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The Ace Pod 2.1: Naz Is Like... Comment Count

Ace February 12th, 2020 at 7:33 AM

This podcast is brought to you by the law offices of E. Jason Blankenship, who’s got a shiny new site to show off.

SEGMENT ONE: B1G BALLIN’

A look at the conference since we didn’t get to it on the MGoPod this week. Maryland finally gives the Big Ten a lock and Eamonn Brennan’s fingers a break. Penn State has quietly been one of the country’s best teams over the last month; if you’re looking at the metrics, so has Purdue, but they’re all over the place in reality. MSU is on a slide. Shame. In other things you hate to see, Northwestern collapsed again.

SEGMENT TWO: WBB UPDATE/MAILBAG

Nazilla continues to feast after her ESPNW player of the week honor. Michigan’s last two wins have moved them up two seed lines. Purdue was a hard fought battle, Minnesota a surprising blowout. Discussing how to get into WBB, where the Big Ten fits in the national picture, whether the women or the men have a better chance at making tourney noise, and how well this team has handled injuries.

SEGMENT THREE: MBB MAILBAG

Can we defense again? Changes Juwan Howard can make to maximize the team’s potential. Several questions related to the postseason selection criteria, plus ratings differences and the outlook for Austin Davis’s fifth year.

SONGS:
  • “Nas Is Like” — Nas
  • “Step Up” — The Sure Fire Soul Ensemble
DOWNLOAD:

It's been just kind of an ugly stretch for Michigan State writ large.

Comments

matty blue

February 12th, 2020 at 10:19 AM ^

*great* discussion of the ladies, ace - thanks!

bullets?  bullets.

  • this last week has been interesting...until kayla robbins got hurt, kba was really using the entire roster, and in meaningful minutes.  the exception to that was...maddie nolan, who looked a bit overwhelmed early in the season and got a couple of dnp's.  that she's now starting - and effective - is a testament to kba's recruiting and player development. 
  • related - naz came in as a mostly-finished product offensively, and they used her as a hyper point in a very effective 1-2-2 full-court press when she came off the bench.  that was a naz-specific thing they did - with her starting they don't run that press as much.  but now you can see her post defense, which has also developed quite a bit.  she's on track to being the best player in program history.
  • recruiting has gotten better and better and better - the 2019 class was a guard just outside the top 100 and izabel varajao (think moe wagner - crazy talented but slightly raw, under-ranked as a recruit as an overseas player).  the 2020 class is a top-30 post and three just outside the top 100.
  • they're very young.  akenrieh johnson is the only senior.  they'll miss her defense and ability to get to the rim next season, but amy dilk has shown some of that.

as to the tournament - yes, a matchup against baylor (or any #1 seed) would be rough.  they actually played baylor in the tournament 2 years ago; they went toe-to-toe for a while but got drilled starting midway through the third quarter.  that was a different team - they tended to stand around on offense and wait for flaherty to hit a three, or watch hallie thome in the low post.  this team can do those things and more.  not saying they'd beat them (there's definitely, as you said, a meaningful gap in talent between the usual 'elite' teams and the rest of the top 30), just that they're more equipped to take them on.

probably should've been a diary...in any case - thanks for the coverage, and to the rest of you - the women's games are a ball.  go.

Joined: 08/01/2008

MGoPoints: 39211

ThatGuyCeci

February 12th, 2020 at 11:34 AM ^

With regards to our current efficiency margin (and rest of season projections being 4-4).  A lot of that data is without Isaiah Livers in the lineup. I would argue that with Livers we can finish 5-3 or 6-2. I think we are top 10 quality with Livers as we were earlier in the year. Maybe not top 5 where we peaked, but definitely top 10.

Joined: 12/30/2015

MGoPoints: 4767