin Center, East Lansing, MI When: Friday, Nov. 18, 2022 at 8:00 p.m. ET TV/Streaming (within the U.S.): FS1 What a statement the Spartans made in their double-overtime win over Kentucky on Tuesday night in Indianapolis.
Michigan State Men’s Basketball: No. 4 Kentucky Wildcats Preview
Orlando Ramirez-USA TODAY Sports Where: Gainbridge Fieldhouse, Indianapolis, Indiana When: Tuesday, Nov. 15, 2022 at 7:00 p.m. ET TV/Streaming (within the U.S.): ESPN After a gut-punching one-point loss to No. 2 Gonzaga — a team that Michigan State dominated for most of the game (late foul calls, ahem, and Jaden Akins’ rustiness really hurt the Spartans in the second half) — the Spartans will have an opportunity to play and beat a better team in Kentucky.
Michigan State Men’s Basketball: Gonzaga Bulldogs Preview
Dale Young-USA TODAY Sports Where: USS Abraham Lincoln, San Diego, California When: Friday, Nov. 11, 2022 at 6:30 p.m. ET TV/Streaming (within the U.S.): ESPN After a season-opening win against Northern Arizona, the Michigan State men’s basketball team begins a daunting stretch of games that will rival even the 2001-2002 season for level of difficulty (that season saw the Spartans play six top-25 opponents in the non-conference season).
Michigan State’s Men’s Basketball: Season Preview
Matt Krohn-USA TODAY Sports Tom Izzo’s Michigan State Spartans finished a frustrating 2021-2022 season with a record of 23-13 (11-9 in the Big Ten). The ‘21-’22 campaign saw the MSU men’s basketball team being unable to defend effectively enough to overcome its surprising efficiency struggles, including the season-long dip in scoring efficiency from five-star freshman guard Max Christie (who never quite emerged as an offensive star).
2022-2023 NCAA Men’s Basketball: Top-60 teams preseason rankings, No. 1-30
Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports This 2022-2023 college basketball season, will be an interesting one: for the first time in decades, Mike Krzyzewski will not coach at Duke and, with Roy Williams and Jay Wright both retiring recently, Tom Izzo, John Calipari, Mark Few and Bill Self stand atop the coaching landscape in college basketball.
2022-2023 NCAA Men’s Basketball: Top-60 teams preseason rankings, No. 31-60
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2022-2023 NCAA Men’s Basketball: Top-60 teams preseason rankings, No. 31-60
Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images After being robbed of a chance for a national title in 2020, with the cancelation of the NCAA Tournament (that team finished at No. 7 in Kenpom’s final ratings — Tom Izzo’s 12th team to finish in the top-10 in Kenpom’s ratings, which now include Izzo’s entire tenure), and after a historically bad season in 2021 (finishing at No. 64 in Kenpom’s final ratings — the worst-performing team Izzo has ever had), last year’s Michigan State team showed tremendous...
Michigan State Men’s Basketball: Back to the Future
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Michigan State Men’s Basketball: Back to the Future
Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images As the 2022-2023 offseason progresses for the Michigan State men’s basketball program, and as the class of 2023 begins to round into shape with the excitement of the recent commitments of Xavier Booker and Gehrig Normand (who join Jeremy Fears Jr.), MSU fans can, at least tentatively, sketch out what the 2023-2024 season will look like, on paper.
Michigan State Men’s Basketball: NBA Update, Recruiting Notes and Offseason Ruminations
Matthew OHaren-USA TODAY Sports It’s the offseason for Michigan State men’s basketball, but there are still plenty of topics to discuss. Here are some updates on Spartans in the NBA, recruiting, offseason thoughts and MSU’s projected future depth charts. NBA Update: The two Spartans playing in Memphis had STRONG postseasons— Jaren Jackson Jr. and Xavier Tillman both had great postseason runs with the Grillzies, building on their respective strong regular seasons.
Michigan State Spartans Men’s Basketball: State of the program
Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK After a somewhat underwhelming 2021-2022 men’s basketball season for Michigan State — one that saw players who the program thought would be top-level performers only play at their peak levels for parts of the season, and one that saw the team defense and offense wax and wane frustratingly until the closer-than-the-scoreline defeat to Duke in the second round of the NCAA Tournament ended the season — how should Michigan State fans (and the coaching staff if they...
Michigan State Men’s Basketball: Final thoughts on 2021-2022 season
After a frustrating season ended in such a tantalizing fashion, with a loss to Duke in the second round of the 2022 NCAA Tournament, the long wait until next season begins. While the standards of Tom Izzo’s program remained out of reach for this year’s team (to keep the Tantalus theme going), the tide is turning for Michigan State, and major momentum is building in Izzo’s program — the labors of this year’s team will undoubtedlybear fruit next season.
NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament: Ranking the top-24 teams
The Sweet 16 probables, and possible party-crashers... What follows is a prediction of the Sweet 16 field in the NCAA Tournament (with rankings based roughly on my confidence in the teams making the Sweet 16), eight teams that might crash my predicted Sweet 16 (regardless of region), and my prediction for the rest of the NCAA Tournament (Elite Eight, Final Four, Champion) with any comments if I feel they are needed. I managed to predict all four Final Four teams in 2019.
