The Final Four Is Not On The Schedule - A Podcast Discussing Michigan State Basketball.

March 10, 2023: Michigan State arrived in Chicago for the Big Ten Tournament after securing a double bye and got to face 13 seed Ohio State coming off two straight days of games. Despite the lack of rest and being down Freshman phenom, Brice Sensabaugh to injury, the Buckeyes handled the Spartans quite easily Friday afternoon. This was a game where MSU didn't do much well; poor defense, horrific s...

March 9, 2023: It's March which means the postseason is here and it is one-and-done time. MSU plays its first game in the Big Ten Tournament in the quarterfinals with a 4-13 matchup against Ohio State. The winner of the game will play the winner of the 1-9 game between Purdue and Rutgers. In a scenario similar to last year's tournament, the Spartans will open up play against their last opponent wh...

March 7, 2023: In what is shaping up to be the most unpredictable Big Ten Tournament in history, Michigan State enters as the fourth seed after securing an improbable double bye. Only through a series of fortunate results that almost all broke MSU's way on Sunday, the Spartans will be able to wait until Friday to take on either the 5 seed Iowa Hawkeyes or 12 Wisconsin/13 Ohio State. This year has...

March 6, 2023: Bracketologist Dominic Lese joins us again to break down the NCAA tourney chances of the Spartans and the rest of the Big Ten as we prepare to enter the Big Ten Tournament. Dom handicaps the Spartans seeding chances and places them anywhere from a 5 to a 7. However, there are also a number of teams on the bubble and are at risk of missing the tournament altogether. They include Mich...

March 4, 2023: Michigan State closed its regular season on Saturday with an 84-78 win over the Ohio State Buckeyes to sweep them for the season. This game was much closer than the 21 point beat down in Columbus where OSU couldn't hit open shots but tonight MSU relied on lethal outside shooting. The Spartans now await the results of Sunday's game to find out their seeding in the Big Ten Tournament...

March 2, 2023: The end of the regular season comes to a conclusion on Saturday as MSU welcomes in the Buckeyes from Ohio State. In what has to be one of the most challenging years for a team with key injuries, an insane travel schedule, and then a mass shooting on campus leading to a home game cancelation it is remarkable how well the team has actually done. It's always an emotional day on Senior...

February 28, 2023: In one of the starkest differences between halves, MSU barely managed to maintain contact with Nebraska going into halftime 38-26 despite only scoring 10 points in the first 12 minutes of the game. Horrendous shooting and even worse defense gave Nebraska a lead as big as 15 which turned out to be not nearly enough for the Cornhuskers. The second half was an entirely different ga...

February 27, 2023: Today we were joined by Dominic Lese , of Bracketometry.com who is the #2 ranked bracketologist in the country per Bracket Matrix. In 2022, he correctly predicted all 68 teams in the field and was within one seed line of all the picks. Often, there are national figures who provide their picks and projected brackets but just aren't that close in their predictions (Lunardi of ESPN...

February 26, 2023: Michigan State heads to Lincoln for a rematch against the now red hot Cornhuskers who, despite sustaining injuries to two starters, is now playing some of its best basketball of the season. The Spartans will look to bounce back from their historic collapse in Iowa City where they inexplicably lost to the Hawkeyes while up 10 with 40 seconds to go in the game. Who knows how MSU w...

February 25, 2023: In one of the most inexplicable losses in recent memory, MSU loses to Iowa in OT after giving up a 10 point lead with just 40 seconds left to play. Behind spectacular performances from Tyson Walker and Jaden Akins, Michigan State was unable to make just one more play (rebound, free throw, defensive stop) which would have been the difference between overtime and a win. The Sparta...

February 23, 2023: The Spartans head to Iowa City for a rematch against the Iowa Hawkeyes in a game that means a lot for both teams in terms of NCAA and Big Ten Tournament seeding. Michigan State won the first meeting in East Lansing but had to rely on a wide open missed 3 by Peyton Sandefort as time expired to pull it out. Things will likely be different this time as Iowa will have its friendlier...

February 21, 2023: In Michigan State's first return to the hard court after the tragedy that struck campus on February 13th, they handed Indiana a decisive loss 80-65 behind a blistering three point attack and a dominant effort on the glass. Indiana star player, Trayce Jackson-Davis finished with 19 points but had only 13 FG attempts and 6 FT attempts to go with just 7 rebounds and 7 turnovers. Af...

