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

January 10, 2026: Michigan State will host its final game of this 3 game home stand on Tuesday night as they host the Indiana Hoosiers. We are a quarter of the way thru the conference schedule already and the Spartans sit at 4-1 and tied for second in the Big Ten. Indiana, after getting surprised by the Gophers on the road to start their league play has bounced back well and is 3-2 after a heartbreaking home loss to the undefeated Huskers.

Well, this is definitely a different Hoosier team as Woodson exited the stage last year and was replaced...

January 8, 2026: Michigan State and its fans came away from the Northwestern game with a sigh of relief after escaping with a 10 point win. The Wildcats pushed MSU in this game leading by 7 at half time and even 7 part way through the second half. However, Tom Izzo earned himself a technical foul and that seemed to get the team rolling as they then went on a 14-2 run and eventually cruised in with a 10 point win late in the game.

Once again, the Spartans struggled with turnovers and 3 point shooting but were bailed out with some great rebounding...

January 6, 2026: Michigan State will look to continue their winning ways at home with a matchup against the struggling Wildcats from Northwestern on Thursday night. The 0-3 Wildcats have had a rough season to date most recently with a surprising loss at home to Minnesota. The ‘Cats are having trouble on defense and are not a good 3 point shooting team or rebounding on either end of the floor.

MSU, in contrast, continues to rank as the 2nd best defensive team in the land and elite rebounding on both ends of the court. The thing the team has struggled wi...

January 5, 2026: After dropping its first Big Ten game of the year a few days ago to Nebraska, Michigan State returned home to take on a struggling USC Trojans team. The Spartans blitzed the Trojans, 80-51 in front of the Izzone Alumni and moved to 3-1 in conference play.

It was a game where MSU struggled getting out of the gate and was down 5-0 to start. But then they went on a big run and never really looked back. The Spartans held the high powered USC offense to a season low 17 points in the first half. MSU...

January 3, 2026: After taking the loss on the road in Lincoln, Michigan State returns home to take on the USC Trojans in something of a revenge game after losing to USC last year in Los Angeles. This USC team, however, is completely different sporting zero players who were on last year’s team. The Trojans are also coming off a 30 point beat down from the Wolverines a few days ago.

The Spartans will hope to clean up a few of their grievous errors in Nebraska where they committed 19 turnovers against a team that doesn’t force a lot. MSU...

January 2, 2026: Well, we are clearly back to Big Ten play as Michigan State found itself in a defensive slugfest in Lincoln where they lost 58-56 to the 15th ranked Cornhuskers. Despite turning the ball over 19 times, the Spartans actually had a chance to steal this game even up 3 with under two minutes to go. But Nebraska made just enough shots and MSU continued to have trouble hanging onto the ball and fell just short.

Jaxon Kohler was sensational in the game with 19 points and 11 rebounds and 5-6 from three. Jeremy Fears chipped in 14 with 7 assists and was...

December 30, 2025: Next up for the Spartans is a return to league play with a road matchup against unbeaten Nebraska in Lincoln. The ‘Huskers are off to their best start in program history after claiming a number of high major scalps and beating the Illini in Champaign in Big Ten play. As a projected #3 seed right now, they will be a formidable foe for MSU.

Michigan State, however, is no slouch either as they enter the game with a 12-1 record and their one loss to top 5 ranked Duke. MSU has played a true road game at Penn St...

December 29, 2025: Michigan State finished its last non conference game of the regular season with a tricky matchup against a high powered offensive team in Cornell. Despite giving up 53 points in the first half, the Spartans managed to hold a 2 point lead going into the break.

The second half, MSU put the clamps down on the Big Red holding them to only 13 points for the first 10+ minutes of the second half to secure a healthy 20+ point lead. During that stretch, they held Cornell to 1-16 from 3. Unfortunately, Cornell got hot at the end of the second half and...

December 26, 2025: Michigan State prepares for its final non conference game of the season against Cornell on Monday night. After that, its conference play and their pursuit to defend their Big Ten title.

In its final tune up, we are looking for a few things from the Spartan squad. Namely, questions about the rotation. Will we continue seeing Divine Ugochukwu at shooting guard and Denham Wojcik at the point as back up or does Divine return to point guard play? Will we see someone new to the starting lineup at the 2 or maybe someone who has started before...

December 22, 2025: It’s the holiday break so we decided to open the mailbag for our supporting listeners to the show and talk about Rod’s Big Ten Tiers (one to four).

Tier 4: Rutgers, Minnesota, Penn State, Northwestern, Maryland.

Tier 3: Oregon, Wisconsin, Ohio State, Washington

Tier 2: USC, Indiana, Iowa, UCLA, Illinois

Tier 1A: Nebraska

Tier 1: Purdue, Michigan, Michigan State

Are you looking for collegiate apparel including Spartan gear? There’s only one place we recommend you go to get your MSU T-shirts, hoodies, sweatshirts — Nudge Printing (https://www.nudgepri...

December 20, 2025: In this year’s annual ugly sweater game between MSU and Oakland, Michigan State comes away from the game with a 79-70 win at Little Caesar’s Arena in Detroit. It wasn’t MSU’s best game of the season as they struggled to get into any sort of offensive flow and were down as much as 7 points in the first half but managed to squeeze out a 3 point lead at the half.

The second half was a little better but the Spartans could never get the lead out beyond 12 points. Questions about the rotation were largely...

December 20, 2025: Today’s our first bracket reveal of the year. You can check it out at www.bracketometry.com. Not a whole lot of movement at the top of the field with UM still commanding the overall number 1 spot.

Dom’s last 4 in are NC State, UCF, Arizona State, and Oklahoma. Last 4 out are Wisconsin, Butler, Boise State, and Virginia Tech.

As for conference berths we have the Big Ten, Big 12, and SEC all with 10 bids, ACC with 8, and Big East 3. The only other conference getting more than one bid is the WCC with Gonzaga and...