Michigan State Spartans Men’s Basketball: Michigan Wolverines Preview
The Michigan State Spartans men’s basketball team heads to the Crisler Center in Ann Arbor, Michigan to take on the the Michigan Wolverines on Tuesday at 8:30 p.m. Eastern Time (FS1). This is of course the rescheduled date between the two programs after the game originally scheduled for Jan. 8 was postponed. Let’s preview the matchup.
Men’s Basketball Preview: Michigan State vs. Penn State
The Michigan State Spartans men’s basketball team heads to University Park, Pennsylvania to take on the the Penn State Nittany Lions on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. (Big Ten Network). Let’s preview the matchup.
Big Ten Men’s Basketball Preview: Michigan State vs. Rutgers
The No. 13 Michigan State Spartans men’s basketball team heads to Piscataway, New Jersey to take on the Rutgers Scarlet Knights on Saturday at 4 p.m. (FS1). Let’s preview the matchup.
Michigan State Men’s Basketball: Jeremy Fears Jr. and the future of the Spartans
With Jeremy Fears Jr.’s commitment this past week, Tom Izzo landed an essential piece to the 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 roster puzzle. As I have written about previously when discussing Tre Holloman’s commitment, Izzo has clearly decided that having at least three point guards on the roster at all times should serve as his cardinal rule of roster construction (I will return to “cardinal rules of roster construction” below).
Michigan State Men’s Basketball: Michigan Preview
Depth Chart: 1 - Tyson Walker (6’0” Jr.), A.J. Hoggard (6’4” So.) 2 - Max Christie (6’6” Fr.), Jaden Akins (6’4” Fr.) 3 - Gabe Brown (6’8” Sr.), Pierre Brooks II (6’6” Fr.) 4 - Joey Hauser (6’9” Sr.), Malik Hall (6’7” Jr.) 5 - Marcus Bingham Jr. (7’0” Sr.), Julius Marble (6’9” Jr.), Mady Sissoko (6’9” So.) After two shambolic performances against solid conference opponents—shambolic due almost exclusively to absurd turnovers and substandard defensive execution—the Spartans need to rally in a...
NCAA Men’s Basketball: Top-30 teams heading into conference play
In the preseason, I noted that Michigan State had a bright outlook heading into the 2021-2022 season because of the team’s age (MSU is one of the large number of “old” teams, all of which have a leg-up on the rest of the competition), depth (this was a projection that has come to pass as I anticipated), NBA talent (Marcus Bingham Jr., Gabe Brown, Malik Hall, Jaden Akins and Max Christie, at least, all appear to be possible future NBA players), and coaching talent (Tom Izzo and crew have...
Michigan State Basketball: Shorthanded Spartans defeats High Point, 81-68
Michigan State defeated High Point by a final score of 81 to 68 in a frustrating performance on Wednesday afternoon. MSU was shorthanded for the game, missing Max Christie, Marcus Bingham Jr., Pierre Brooks II and Steven Izzo. After a lackadaisical first 28 minutes of the game, the Spartans found their spirit and benefited from strong overall games from Gabe Brown, Joey Hauser, Malik Hall and A.J. Hoggard.
Michigan State Spartans Men’s Basketball: High Point Panthers Preview
Where: Breslin Center, East Lansing, Michigan When: Wednesday, Dec.
Michigan State Men’s Basketball: Battle 4 Atlantis reflections
After the Michigan State Spartans played three games in three days, I figured I would drop you all a line with some thoughts on the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament — I will try to write some more as the season progresses... Heading into this tournament, I thought the Spartans would be hard-pressed to win two games, and thought that both of those wins would likely come in the loser’s bracket.
Michigan State Men’s Basketball: Jaxon Kohler is something completely different for the Spartans
Jaxon Kohler committed to Tom Izzo and the Michigan State Spartans men’s basketball program on Sept. 19, as Zach Manning noted in his announcement piece. This late-developing and lightning fast recruitment is a fascinating development for Izzo as he builds his 2022 class and begins to look ahead to 2023.
Michigan State Spartans Men’s Basketball: Late August Recruiting Update
What to make of Michigan State’s 2022 men’s basketball recruiting situation... With Isaac Traudt committing to the University of Virginia on Saturday, Aug. 28, the staff will need to take some time to consider their next move in this recruiting cycle. The number of targets for this recruiting class has remained small over the entire cycle and that has been both positive — landing Tre Holloman in part because he was the only lead guard the staff recruited — and now a negative.
Michigan State Basketball: Tre Holloman is more than just a point guard
As Ryan O’Bleness noted in his initial announcement piece, Tre Holloman became the first actual committed member of the 2022 men’s basketball recruiting class for Michigan State, ultimately choosing Tom Izzo and the Spartans over other finalists Minnesota, Marquette and Oklahoma State. Spartans fans who may greet this news with some perplexity — a fourth lead guard on the roster for the 2022-23 season? — should ramp up their excitement post-haste.
