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Game 2- Mississippi State


clarkwgriswold

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The Zips head off to Philly Friday to face Mississippi State in the Barstool Sports Invitational.

 

Last year, the Bulldogs were 18-16 (8-10 SEC) and finished 10th in the SEC.  Their top returning players are: 

Tolu Smith, Senior, Forward, 14.2 ppg, 6.5 rpg, 1.0 apg

D.J. Jeffries, Senior, Forward, 8.9 ppg, 4.2 rpg, 1.9 apg

Shakeel Moore, Junior, Guard, 8.7 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 2.2 apg

Cameron Matthews, Junior, Guard, 2.9 ppg, 3.9 rpg, 1.2 apg

 

Through the portal, they added point guard Dashawn Davis from Oregon State and forward Will McNair Jr. from New Mexico State.  Tolu Smith is a very good interior player and led the SEC in rebounding two years ago but was sidelined quite a bit last year due to injuries.  Davis led the Pac-12 in assists (5.5) last season.

 

Chris Jans has taken over the program after 122-32 stint at New Mexico State over the last five years, winning or sharing the WAC title four times and making three NCAA Tournaments.  SI predicts them to finish 9th in the SEC while the media poll had them as 10th.

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Barstool is polarizing, but I'm interested in seeing how they run this thing. They run things a little different and usually its pretty entertaining IMO. I can't imagine attendance would be that great considering we are the closest team to Phili, and still 6.5 hours away (and its on a Friday).

 

I bet Jans has them finishing better than projected. Beating SDSU and MSU to start of the season would be pretty insane. Those are two wins that would mean a lot for seeding if we win the MAC tourney (I am not going to throw out the "a" word).

Edited by LZIp
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It's going to be tough contending with their size. I imagine they will try to isolate their 6'7 SF against one of our 6'2 guards in the low post. We'll obviously have to send some help defensively, which can open up open shots elsewhere or put backs as Freeman or Hunter would be forced to abandon their man therefore not able to box out.

 

IMO to win we need to shoot vastly better, particularly from the perimeter, than we did last game. 

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4 minutes ago, clarkwgriswold said:

Exclusive broadcast on Barstool.tv.

 

There is some debate on how kid-friendly their broadcast will be. Worst case scenario, you mute the stream and listen to the radio. However, this is a pretty big event for Barstool, so I'd imagine they'll want it to go over well with the public. They were supposed to have a bowl game a few years ago, but COVID cancelled it. This is now their first time hosting/broadcasting an event, and we're going to be the primo game for them. Pretty cool. 

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Regarding the game, I expect us to be in the game until the end. I have so much faith in Groce Ball - maybe to a fault - that I believe we can shoot below average and compete with anyone in the country outside of Duke, Kansas, etc. Our defense, effort, and free throw shooting will keep us in just about any game. 

 

I'd imagine their height advantage will be negated a bit by Freeman's abilities down low and our overall effort on the boards. If we can get a double-double from Freeman, ~17 points from X, 12-15 pts from Hankerson, and double digits from someone like Hankerson or Johnson, I really like our chances. Also, we need to keep the turnovers to ~12 or fewer. 

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I'm ignorant about Barstool & Barstool.tv. I was just over there & it looks like you can watch their livestream free of charge, and there are also quite a few pieces to view under "On Demand." But there is also a "Subscribe" button. What's that for if you can watch the livestream for free?

 

Also, I'm going to be out of town Friday night, so does anyone know if the game will be available to stream On Demand later on?

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2 hours ago, Blue & Gold said:

I'm ignorant about Barstool & Barstool.tv. I was just over there & it looks like you can watch their livestream free of charge, and there are also quite a few pieces to view under "On Demand." But there is also a "Subscribe" button. What's that for if you can watch the livestream for free?

 

Also, I'm going to be out of town Friday night, so does anyone know if the game will be available to stream On Demand later on?

 

I'm working on getting more answers about the stream via Twitter. I'll share my findings as they come. 

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Barstool is great, controversies or not I love that we are aligning ourselves with up and coming media companies. We can only benefit from this! 

 

I will be there with about 6 other students, we are pumped to go in person!

 

I am also worried about their size vs our pseudo-bigs. I have faith in Groce ball tho. Pumped to watch.

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2 hours ago, mrelegazna said:

Here is the "controversies" section on their Wikipedia page, which gives a good summation on why I'm not crazy about having to give them clicks to watch the stream.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barstool_Sports#Controversies

 

Portnoy has his own list of controversies too. Between his treatment of women, his political views (which have gotten a bit better over the years) and just overall being a jerk to people.

 

I do however enjoy his pizza reviews and the fact that he hates Ohio State. 

Edited by akzipper
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1 hour ago, zipsrowdy88 said:

Barstool is great, controversies or not I love that we are aligning ourselves with up and coming media companies. We can only benefit from this! 

 

I will be there with about 6 other students, we are pumped to go in person!

 

I am also worried about their size vs our pseudo-bigs. I have faith in Groce ball tho. Pumped to watch.

For those that are going, it is a straight shot on Pa turnpike, exit Valley Forge, to Blue Route, 476, to route 95 south, and get off at stadium exits which are well marked.  For a taste of Philly, get there early and go to Pats Steaks about 10 minutes from the arena.  (I grew up in Philly and used to sell beer at the Vet) 

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13 minutes ago, 1981 grad said:

For those that are going, it is a straight shot on Pa turnpike, exit Valley Forge, to Blue Route, 476, to route 95 south, and get off at stadium exits which are well marked.  For a taste of Philly, get there early and go to Pats Steaks about 10 minutes from the arena.  (I grew up in Philly and used to sell beer at the Vet) 

 

Pushing people to the tourist cheesesteaks instead of Dalessandro's - typical. 😉

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MSU's big man Tolu Smith played a year of HS here in Hawai'i.  Has family in the islands.  He's a very athletic post.  It'll be fun to see how he and Freeman match up against each other.  There should be NBA scouts present, as both those guys have gotta be on the radar.

 

https://www.hawaiiprepworld.com/boys-basketball/life-after-kahuku-tolu-smith-thriving-at-mississippi-state/

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4 hours ago, zipsrowdy88 said:

Barstool is great, controversies or not I love that we are aligning ourselves with up and coming media companies. We can only benefit from this! 

 

I will be there with about 6 other students, we are pumped to go in person!

 

I am also worried about their size vs our pseudo-bigs. I have faith in Groce ball tho. Pumped to watch.

 

It is so nice to see the students in the JAR!

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