December 18, 2025: Michigan State will once again have their annual matchup against Greg Kampe and his Oakland Grizzlies. This year the game is in Detroit at Little Caesar’s Arena and is sure to feature two grumpy coaches wearing ugly sweaters. Although Oakland hasn’t won in 22 tries, they will probably give MSU a competitive and challenging game.

Despite MSU’s 10-1 record, there are a lot of questions coming into the game starting with the rotation changes bringing Denham Wojcik into a more prominent role as the backup point guard to Jeremy Fears. This has changed the Sparta...

December 16, 2025: Michigan State returned home and took on the Toledo Rockets and promptly stomped the Rockets 92-69. Although the win looked comfortable this was definitely a game of two halves.

In the first half, MSU played a nice offensive game both on the boards and behind the arc finishing with 58 points. They also held Toledo to just 28 points with some stifling defense. The second half, however, was a different story as Toledo managed to cut the lead to 15 points behind a rash of Spartan turnovers and some poorer shooting.

Ultimately, Michigan State comes away with...

December 14, 2025: Michigan State returns back to the Breslin after a less than impressive performance to close out the first week of conference play at Happy Valley. Fortunately for the Spartans, they are 9-1/2-0 which isn’t such a bad place to be after ten games.

But as we said after the game, there’s still a lot of work to do with the team and luckily plenty of time to figure some stuff out which might be over the final 3 non-conference games staring Tuesday night against Toledo.

After so much concern has been expressed by t...

December 13, 2025: Michigan State played its first true home game today and snuck out of Happy Valley with a 76-72 win over Penn State. The game was a weird one in which MSU led by double digits in the first half but then gave it all back (and then some) managing to cut the Penn State lead to 3 by halftime, 36-33.

The second half was another blistering start for the Spartans where they got out to a 10 point lead again but then gave up 11 straight. The blown leads were largely due to a rash of Spartan turnovers as...

December 11, 2025: It’s our last week with just the top 4 seed lines and there hasn't been a whole lot of movement at the top. Michigan is still the overall number one seed while Iowa State and Purdue switched their two and one seeds respectively after the Cyclones went into Mackey Arena and blitzed the Boilers.

Their victory was enough to push the Big 12 above the Big 10 in the power standings. We’re getting close to the first full bracket reveal next week. Bracket Dom is putting together his list and checking to see who’s been naughty and ni...

December 10, 2025: Michigan State dropped it’s first game of the season to top ranked Duke last Saturday and is looking to get back to its winning ways as it returns to Big Ten play Saturday in Happy Valley. There is probably no better matchup to wash away your woes then the Nittany Lions who - despite their 8-2 record - are struggling this season.

Penn State is coming off a 41 point loss to the Hoosiers in Bloomington and now they have to face the Spartans. Penn State is statistically not a very good defense which was on fu...

December 6, 2025: Michigan State dropped it’s first game of the season to top ranked Duke 66-60 in front of an electric crowd at the Breslin Center. As expected, it was a defensive showcase and the top 10 defenses limited the other in their shooting. In the end, Duke made just a few more plays and shots and forced the action enough in the second half to get to the free throw line which was the difference in the final score.

Despite the loss, MSU finishes the difficult part of the first half of their season 8-1 with wins ov...

December 5, 2025: A lot of movement in the seed list since we last had a show. The new number one overall seed is Michigan who joins Duke, Arizona, and Purdue on the one line. Two seeds are Michigan State, Iowa State, Vanderbilt, and UConn. BYU, Alabama, Houston, and Gonzaga are the 3s with Kansas, UNC, Louisville, and Tennessee rounding things out at the 4.

The conference rankings are just about set. Dom has the Big Ten leading the way over the Big 12, SEC, ACC, and then Big East. However, if one just used NET rankings the SEC might be...

December 4, 2025: One of the most anticipated home games of the season for Michigan State is finally here - Duke. And the game is turning out to be even bigger than most expected as both teams enter the game undefeated and ranked in the top ten. Duke arrives with national player of the year front runner, Cameron Boozer, who has been tearing teams apart in just about every aspect of the game.

Of course, Michigan State is not slouch either as they will see if their elite offensive rebounding and home court advantage is enough to topple the...

December 2, 2025: Michigan State opened up Big Ten play in East Lansing against the Iowa Hawkeyes and their new head coach, Ben McCollum and won 71-52 The win moves MSU to 8-0 overall and 1-0 in conference play in the young season. It was a game that MSU controlled from about the 6 minute mark after completing a 13-0 run to knock the Hawkeyes out of the game.

Probably the biggest key to the Spartans’ success in the game was the performance of Jeremy Fears, Jr. in running the offense and defending Iowa point guard, Bennett Stirtz. Stirtz looked ra...

November 30, 2025: Michigan State returns home after a successful Florida trip with wins over East and North Carolina. But now Big Ten play begins with a matchup over a tricky undefeated Iowa team in East Lansing. It will be the first trip to the Breslin for new head coach Ben McCollum and almost the entire team except for transfer Brendan Hausen.

The question for the Spartans is whether they can maintain their connectedness on defense and offense against a stingy Iowa team that is going to play very slowly. Can Iowa’s senior point guard, Bennett Stirtz, keep hi...

November 27, 2025: This Thanksgiving, Michigan State moved to 7-0 on the season with a big win over North Carolina in Fort Meyers. The 74-58 win now moves the Spartans undefeated as they begin the Big Ten season on Tuesday at home against Iowa.

The game was a combination of the Spartans holding down the powerful North Carolina front court and finding ways to effectively score. It was a game where Jeremy Fears really controlled the floor on both ends in the second half and was able to get going offensively. Michigan State really seems to be rounding into...

November 26, 2025: On Thanksgiving, Michigan State will face another storied program, North Carolina, in the Fort Meyers Tipoff Classic. Like the Spartans, the Tar Heels are 6-0 and looking to stack up non-conference wins before heading into league play in a few weeks.

Unlike last year’s North Carolina team that lacked size, this year’s team boasts a ton of it. They have a 7 footer and two 6’ 10” starters including Caleb Wilson who is legit candidate for freshman of the year. MSU will have its hands full trying to contain the freshman sensation and the Tar Heels’ interior play.

