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

October 17, 2022: Our final Big Ten Preview installment is the most important - the Michigan State Spartans. We finished our annual preseason deep dive on each player, things to watch, and predictions for the year. Exiting this year are Gabe Brown, Marcus Bingham, Max Christie, and Julius Marble. New players are freshmen Jaxon Kohler, Tre Holloman, Carson Cooper and grad transfer Jason Whitens (wh...

October 13, 2022: Nothing better sums up the coming Big Ten season than Rod saying that he has Indiana as his number one team but doesn't think they will win the league. It's because there is massive turnover in rosters this year partly due to the transfer rule and partly due to a lot of high profile players leaving for the NBA draft. Can second year coach Rod Woodson continue the late season roll...

October 10, 2022: Chris Holtman was a successful head coach at Butler before becoming the leader at Ohio State. yet, despite being loaded with talent one could say that his tenure with the Buckeyes has been disappointing. Thad Motta showed what was possible at Ohio State with great recruiting classes, and perennially challenging for Big Ten titles and deep NCAA tourney runs. Surprisingly, Ohio Sta...

October 6, 2022: After an impressive year finishing first and 15-5 in the Big Ten, Illinois followed that up with a first round exit in the Big Ten Tournament and then second round exit in the NCAA tournament. Now, head coach Brad Underwood will attempt to pick up the pieces for a disappointing postseason with an almost entirely new team. Only four scholarship players return to this years team wit...

October 3, 2022: If you look at preseason expectations last year, Michigan massively underperformed in Big Ten play. From erratic point guard play to terrible 3 point shooting, only dominant offensive play by Hunter Dickinson kept Michigan competitive last season. Coach Juwan Howard managed to right the ship late to sneak the wolverines into the NCAA tournament where they had a nice run to the swe...

September 29, 2022: Last year the Purdue Boilermakers were everyone's pick to steamroll through the Big Ten especially after their perfect non-conference start. They had the #2 offense in the country, a generational talent in Jaden Ivey, and a coach who had proven to be solid defensively. However, the cracks to the Boilermaker facade showed up early with the surprise upset to Rutgers early in the...

September 26, 2022: We are approaching the midpoint of our Big Ten Previews with number 7 Iowa. Iowa surprised the league last year mostly on the back of emergent superstar, Keegan Murray. Murray went from a relatively unknown bench player on the previous Hawkeye team to the number 4 pick in the 2022 NBA draft. With his departure and that of Jordan Bohannon, will Iowa have enough in the tank to co...

September 22, 2022: Aside from the emergence of first round pick Johnny Davis for Wisconsin was their ability to win close games. Many of those games were won at the free throw line - their opponents which constituted an above average amount of luck. Certainly, the Badgers were able to close out games but despite their abysmal offensive stats (#63 in KenPom) with atrocious shooting (#310 in 3 pt%...

September 19, 2022: What Steve Pikiell has accomplished at Rutgers since taking over has been impressive. He has taken a team that was the doormat in the Big East and then Big Ten and made them a real pest. Pikiell created a culture toughness which turned them into the team that they are today - a perennial borderline NCAA tournament team. But the questions abound in New Jersey as transfers and a...

September 15, 2022: Penn State found itself with a coaching change last year as long time coach Pat Chambers was shown the door after a fairly lackluster record for Nittany Lions and allegations of player abuse. New coach Micah Shrewsberry scrambled to put together a team as many members decided to depart with the coaching change. He managed to keep a few and produce a nucleus to leave a partially...

September 12, 2022: Last year was a strange one for Maryland as their coach for over a decade, Mark Turgeon, abruptly resigned after only 8 games into the season. He was replaced by interim coach Danny Manning who provided only a lackluster finish for the season with the Terps finishing 7-13 in the Big Ten. In a story repeated more often nowadays, there have been a lot of departures from Maryland...

September 8, 2022: As we continue our march through the Big Ten we land on #12 Northwestern. The Wildcats peaked under coach Chris Collins in the 2016-17 season with their first NCAA tournament berth and win but haven't even been close since. Unfortunately, after key departures from Pete Nance and Ryan Young, this year isn't looking too good either for Northwestern. Rod and Eric discuss the trajec...