February 19, 2023: Michigan State has one game under its belt after the terrible tragedy on campus Monday the 13th as it returns to host the #14 Indiana Hoosiers. Trayce Jackson Davis has really picked up his game as his Hoosiers look to sweep the Spartans this year. In what will certainly be a game full of all sorts of emotions from players, coaches, and fans MSU will look to try manage the emoti...

February 18, 2023: We knew after the tragedy on February 13 that this matchup against UM on the road would be a challenge for MSU. For about 36 minutes of the game, they managed to hang with the Wolverines and e ven lead for a long portion of the game. But down the stretch, Michigan hit enough shots and the Spartans missed a few to come up just short. It was an environment where Michigan managed t...

February 16, 2023: In what will certainly be an emotional game, MSU will restart its season after the heinous shooting on campus Monday evening. After postponing (and probably canceling) the Wednesday night Minnesota game, Michigan State is resuming nearly all their athletic activities beginning Friday. Schools across the Big Ten and country have paid tribute to the fallen students to the gunman a...

February 14, 2023: This is an Ask Me Anything that we recorded before the events that occurred on MSU's campus February 13, 2023. What transpired with a gunman who killed and injured a number of MSU students was senseless and a tragedy. As the campus begins the healing process we decided to release this episode with a brief word beforehand with the understanding that the listener will find the app...

February 12, 2023: It has been a while but MSU finally got a Big Ten road win and now has a winning streak going into its mid week matchup against the Minnesota Gophers. Behind stifling defense, the Spartans had a 13 point lead at halftime allowing OSU to score just 14 points. The Buckeyes were a little better in the second half where they cut a 16 point lead down to 5 midway through but Michigan...

February 10, 2023: Michigan State will head on the road again for the fourth straight weekend as it will take on the Buckeyes in Columbus on Super Bowl Sunday. Despite high expectations, Ohio State is in a free fall losing ten of its last 11 games including their last home game to the Northwestern Wildcats. Inexplicably, OSU still carries a better NET and KenPom ranking than the Spartans despite a...

February 9, 2023: Mady Sissoko sits down with the TFFINOTS team to talk about life in his home of Bafoulabe, Mali in west Africa, his recruitment to MSU, and what he hopes to do for his village back home. Mady definitely see basketball as a way to give back and transform his impoverished home town. Be creating a charitable foundation, he is looking to raise money to build a school in his village....

February 7, 2023: Michigan State hosted a hot Maryland team late Tuesday night and managed to pull out the win 63-58 in a game that ended up a lot closer than it seemed it would at first. MSU started the game on a 15-0 run before Maryland was able to get any scoring. The Terrapins managed to stay in contact with the Spartans and only trailed by 9 going into half time. MSU started out well in the s...

February 5, 2023: Michigan State looks to 'get right' on Tuesday night as it welcomes in the Maryland Terrapins for their only meeting this season. MSU is due for a little home cooking as it needs to get back on track from behind the arc in order to generate the offense it needs to win games. Defensively MSU has been generally solid of late but the offense has been largely stagnant behind the poin...

February 4, 2023: In a game where MSU's shooting was as cold from outside as it was outside in the snow, the Spartans lose to Rutgers 61-55 on just 19% shooting from behind the arc. Unlike the first meeting in East Lansing, MSU held their own on the boards and actually finished outrebounding the Scarlet Knights by 10. But it wasn't enough as costly turnovers and poor shooting doomed the Spartans i...

February 2, 2023: It's another matchup with the Rutgers Scarlet Knights for Michigan State but this time its not at the Breslin Center, but Madison Square Gardens in New York. This is probably a bullet dodged by MSU to avoid playing at the RAC where Rutgers is extremely hard to beat. However, the Knights will once again be a tough matchup for the Spartans. In the last matchup, Rutgers obliterated...

February 1, 2023: Michigan State finally has a few days to rest between games after their brutal January schedule so we thought it would be a good time to check back in with LSJ columnist, Graham Couch. We spoke to Graham about where he sees this MSU team at the turn (halfway through the Big Ten season) and the rest of the Big Ten. Will the Purdue Boilermakers keep up this pace in the league? Can...

January 29, 2023: Mackey Arena remains a house of horrors for the Spartans as they drop another game on the road to #1 Purdue. Michigan State will have to wait at least another year as they haven't won on Purdue's floor since the 2013-14 season. The lumbering 7'4" Zach Edey was once again too much for MSU as he had 38 points and was complemented by 3 point shooting from a number of unlikely contri...