November 25, 2025: Michigan State played the East Carolina Pirates in the tipoff for the Fort Meyers Classic and won 89-56. It was an impressive performance from the Spartans who led wire to wire and carried a very good first half into and through the entire second. We never saw MSU let up and extended their 23 point half time lead to over 40 before the walk-ons made it in the game.

Aside from the suffocating defense, the Spartans exhibited another game over 40% from 3 point range and are now averaging over 32% from 3 which puts them solidly in the middle of the...

November 23, 2025: Michigan State will take on the Pirates from East Carolina on Tuesday before Thanksgiving in the first game of the Fort Meyers Tipoff Classic. East Carolina is struggling this year at just 2-3 and aren’t expected to do much in the American Conference. In contrast, MSU is 5-0 and rolling so far in the non-conference portion of the season.

The Spartans will be looking to continue their dominance on the boards while sharpening their shooting and trying to figure out their rotation. Will Jeremy Fears continue his dominance as at the national assist leader?

...

November 21, 2025: Michigan State faced off against instate foe, Detroit Mercy, and former MSU Assistant Coach, Mark Montgomery on Thursday night and easily won 84-56. Detroit was certainly an outmatched opponent but managed to keep pace enough to avoid an utter blowout and never looked like they quit.

The Spartans hardly played a clean game despite dominating the boards they struggled to shoot from deep (and shot too often there). Fortunately, Jeremy Fears once again had a solid game scoring 18 points with 11 assists to lead MSU. Now they will now pack their bags at 5-0 and head to...

November 20, 2025: Welcome to the Brackeotology Update with America’s number one bracketologist, Bracket Dom. Today we went over the seed lines, conference rankings, and matchups you should check out during Feast Week.

Tune in weekly and send along questions on X @BracketDom.

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November 20, 2025: Michigan State is resuming their long defunct matchup against University of Detroit - Mercy now that former MSU player and assistant coach, Mark Montgomery, is at the helm of the Titans. Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, his struggling team will take on the Spartans after they have beaten another top 25 team and perennial power, Kentucky in the Champions Classic.

Now MSU has to navigate coming down from the high of that win and face a clearly inferior opponent. They will look to continue their shooting momentum and work on their game like the break and free throw...

November 18, 2025: MSU in the Champion’s Classic beat Kentucky 83-66 breaking their 0-4 cursed mark at the Madison Square Garden in this event. It was a game in which the Spartans dominated Kentucky on the glass and controlled most of the game heading into half time with a 17 point lead.

Michigan State’s floor general, Jeremy Fears, was fantastic finishing with 13 assists to just 2 turnovers. But that only tells part of the story as he dominated and controlled the game on both ends of the floor. Also of note was the shooting that Spartans brought from behind the...

November 15, 2025: It has become a staple of the early MSU non conference schedule - the Champions Classic. This year, Michigan State will take on another loaded Kentucky squad in Madison Square Garden. The Wildcats will be down a few starters, but rest assured that this team has the firepower to win even down a couple guys.

The Spartans will look to battle the Wildcats on the boards and hopefully get their shooting going from behind the arc and at the free throw line. This will be the Spartans’ second matchup against an SEC foe and will give Iz...

November 14, 2025: Tom Izzo just (probably) finished up one of his most successful recruiting classes of his career with the announcement from Ethan Taylor of Shawnee Mission, KS. Taylor is the consensus #2 center in the high school class and measures in at 7’ 1.5” 245 pounds with a 7’4” wing span.

Taylor is skilled around the basket and athletic - not afraid to mix it up inside and score. During the last EYBL season he averaged 73% from the field and 68% from the line showing that he knows who he is and has some decent touch. His addition will most assuredly put MSU in the t...

November 13, 2025: Michigan State defeated the other Spartans, San Jose State 79-60 at the Breslin Center. The game was sandwiched between two big games, Arkansas and Kentucky in the Champions Classic next Tuesday. Despite getting out to a huge halftime lead 46-23 on San Jose State, the second half was a very different animal for MSU.

San Jose State started to get a little comfortable and closed the 23 point half time deficit to 10 with a little over 4 minutes to play. But Jeremy Fears, Jr. responded with an assist for a Carr dunk, 2 3 pointers, and a mid range jumper...

November 12, 2025: Bracket Dom of Bracketometry.com is America's number one rated bracketologist and weighs in with his early season top 4 seed lines for each region. Dom Ranks the power conferences and top 4 seed lines in all four regions.

Conferences: Big Ten, Big 12, SEC, ACC, Big East

1 - Houston, Purdue, Louisville, Alabama 2 - Duke, UConn, Arizona, Illinois 3 - Kentucky, Florida, St. John's, Michigan 4 - Michigan State, Gonzaga, UCLA, BYU

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November 10, 2025: Coming off an exciting and physical win at the Breslin Center against the 14th ranked Arkansas Razorbacks, Michigan State welcomes former Nebraska coach Tim Miles and his squad from San Jose State. The ‘other’ Spartans from San Jose have been a team that has struggled for years in the Mountain West and have managed only 46 win over the last 3 years. Unfortunately for them, that is the best 3 year stretch for the program since the mid-80’s.

MSU will look to build upon its success on the boards against a San Jose State team that lacks size. Also...

November 8, 2025: Michigan State is now 84-1 at the Breslin Center in November under Tom Izzo after defeating Arkansas 69-66 in a nail biter. Despite shooting just 1-14 (7%) from 3 pt range, the Spartans managed to top the Razorbacks largely due to their domination on the offensive glass (53% offensive miss rebounding rate).

The game took something of a surprising turn with freshman Cam Ward called on early due to foul trouble for Carson Cooper in the first half. Ward responded with an incredible performance of 18 points and 10 rebounds in only 23 minutes of play. The Spartans will now ready themselves...

November 6, 2025: Welcome to the Brackeotology Update with America’s number one bracketologist, Bracket Dom. Today we talked about what makes a good bracketologist, who is over and underrated in college hoops, which conferences are best, and what are this week’s best matchups.