Aaron Henry and the Philadelphia 76ers: Fit and Role
Well...that was a wild NBA Draft! Michigan State’s Aaron Henry did not get drafted — much to my shock as well as that of many other NBA draft experts and followers. Even more perplexing than Henry not getting drafted? A lot of the players who got selected ahead of him, including in the second round alone: Joe Wieskamp, Isaiah Livers, Dalano Banton and Aaron Wiggins (all from the Big Ten).
NCAA Men’s Basketball: Top-60 teams preseason rankings, No. 1-30
This 2021-2022 college basketball season, will, in all likelihood, be one for the ages. Literally. It is doubtful that college basketball will ever be older than it is this season because of the one-time NCAA waiver allowing athletes an extra year of eligibility to replace the lost postseason opportunity from the 2019-20 season. Many of the teams in this top-60 ranking are old in terms of average roster age, and the top-30, specifically, is no different.
NCAA Men’s Basketball: 2021 Top-60 teams preseason rankings, No. 31-60
After a disappointing season, Tom Izzo and the Michigan State Spartans will resume their quest for a national championship in just a few months.
Several former Michigan State Spartans participating in The Basketball Tournament
Several Michigan State Spartans alumni have already begun their journeys in The Basketball Tournament, the annual single-elimination, $1 million winner-take-all summer tournament that features former college stars, European and G-League players, and a number of fringe NBA players and NBA veterans. This year, four Spartans are on teams in the competition, with one of them already having begun tournament play.
NBA Draft Profile Part II: Team Fits and Projection for Aaron Henry
In the first part of my examination of Michigan State’s Aaron Henry as an NBA prospect, I took a close look at Henry’s game from a purely scouting perspective, breaking down his strengths and weaknesses, discussing highlights and examining his individual statistical profile. But how does he fit in the NBA game? What should his role be? And what teams might see a fit with Henry?
NBA Draft Profile: Michigan State’s Aaron Henry’s Scout and Statistical Profile
Here we are a year later and Michigan State’s Aaron Henry finds himself on the precipice of his NBA career. Where last year I had some questions and ultimately predicted that he would return for his junior season, this year there is zero doubt in my mind that he is more than ready to have a terrific NBA career and to be a rotation-level player right away.
X-Men Arcade News Archive
Arcade1Up Announces Preorder Date for X-Men Home Arcade Cabinet Arcade1Up is a company that releases 3/4-scale arcade cabinets for home use. At E3 2021, the company promised a Turtles in Time cabinet for later this year. Today, Arcade1Up also announced a preorder date for a previously announced cabinet: Konami's X-Men. The 4-player arcade cabinet will also include two Avengers games, making it an excit...
Michigan State Basketball: Recruiting Update and Future Roster Considerations
While I recently examined the current state of the Spartans’ men’s basketball depth-chart, and while I gave an update on recruiting a little over a month ago, a number of developments on the recruiting front and across the college basketball landscape, more generally, lead me to write another recruiting update that also provides some insight into the future team-building strategy that Tom Izzo and his staff appear to have settled on for at least the next couple of years.
Michigan State Spartans Men’s Basketball: Depth Chart Update
With the Michigan State roster seemingly settled heading into the meat of the offseason, let’s “game-out” the depth chart... At this point, while the team still has two open scholarships, the staff appears content with the roster as-is, especially given the impressively talented walk-ons that Tom Izzo has added in Peter Nwoke, Keon Coleman, and Maliq Carr (the latter two who will attempt to play basketball after football season ends — we’ll see if it happens).
Spartans in the NBA - Playoffs update
The NBA playoffs are upon us! Now that the play-in tournament has concluded, we can focus on Jaren Jackson jr, Xavier Tillman, Cassius Winston, and Bryn Forbes as the Memphis Grizzlies, Washington Wizards, and Milwaukee Bucks are the only Spartan-alum teams that made it to the playoffs-proper. Jaren Jackson Jr. In his late-season return to the Grizzlies line-up, Jaren Jackson jr has largely struggled to find his rhythm or regain the form he displayed to close the 2019-2020 season.
Men’s Basketball: Foster Loyer transfers to Davidson
Foster Loyer announced on Twitter that he will transfer to Davidson College... After entering the portal, Loyer and Davidson connected fairly quickly, but it took a bit of time for all of the ducks to get in a row. Now that they have, Loyer has announced that he will play for Bob McKillop for the remainder of his eligibility. Loyer will have the option to play two more seasons at Davidson. I’m excited to announce my commitment to Davidson College.
Michigan State Spartans Basketball: Recruiting Update
With AAU season back underway, and high school and college seasons completed, recruiting is picking back up for the 2022 class... The Michigan State staff has been relatively slow to build this class to this point, despite the clear need for a sizable number of additions — Emoni Bates is currently the only member of the 2022 class committed to Michigan State, and we don’t quite know if he is going to reclassify to 2021, stick with the 2022 group or choose a different path.
Michigan State Spartans Basketball: 2021 Offseason Considerations
One of the most bizarre seasons in college basketball history due to the COVID-19 pandemic, on the court, the 2020-2021 season proved more frustrating for Michigan State Spartans fans than maybe any other campaign in the last 10 years.
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