September 5, 2022: We continue our march through the Big Ten previews with #13 Minnesota. After cobbling together a team of transfers last year, second year coach Ben Johnson looks to improve on their season with another largely rebuilt roster. Losing star Eric Curry and a bevy of transfers, the gophers will again try to piece together a team while also adding some of their own high school recruit...

September 1, 2022: Rod and Eric begin this year's Big Ten Previews with a prediction for Nebraska to be the cellar dweller. Despite not doing as well as previous coach, Tim Miles', worst year at Nebraska, head coach Fred Hoiberg seems to have been given a long leash entering his fourth season. Previously, an expert at piecing together teams using transfers at Iowa State, it just hasn't worked out...

August 24, 2022: Recent comments by Southeastern Conference (SEC) commissioner Greg Sankey shed some light on changes that power 5 conferences might have for our favorite sporting event of the year - the NCAA basketball tournament. The "fresh look" Sankey mentions might include an expanded field up to 96 allowing many more power 5 teams in as at-large bids and obviously, greater revenue with more...

August 17, 2022: This Spring, it became official that UCLA and USC would join the Big Ten for the 2024 athletic season and beyond. As with nearly all athletic decisions at the conference level they are driven entirely by football. Most of the discussion about revenue and scheduling centers around what the addition of the two schools will have on football. But what about basketball? Rod and Eric di...

August 9, 2022: Rod and Eric discuss the newest addition to the already strong 2023 recruiting class, Coen Carr from Georgia. Carr is a tremendous athlete who can jump out of the gym and rounds out the 2023 class as a 6' 7" forward who can play the 3 or 4. The two announced the creation of a new Spartan TFFINOTS community with a website, enhanced production, and a free community bulletin board . L...

August 2, 2022: Rod and Eric discuss the newest Michigan State recruitment of 2023 SF Gehrig Normand from Texas. Normand's commitment to MSU comes after just a three and a half week courtship with Tom Izzo and his staff. By all accounts, Normand was heading to Wisconsin to play his college ball until the Spartans staff reached out to him and convinced him that Madison really isn't as great a place...

July 31, 2022: The much hyped recruitment of Xavier Booker from Indiana went Tom Izzo's way as he selected MSU to play his college basketball. Booker was out of the top 100 when Izzo began his recruitment of the 6' 11" power forward but has recently moved up to the top of the charts this season as his game has developed. Booker has even been ranked as the number one of his class according to some...

Most of the nonconference schedule is released and its is going to be a grueling challenge with matchups against Alabama, Kentucky, Villanova (maybe twice), Notre Dame, Gonzaga and potentials against UConn or Oregon and maybe even North Carolina. Also, Michigan State just offered a scholarship to 14 year old Randy Livingston, Jr. from Florida. Livingston is a 6'1" point guard and the son of former...

Eric and Rod take a deep dive in on where the Spartans stand with commitments and offers for the 2023, 2024, and 2025 classes. They talk about Jeremy Fears, Xavier Booker, Devin Royal, and more. Eric visited MoneyBall and gives his impressions on the new additions to the team and how Sissoko and Hoggard looked. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simpleca...

Eric and Rod and joined with award winning journalist Jack Ebling now of the Drive with Jack show. Jack offers his thoughts on what USC and UCLA joining the Big Ten will do for the conference, will it stop there, and if they bring in more than bigger TV markets. We also discuss how the transfer portal and name and likeness will change college athletics probably for good. Will the NCAA tournament e...

Rod & Eric hop into the way back machine and talk about another What If scenario. This time, the 1985-86 Spartans whose season came to an end after a clock malfunction at the NCAA tournament in 1986. This was Scott Skiles' senior year which was one of the most prolific single season performances in MSU history. With MSU up 4 late in the second half, the clock at Kemper Arena in Kansas City suddenl...

Eric and Rod revisit the 2009-10 season which MSU entered ranked preseason #2. This was largely because the previous final four team lost only Travis Walton and Goran Suton but was returning senior Raymar Morgan, Big Ten player of the year, Kalin Lucas, Delvon Roe, and sophomore Draymond Green. They had a number of setbacks in the non-conference leading to a 10-3 record but started the Big Ten sch...

LSJ sports columnist, Graham Couch, joins us today to discuss the state of the MSU basketball program. We discuss the concern at the 5 spot, coaching changes, the thinking behind Max Christie's departure, and what the Big Ten will be like next year. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information abo...