Tune in weekly and send along questions on X @BracketDom.

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November 6, 2025: Michigan State is now entering the season in full throttle as they host the #14 ranked Arkansas Razorbacks led by legendary head coach, John Calipari. Like MSU, Arkansas is 1-0 after cruising to a victory over Southern University by 32.

The Razorbacks feature freshman phenom, Darius Acuff from Cass Tech in Detroit, who will play the point and looked very good in their opener. Acuff finished with 22 points (8-13 and 3-5 from 3) along with 4 assists and 2 turnovers. The Spartans will look to continue their dominance on the boards and hopefully improve the free throw shooting and help defense.<...

November 5, 2025: Michigan State began just landed 4* top 40 recruit Jasiah Jervis from White Plains, NY. Jervis is a lethal two way 6’5” guard with 6’9” wing span known for his shooting and disruptive defense - just the kind of player that Tom Izzo values.

Jervis joins the 2026-27 class of Medlock Jr. and Avant and we expect him to be joined very soon with 5* 7’1” Ethan Taylor from Missouri. This recruiting class may very well be one of the best ever of Izzo’s career when it is done.

Are you looking for collegiate apparel including Spartan gear? There’s only one place...

November 3, 2025: Michigan State began it’s season tonight at the Breslin Center with a win over Colgate 80-69. Despite a poor night shooting free throws (65%) MSU used its immense rebounding edge to overwhelm the team from the Patriot League racking up 19 offensive rebounds for an impressive 54% rate.

The Raiders hung tough keeping the game with 3 points at half but were unable to keep the MSU transition and rebounding game in check in the second half as the Spartans pulled away. Notable individual efforts from Jeremy Fears, Jr. who ended the game with 14 points, 6-6 from the line, 5 re...

November 1, 2025: Michigan State begins its 2025-26 season on Monday night at the Breslin Center with a matchup against the Colgate Raiders of the Patriot League. The Raiders are coming off a down year but have been a traditional power in the league with multiple NCAA bids over the last 8 years under successful coach, Matt Langel.

The Spartans will look to build upon last year’s elite 8 run and Big Ten championship with some familiar faces and new ones too. With the new additions come questions about whether this team will match last year’s on the defensive and...

October 28, 2025: Michigan State wrapped up its exhibition play Tuesday night at UConn where the Spartans lost 76-69 to the #4 team in the country. It was a game which was a little hard to watch as there were so many fouls called and nearly 75 total free throws. Despite MSU coming up short, there were a lot of positives that came out of the game.

One good sign was that after getting handled on the boards for the Bowling Green game and the first half, the Spartans bounced back and looked alive rebounding at the end of the second...

October 26, 2025: Michigan State will wrap up its exhibition season on Tuesday night in Storrs, CT as they take on Danny Hurley and his UConn Huskies. After winning back to back national titles in 2023 & 24, the Huskies had a little bit of a slide last year earning an 8 seed and getting knocked out of the tournament in the second round last year.

But they appear to be ready to have a good season with some returning veterans and newcomers to plug some holes. It should be a good test for the Spartans - especially since it is on the...

October 23, 2025: Michigan State unofficially began its 2025-26 season tonight in an exhibition matchup against the visiting Bowling Green Falcons 75-66. It was our first opportunity to watch the Spartans in action and there were some moments that didn’t disappoint.

We expected MSU to have another good rebounding year and this game they did not show that. However, the jumpshooting seemed better and the roster overall looks to be very good and should be competitive in the Big Ten. It is likely that we will learn a whole lot more when they play their next exhibition game at...

October 21, 2025: Welcome back to the basketball season! We’re excited to get going again and we lead off today with our preview of Michigan State’s first exhibition game - the Bowling Green Falcons. As you may recall, Bowling Green played at the Breslin last season but this time it’s both teams’ exhibition openers.

The Falcons were middle of the pack of the MAC last year and are projected similarly again this year. Led by their lone returning starter, Javonte Campbell - like MSU - they will hope to work out their rotation and see how their gu...

October 16, 2025: We’ve finally made it through all the Big Ten previews and have arrived at Michigan State. Last year, Rod had MSU at #5 and the team went out and lapped the field by 3 games. This year, we have them as #2 but with all the variability because of the transfer portal - it’s really anyone’s guess. Outside of Purdue looking really, really good.

The Spartans are coming off a fantastic season in which they returned to the staples that fans associate with the team. They defended, rebounded, and ran…a lot. Also, Jase Richardson as a freshm...

October 13, 2025: Matt Painter has had a great run at Purdue and has gotten the proverbial monkey off the back of Boilermakers by having success in the NCAA Tournament. He has done what no one else has done in West Lafayette - translate regular season success into post season success.

The Boilers look to be loaded coming into this year with a return of their injured 7’4” center, another almost 7 footer, and the core of Smith, Kaufman Renn, and Loyer as seniors. A preseason top 5 pick nationally and favorite to win it all  - the Boilers will be a tough...

October 11, 2025: Michigan and Dusty May just got a very wealthy benefactor for their athletics program allowing them to be more than competitive in the transfer market. Resources have always been a little bit of a struggle for the Wolverines but not anymore. They’ve opened the wallet and have one of the highest sought after transfers, Yaxel Lendenborg from UAB. He looks to replace departing Danny Wolf at the 4 and might even be a more efficient version of the NBA first round pick. The addition of Elliot Cadeau from North Carolina is a point guard UM hasn’t had in y...

October 11, 2025: UCLA will begin its 2025-26 season with a little Big Ten experience under its belt. Last year’s team managed a decent finish but seemed to struggle with the travel schedule required to be a part of the league. This year’s team has some very important returning players and intriguing transfers but will face the same brutal travel.

Of note to MSU fans is the transfer of much maligned McDonald’s All-American, Xavier Booker, from East Lansing to Los Angeles. Will the new environment lead to a better outcome for the Junior? And will he be abl...

