You're 100% right. After getting WHIPPED I knew we were gonna drop rankings but stay inside the top 25. No WAY did I think we'd stay top 10. MSU was preseason #4 and their current record doesn't reflect the talent but I don't know if it totally counts as a "quality loss". Our guys are dogs but I hope this is a wake up call before we play Duke.

Mort2023 said:

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I knew we were gonna drop rankings but stay inside the top 25.

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So you thought we were going to drop to like 23 or something? You realize other good teams have lost this season and badly. I thought we'd be 12 at worst.

I didn't understand the thought we were gonna fall so far. Although not completely comparable, we only fell from 6th to 12th last year after the worse shellacking from Marquette and we already had a 7 point loss to UVA prior to that. There is no doubt we got completely pummeled by Michigan St, but it's our first loss and the voters know there's a high probability Michigan St is still a Top 10-15 team regardless of the current record.

It would've been one thing if it had been at least somewhat competitive at any point during the game and/or if we had made a serious run or two at them after they built the big lead, but none of that ever happened. We looked 100% overmatched and overwhelmed in the first half and we barely cut into MSU's massive lead in the 2nd half.

Yes, it's just one game over the course of a long tough season - and maybe that's as bad as it's ever going to get - but that was such a woodshed curb stomping, I thought there was no way we would still be in the top 10 this week. As I posted in the OP, however, I'll definitely take it.

DanaDane said:

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I didn't understand the thought we were gonna fall so far. Although not completely comparable, we only fell from 6th to 12th last year after the worse shellacking from Marquette and we already had a 7 point loss to UVA prior to that. There is no doubt we got completely pummeled by Michigan St, but it's our first loss and the voters know there's a high probability Michigan St is still a Top 10-15 team regardless of the current record.

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Agreed - while MSU has a 5-5 record, there are no bad losses:

#20 JMU
#21 Duke
#4 AZ
#24 WI
Nebraska (8-2)

I suspect the game Wed night with Duke will be a nail-biter, one way or the other. But if we were to lose again by double digits, then I think you might see a bit more of a substantial drop you were expecting this week. I don't think the pollsters would be as forgiving with a second blowout loss.

DanaDane said:

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I suspect the game Wed night with Duke will be a nail-biter, one way or the other. But if we were to lose again by double digits, then I think you might see a bit more of a substantial drop you were expecting this week. I don't think the pollsters would be as forgiving with a second blowout loss.

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Good points.

Methinks the Duke game is THE reason why we're still in the top 10. Duke needs a signature win. Can't drop us too far just yet. Anyone who watched that MSU game can't honestly believe we're a top ten team.

Losses like this happens. Especially after a ten day layoff.

We'll be fine.

Willing to wait it out and see if the long layoff coinciding with finals explains that disaster. The logic makes sense.

Last years team was already pummeled twice when they upped the comp. I think Auburn is better than last year's Virginia so at least they have that one.

I do disagree with some that Being down 45-17, or whatever it was, just happens. Losing by double digits or even close to 20 can happen, sure. Getting abused in every facet of the game is a red flag. Let's hope it's a false flag.

Again Duke game is huge. Michigan St, while not great, has very high top end. I don't expect them to reach it often but those teams when motivated are challenges. Duke has very high top end as well. Better be ready

Unfortunately, I believe Duke will beat us by double-digits. Also, the OU rise to the Top 10 is interesting.

You also said "MSU stinks" so which is it?
And getting your ass kicked like that raises lots of red flags whether anyone's willing to admit it or not.

Yes, getting corn holed that badly raises red flags. I think MSU is a decent team but getting beat that badly by anyone even in the top 5 would raise red flags. As of right now, our defense and defensive rebounding is not indicative of a top 25 team.

It would raise a red flag in a 10 or 11 game football season if you had a couple of those.

In a 30 + or more game basketball season you're gonna have a couple of those..I don't care how good you are.

Let's wait till it happens 3-4 times and/or happens closer to tournament time then you can panic

Again… same thing was said last year after both VA and Marquette whipped us.
I'm not panicking. But only a fool wouldn't be concerned about the complete lack of defense BU is playing these days. MSU was the first legit Defense we've faced and they smothered our so called elite offense. I'm not saying we're not a good squad. But I'm throwing caution to the wind until I see some resemblance of defense.

I agree that we need to improve our D if we want to reach out goal of a Final 4.

I just think saying ' our complete utter lack.of defense thus far' is a bit much. We have played good defense against decent competition so far.

Not trying to be a smartass but what good team have we played solid D against ?
We gave up 88 to a MSU squad who was averaging like 72 a game (pretty sure 88 is their season high)
We have up 90 something to FL
We gave up what 86 to Auburn?
Those are horrendous numbers imo
** I will say looking back against SH we played good D. But that's a SH team who while scrappy has struggled to score all season

This years squad again wont make it past Sweet 16, though it sure would be nice to make it past the 2nd round for once. Definitely not a conference champ caliber much less national title contender. God how I miss Vital and that 2021 group with the coaching of Tang.

Not a bad team this year, but I would be surprised if they finish with under 7 losses before the b12 tourney starts.

We will find out a lot about this team based on how they respond to this tomorrow night.

Just saying we'll find out tomorrow.

Almost exactly this time last year we suffered the exact same ass kicking by Marquette..and we bounced back for a tough win against Gonzaga.

Oh I'm not counting us out tomorrow. We could absolutely win tomm. And honestly if we play hard and lose I'm okay with that.

It was a terrible first half (blown out) and a mediocre second half (basically a tie). The first half reflected a rusty team-the 2nd half was better. Bottom line is our defense has to get way better in order to beat Duke.

IowaBear said:

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You also said "MSU stinks" so which is it?
And getting your ass kicked like that raises lots of red flags whether anyone's willing to admit it or not.

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Both. Michigan State stinks, at least for now, but also we looked absolutely rusty.

One bad loss in basketball isn't a killer to the season.