Illinois vs Mich St

plus_man · #1 02-01-2005, 04:46 AM

Some Chicago sports radio station(The Score) talked with Tom Izzo tonight. Take this for what its worth but he flat out said that their gameplan is to run with Illinois (to the amazement of the hosts I might add). Might want to take the over based on that. Also, I recently became aware of http://sportsbettingstats.com/ So if what I said before turns sour maybe this will be of value to everyone.

gvibes · #2 02-01-2005, 01:24 PM

MSU is a lot better on the fast break than in a half-court game. Their half-court offense just isn't that good.

Izzo may also be thinking that they can tire Illinois out, as Illinois only goes 7 or 8 deep, but I don't see that happening. Illinois has to be one of the better conditioned teams out there. In the two recent close games (Iowa + Wisky), Illinois found the energy to lock down defensively late in the second half in both games - that doesn't happen if you're tired.

It's going to be a good game. Personally, if Wisky was a 1.5 pt dog at home to Illinois, I think MSU should be a slight favorite at home. Then again, Wisky may have a better home court advantage, and MSU seems to choke in big games. If you put a gun to my head, I probably still wouldn't be able to pick a team.

SheVegas1972 · #3 02-01-2005, 07:29 PM

Here is my take (and I could be wrong) but I layed big units on the illini because I truly feel when you are as good as Ill is, if/when you do lose in the regular season it will be a game that you are not looking towards as being a tough game. Ill has a great chance at going undefeated this season, I knew they would beat Wis. because they were "up" for that game, just like I see them being "up" for this one on espn. Where they might fall is when they play a much weaker team, that is not nationally televised. Just my 2 cents.