October 9, 2025: Former Purdue standout and current college (and soon to be NBA) color analyst, Robbie Hummel, joins us again today to talk about the Big Ten and college basketball. Robbie is a rising start within the college basketball analyst ranks and brings great insight both as a former player and fan of the game.

In this episode, Hummel gives us his take on Purdue’s incoming super team, what the rest of the league has, MSU, and even a story about a leaking roof and being bullied by Zach Randolph in the NBA.

Are you lo...

October 9, 2025: Wisconsin has been a relevant basketball program since Dick Bennett took over in the 90s. Before then, Badger basketball was an afterthought. After Bennett came Bo Ryan who led Wisconsin to multiple Big Ten titles and Final Fours.

Greg Gard has continued the tradition of solid Wisconsin teams and this year’s team looks to continue the run. A solid core of returning players with some high end transfers appears to have the Badgers poised for another NCAA tournament appearance and an outside chance at the Big Ten.

Are you looking for collegiate apparel in...

October 7, 2025: One of the more interesting programs in the Big Ten is Illinois. Since head coach Brad Underwood has taken the reins, the Fighting Illini have been something of an amoeba. Every year not only does the roster shift but so does the philosophy. They have gone from a team of ultra high pressure, to forward focused, to big men and drop coverage, to high volume 3 point shooting, and now an invasion of Europeans.

Although Illinois has had some success under Underwood, they have struggled to maintain consistency with an ever changing roster and mode of play...

October 5, 2025: Oregon finished its first season in the Big Ten under Dana Altman with a solid performance. It was a team that wasn’t great at anything in particular but was good in everything. It earned them an NCAA seed and a decent first showing in the league.

But can Altman and crew improve upon last year’s record? The Ducks return Nate Bittle and Jackson Shelstead who are plus plus players so perhaps Oregon fans can expect more this year. However, what does the effect of travel for West Coast teams have in a basketball season weig...

October 2, 2025: Ohio State has had a very strange ten year run in the Big Ten. They have occasionally made the NCAA tournament but certainly not as often as we would have expected considering the level of talent they’ve put on the court. The last few years have been no exception to that rule whether under Holtman’s or Diebler’s leadership.

This is a team that should make the NCAAs and have a very competitive team to give other teams in the league trouble night in and night out. But can Bruce Thornton be the leader the Bu...

October 1, 2025: The season hasn’t started yet but Tom Izzo and his staff continue to rack up impressive wins off the court in the high school recruiting circuit. Today, 4 star 6’8” wing Julius Avent from New Jersey committed to MSU. As early as this Monday, word was that he still needed to visit Seton Hall before making a decision but that was laid to rest this afternoon.

Avent’s father is Anthony Avent who was one of the all time greats in Seton Hall history and had a six year pro career in the NBA. It was widely thought...

September 29, 2025: As we round into the top half of the Big Ten we find ourselves in Southern California with the USC Trojans. After what can only be described as a disappointing year for first year coach Eric Musselman, the Trojans look to have assembled a better team this year.

Although Musselman failed to hang onto starters Wesley Yates and Desmond Claude (both going to Washington) he appears to have a team that will contend and be more competitive. Featuring a point guard factors into this elevated ranking and some intriguing transfers. Perhaps Musselman breaks into the top...

September 25, 2025: We have now arrived at the half way point of our Big Ten previews with the Iowa Hawkeyes rounding out the first 9 teams. Iowa is also the last of the our previews with teams sporting new head coaches. This time Ben McCollum who spent just one year at Drake last season ending with an NCAA first round win and a second round exit.

McCollum had a lot of success at the D2 level and he will bring his lead guard Bennett Stirtz from Northwest Missouri and Drake to lead the way. McCollum will also bring a...

September 22, 2025: Just like the last episode on Indiana, Maryland had an interesting season and off season too. First, the ‘Crab Five’ managed to exceed expectations and make it to the second weekend of the NCAA tournament and finish tied for second in the Big Ten. Then, their coach Kevin Willard, participated in a spat with the athletic administration in the media leading to his departure to Villanova after only three seasons at Maryland.

Now enters journeyman head coach Buzz Williams from Texas A&M who has been modestly successful everywhere he has coached.  He brings with him some...

September 18, 2025: The beat goes on with our Big Ten Previews and we find ourselves at #12 - the Indiana Hoosiers. Indiana’s strange detour with Mike Woodson has come to an end with a new face looking to end the Hoosiers’ time in wilderness. Since the departure of Bobby Knight, Indiana basketball has been flailing about looking for success. Incredibly, since the departure of Knight, the Hoosiers have only made the second weekend of the NCAA tournament twice.

So Darian DeVries arrives after one year at West Virginia and the previous six at Missouri Valley school, Drake. Although DeVr...

September 15, 2025: Next on the list of Big Ten previews is our #13 team - the Washington Huskies. Last year can only be summed up as a dreadful first year in the Big Ten for the Huskies. They finished last and were bad in just about every category - offensive, defensive, rebounding, turnovers, shooting, and general competitiveness.

This year, head coach Danny Sprinkle appears to be making some serious upgrades to his team both through the portal and high school recruiting. Whether it comes to fruition or not probably depends a decent amount on whether or not they have...

September 11, 2025: It was a disappointing year for Northwestern and Chris Collins due in large part to the season ending injuries to Brooks Barnhiser and Jalen Leach. The depleted ‘Cats managed to stay competitive all the way to the end and make the Big Ten Tournament but didn’t have enough to compete for a third straight NCAA tournament bid.

This year will feature a senior Nick Martinelli and some intriguing new pieces which we have just sneaking into the Big Ten Tournament.

Are you looking for collegiate apparel including Spartan gear? There’s only one place...

September 8, 2025: The Nebraska Cornhuskers have had an interesting journey under head coach Fred Hoiberg. Hoiberg seemed like the perfect hire for Nebraska’s basketball program back in 2019 with his previous success at Iowa State and ability to identify talent using the transfer system.

Now, in an era where the transfer is a staple of the college game, one would think he would be suited best. However, the results at Nebraska have been mixed. One NCAA appearance but still a lot of disappointing years like last year where Nebraska went from being safely on the right side of th...

