CBB - Indiana at Michigan State

The ESPN Gameday crew will be on hand in East Lansing this weekend for the Indiana-Michigan State clash, but in thruth


2007-02-28

The ESPN Gameday crew will be on hand in East Lansing this weekend for the Indiana-Michigan State clash, but in thruth, this is like the Saturday night snack before the big Sunday dinner in the Big Ten. Indiana has had a nice season under first year coach Kelvin Sampson and can still win 20 games before the post-season. Michigan State and star PG Drew Neitzel probably got them off the bubble in terms of NCAA tournament talk, but another win here would help solidify their resume.

Sampson has not been hesitant with shuffling his starting lineup trying to maximize player abilities to opponents’ weakness. The Hoosiers have shown proclivity to having road woes this season with 2-7 and 4-5 ATS record. Meanwhile, in its last game out Michigan State knocked off a number one team for only the second time in 17 tries as the Spartans played beyond expectations with Neitzel stealing the show with 28 points. While most assume Tom Izzo’s team is in the NCAA Tournament, nothing is a lock with three more potentially vexing games to play including this one. The challenge for the Spartans is the energy level required. They gave literally everything they had in Wisconsin win; can they bring enough to defeat Indiana? Raucous home crowd will help since they are 18-1 and terrific 10-4 ATS. So will momentum they carry over with 9-1 ATS mark after a cover. The StatFox Power Ratings having Michigan State coming out victorius here, indicating they should be favored by 7

CBB - Indiana at Michigan State News

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