September 4, 2025: The Minnesota Golden Gophers have basically had a lost four years for their basketball program. Colorado State head coach Nico Medved was discussed as a possible replacement for Richard Pitino 4 years ago buy the Gophers went with Ben Johnson. Now they find themselves in a nearly identical position with a flailing program and Nico Medved as a coaching candidate.

Medved returns home to Minneapolis with a tough job ahead of him. Minnesota is a notoriously poor financial supporter of its basketball program making success in hoops difficult. Time will tell whether Medved is the right guy...

September 1, 2025: Today we talk about Rod’s predicted #17 team in the Big Ten - just above the cellar - the Penn State Nittany Lions. Mike Rhoades enters his third season with what looks very similar to his year 1 venture - a bare cupboard and a whole lot of new pieces.

Last year was not the season the Lions had hoped for as they finished 17th in the league and missed the Big Ten Tournament. And with the situation in State College it appears that Rhoades is going to take a different approach to building his team. He is...

August 28, 2025: Things haven’t gone as planned for the Rutgers basketball program for a couple years now. They began their journey into the Big Ten as the ultimate has been or doormat. But under the leadership of Head Coach Steve Pikiell, he developed a program culture that was focused on toughness and eventually winning. That process led them to two straight NCAA tournament appearances.

Unfortunately, with the expansion of transferring and paying players, Rutgers has headed in the wrong direction. The first signs of trouble appeared when senior guards Paul Mulcahey and Cam Spencer transferred to Washington an...

August 19, 2025: If there’s one constant with the recruiting trail for MSU, it’s that it isn’t constant - or at least always evolving. After the commitment from fast rising point guard Carlos Medlock, Jr., there has been a slew of high profile players scheduling their official visit to East Lansing. We review all those players and handicap the likelihood they end up Spartans in the episode.

Are you looking for collegiate apparel including Spartan gear? There’s only one place we recommend you go to get your MSU T-shirts, hoodies, sweatshirts — Nudge Printing (https://www.nudgeprint...

August 12, 2025: Noted Lansing State Journal columnist Graham Couch joined the show to today to talk some MSU hoops and provide his thoughts on this year’s team. We discussed how surprising the last year was and whether this year can repeat that success.

Are you looking for collegiate apparel including Spartan gear? There’s only one place we recommend you go to get your MSU T-shirts, hoodies, sweatshirts — Nudge Printing (https://www.nudgeprinting.com)  Nudge is owned and operated by Gabe and Brittany, two MSU alums. The business is operated out of Michigan and screen prints super high qu...

August 5, 2025: Divine Ugochukwu joins the show to talk about what it’s like playing point at MSU, defending under Tom Izzo, and yoga.

Are you looking for collegiate apparel including Spartan gear? There’s only one place we recommend you go to get your MSU T-shirts, hoodies, sweatshirts — Nudge Printing (https://www.nudgeprinting.com)  Nudge is owned and operated by Gabe and Brittany, two MSU alums. The business is operated out of Michigan and screen prints super high quality products. They also have a large assortment of apparel for other schools as well as stickers for your wall, c...

July 31, 2025: Denham Wojcik joined the show to talk about what it’s like to play for his Dad, playing the break with Carr and Fort, and being home for home cooking.

Are you looking for collegiate apparel including Spartan gear? There’s only one place we recommend you go to get your MSU T-shirts, hoodies, sweatshirts — Nudge Printing (https://www.nudgeprinting.com)  Nudge is owned and operated by Gabe and Brittany, two MSU alums. The business is operated out of Michigan and screen prints super high quality products. They also have a large assortment of apparel for other s...

July 29, 2025: Trey Fort joined the show to talk about how he ended up at MSU, what he brings to the team, and how he (almost) feels sorry for opposing teams when he’s on the fast break with Carr.

Are you looking for collegiate apparel including Spartan gear? There’s only one place we recommend you go to get your MSU T-shirts, hoodies, sweatshirts — Nudge Printing (https://www.nudgeprinting.com)  Nudge is owned and operated by Gabe and Brittany, two MSU alums. The business is operated out of Michigan and screen prints super high quality products. They also ha...

July 25, 2025: Michigan State landed its first high school recruit for the 2026-27 season with 6’0” point guard Carlos Medlock, Jr.  Medlock played his first three years at Wayne Memorial High School where he started all of them. He will be playing his senior year in Missouri at Link Academy.

Although Medlock was not heavily recruited last year he has blasted up the charts and received high major offers from teams all round the country. MSU was first and then the next day Michigan. In the Addidas circuit he is averaging 21.1 ppg and shooting 47/36/79.

Are you looking for c...

July 22, 2025: We are joined tonight with our friend Jay Bilas to once again talk about the Spartans and the state of college basketball. Jay weighed in on what he thought about MSU’s season and whether he was surprised. Then we talked a little Big Ten and coaching before hitting the meat of the discussion.

Bilas was probably one of the earliest analysts to talk about what was coming in college athletics with respective to player movement and payments. Once again, he lays out the playing field and discusses what’s happening and where he expects the game...

July 17, 2025: It’s summer which means Moneyball is happening in Lansing. In case you aren’t aware, Moneyball is a free pro-am tournament that runs for two months every summer featuring current MSU players. Moneyball Sportswear sponsors the event at Holt High School which is free to attend.

There are only some things to take away from Moneyball. You can’t learn much about defense or rebounding since the effort level is very low. However, you can usually glean things like the size and shape of the player, their shot mechanics, and their handle. Eric attended this years’...

July 10, 2025: There have been a lot of great players who have played under Tom Izzo. In his 30 years as head coach, he has had top recruits who have gone on to play pro and others who were barely recruited who became great. It’s easy to forget the trajectory of some of these greats but ultimately Rod goes over why he thinks they are the best of the best.

We rank the top fifteen Spartan players of the Izzo era starting from third team all the way to first team all greats. Do you agree with Rod’s li...

July 2, 2025: Tonight we were joined by MSU assistant coach, Saddi Washington who joined the team last year after a long stint in Ann Arbor. Washington is the son of former MSU great, Stan Washington, one of the all time greats in MSU basketball history.

Coach Washington talked to us about his career and what he has learned under some great head coaches: Tom Izzo, John Beilein, and Greg Kampe. We talked about the current team and what he expects from the new freshmen, veterans, and transfers too.

Are you looking for collegiate apparel including Spartan...

June 28, 2025: It might be the off season but there’s still a lot going on at the Breslin Center in East Lansing. Incoming sophomore transfer, Kaleb Glenn, tore his patellar tendon and is out for the year. We discuss the implications of the injury, our expectation for its impact, and more.

Then we move on to talk about the new offers for high school players for 2026 and what it might say about where Tom Izzo sees his needs next year. Finally, we discuss the NBA Draft and Jase Richardson going in the first round to the Orland Ma...

June 18, 2025: We are joined this week with MSU assistant coach, Jon Borovich. Borovich joined the staff 3 years ago from Northwestern although he has had a long history with Tom Izzo. Not only did he serve as a grad assistant perviously under Izzo but he worked under former Izzo assistant coaches Mark Montgomery and Brian Gregory.

Borovich goes over the upcoming roster: where he has seen development with returning players and what to expect from the transfers and high school additions. In short, although MSU lost probable first round pick Jase Richardson to the NBA, they might have...

June 12, 2025: It’s easy to forget with the constant buzz about the transfer portal but high major D1 schools still do recruit high school athletes. Of course, MSU is no stranger to going after big fish and the 2026 class is no different.

Some very interesting recruitments include legacy kids like Jaxon Richardson, Mateen Cleaves Jr., and KJ Torbert. However, in a sign of the times, there is a very good chance that Michigan State not only won’t have any Michigan based kids in its recruiting class but probably not even amongst scholarship players.

Are you...

June 5, 2025: Michigan State let go its athletic director, Allan Haller, a few months ago for a variety of reasons. By all accounts, Haller was doing a good job in managing the athletic hiring and firing and administration of the programs at MSU. However, he struggled coordinating and successfully fund raising both for the department and for the ‘off the books’ NIL.

So Michigan State hit the transfer portal and found J Batt from Georgia Tech where he comes with 3 years experience as the AD for the Yellow Jackets. Batt has apparently been very good at raising money whic...

May 29, 2025: Michigan State continued to round out its roster as it added 6’ 3” Sophomore Divine Ugochukwu from the University of Miami (Florida). The point guard who started over half of Miami’s games last year had a good freshman year averaging 5.3 ppg, 1.9 rpg, with an assist to turnover ratio of 2.3:1.6. He shot 63% at the rim which would have made him a leader at MSU last season. His most obvious deficiency is his 3 point shooting which was a little under 18%.

Divine is predicted to be the last major piece added to the roster going into next season where he is exp...

May 22, 2025: Today’s the finale of our Big Ten Recap where we talk about the top of the standings of the Big Ten. We review Purdue, Wisconsin, UCLA, Michigan, and Maryland. As we all know, MSU lapped the field in the Big Ten this year but the top was in doubt as teams like back to back champ Purdue showed signs of competing at the top and Wisconsin had a very surprising run exceeding most analysts’ expectations largely on the back of John Tonje.

For MSU fans, Michigan was an extremely frustrating team that despite their poor metr...

May 15, 2025: Part two of our Big Ten Recap is here where we talk about the middle of the pack of the Big Ten. We review Minnesota, Rutgers, Ohio State, Indiana, Oregon, and Illinois. There was turmoil in this group with two coaching changes: Ben Johnson getting fired at Minnesota and Mike Woodson being encouraged to retire at Indiana. Rutgers had two top 5 Freshman but were unable to put any viable pieces around them and finished well out of the NCAA bubble conversation.

Meanwhile, Ohio State continued its trend of doing less with more even with first year...

May 8, 2025: Today marks the first of our three part series recapping the season for the Big Ten’s teams. We begin our tour with Washington and then continue through Penn State, Nebraska, Iowa, USC, and finish with Northwestern.

The group of teams included some interesting storylines with first year coaches Danny Sprinkle from Washington and Eric Musselman at USC. It also included the final year of Fran McCaffrey who was let go at Iowa. A lot of teams that obviously struggled but intrigue on whether they can improve from here.

Are you looking for collegiate ap...

May 1, 2025: Today’s show is on the current roster status of MSU and its upcoming 2025-26 Big Ten Schedule. Last week we discussed the possibility of 5 star recruit Darius Adams joining the Spartans after decommitting from UConn. Those who follow Michigan State recruiting know that Adams was a target of MSU’s in this class. He ended up at Maryland and we discuss what that means.

Also, Jase Richardson has declared for the draft but has yet to hire an NBA agent which means that he could still return for his Sophomore year. This seems very...

April 23, 2025: This episode focuses on two things, MSU’s season in review and the potential recruitment of Darius Adams. At one time, MSU was one of the final teams angling to bring 5 star McDonad’s All-American, Darius Adams, but lost out to UConn. Well, UConn, brought in a lot of portal guards and they allowed Adams out of his commitment. This left a question whether Adams might be the final piece at guard that Michigan State would be adding this off-season.

The rest of the show is devoted to a deep dive in each Spartan and their seas...

April 16, 2025: Michigan State continues to expand its roster and just as we expected, they looked to add another guard. Well, in comes Trey Fort, a 6’4” SG from Samford who averaged 41% from 3 this year and has one year left in eligibility. Although he isn’t a primary ball handler, he should help in MSU’s backcourt.

The probable addition of Fort brings up the next obvious question - who’s next for MSU? We discuss the positional needs the Spartans will still have for next season. We also spent some time discussing Tre Holloman’s situation and how he ended up...

April 11, 2025: With the departure of MSU’s seniors, graduate students, and Jase Richardson to the NBA, there was an obvious need for bodies to complete next year’s roster. So Tom Izzo and the Spartans went into the portal and signed 6’7” 220# Kaleb Glenn from FAU.

Glenn was a former teammate of Jeremy Fears in AAU and for a year at LaLumiere in Indiana. He comes ia Louisville and then FAU where last season he received AAC 2nd team honors coming off the bench and averaging 51% from the field, 41% from 3 and a little over 4.5 rebounds a game. We don’t ex...

April 5, 2025: We have officially entered portal season for most of the country and it is more active than ever. For Michigan State, fans got their first taste of a player whom they love entering the portal - Tre Holloman. A player who seems to embody Tom Izzo and the program, Holloman entered the portal April 1st but (as of this programming) not yet committed to another program.

Xavier Booker has left and is headed to UCLA in a move that is easy to understand. It seemed to us that he just needed a restart because it just...

March 30, 2025: Michigan State’s season came to an end today as they fall 70-64 to the Auburn Tigers in the Elite 8. The game’s story was probably national player of the year candidate, Johni Broome, who had 25 points and 14 rebounds in an extremely efficient performance only missing 3 shots from the field. In contrast, MSU shot less than 40% from two in this game and didn’t help themselves with poor shooting from 3 either.

So what was an incredibly fun season with a Big Ten Championship comes to an end for the Spartans and Tom Izzo one game short of ano...

March 29, 2025: Michigan State advanced to the Elite 8 with a win over Ole Miss and now gets the honor of playing the overall number one seed, Auburn. The Tigers advanced to the Elite 8 with a win over Michigan. Auburn had to do that after trailing Michigan by nearly double digits late in the second half - similar to MSU’s second half with Ole Miss.

Of course, Auburn is a top rated offensive and defensive team and will be a big challenge for the Spartans. The Tigers also feature a national player of the year candidate, John Broome, wh...

March 28, 2025: Michigan State advances to the Elite 8 with a hard fought win over 6 seed Ole Miss, 73-70. The script was switched this game where Ole Miss was pounding the Spartans on the offensive glass with a 12-5 edge. However, MSU was about the same with regard to turnovers where they only turned it over 10 times which was less than we suspected the Rebels would need in order to win.

The difference in the game came down to the free throw line where MSU hit 19 to Mississippi’s 9 and were ice cold accurate down the stretch shooting 13-14 in...

March 26, 2025: Michigan State looks to keep their NCAA Tournament run going as they face 6 seed Ole Miss in the Sweet 16 for a chance to play for the Final Four. However, the Rebels will be a challenge for MSU as they dismantled their first two opponents, North Carolina and Iowa State. They accomplished that on the back of nearly an uncharacteristic 50% 3 point shooting.

There are a number of ways for the Spartans to get an advantage over Ole Miss. First, the Rebels are a putrid offensive and defensive rebounding team. It is quite possible that they will be...

March 24, 2025: Michigan State took on 10 seed New Mexico in the second round of the NCAA Tournament and got just about all they could handle before dispatching the Lobos 71-63 late Sunday night. The Lobos had a lead as big as 10 points in the first half but only managed to score one field goal over the final 9 minutes of the half leading to just a 2 point advantage over MSU into the locker room.

The second half went the way of most MSU games this season as the Spartans wore down their opponent and overtook the Lobos en route...

March 22, 2025: Michigan State moved on to the second round of the NCAA Tournament with a win over Bryant and now face the 10 seed New Mexico Lobos in the South region. New Mexico is from the Mountain West and coached by former Big Ten Minnesota coach Richard Pitino. Similar to the 2019 tournament, MSU will face Richard Pitino in the second round.

New Mexico is led by all everything point guard, Donovan Dent, who was the Mountain West player of the year. The Lobos are an excellent defensive team and elite defensive rebounding team. They also like to score...

March 22, 2025: Michigan State took on the Bryant Bulldogs in the first round of the NCAA Tournament and won 87-62. Bryant proved to be a formidable opponent pushing the Spartans throughout the entire first half and beginning of the second. The Bulldogs led by as much as 5 in the first half but a late flurry from the Spartans gave them a 5 point lead heading into half time.

The first half star of the game for Michigan State was Coen Carr who was everywhere on the boards and scoring in the paint and at the line. But the story...

March 18, 2025: As expected, Michigan State got their number 2 seed in the NCAA tournament and will face the 15 seed Bryant Bulldogs from the America East Conference. Bryant has only been a Division I program for 17 years and this is their second appearance in the Big Dance. New head coach, Phil Martelli, Jr., is in his second year and was an assistant the last time Bryant received a bid.

Bryant won the regular season and conference tournament so this is a team used to winning. They boast one of the tallest teams in the country - almost 2 inches taller...

March 17, 2025: Michigan State got their expected at-large bid to the NCAA tournament last night and will be the 2 seed in the South. Their first round opponent is Bryant who we will go into in greater depth over the next few days. But 7 other Big Ten teams made the field and we discussed their draw in some depth.

Also, Bracket Dom joined us once again to discuss the strange development in this year’s selection committee where North Carolina made the dance and West Virginia was left out. Adding to the controversy, North Carolina’s AD was the head...

March 15, 2025: Michigan State had their 8 game winning streak against Big Ten opponents broken today as the Spartans fell to the Wisconsin Badgers, 77-74. Wisconsin had a huge showing from their star player, John Tonje, who finished the game with 32 points.

Most bracteology sites have MSU slated for a 2 seed whether they won the game or not. So MSU will wait for selection Sunday to find out their seeding, matchup, and location in their record breaking 27th straight appearance.

Are you looking for collegiate apparel including Spartan gear? There’s only one place we recommend you go...

March 14, 2025: Michigan State took care of business in their first game in the Big Ten Tournament beating Oregon in convincing manner, 74-64 in the quarterfinals. The Spartans came out with good energy and despite letting Oregon keep it close throughout the first half, they closed the half strong heading into the locker room up 10.

From there, it was pretty even as Oregon made a quick push to cut the lead to 1 but just as quickly gave it all back and MSU cruised into the finish line with a 10 point win. Coen Carr had a standout game in...