{"id":15480,"date":"2024-03-04T17:45:38","date_gmt":"2024-03-04T22:45:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/spartanshadows.com\/?p=15480"},"modified":"2024-03-04T16:12:24","modified_gmt":"2024-03-04T21:12:24","slug":"michigan-state-basketball-ideal-starting-5-heading-into-ncaa-tournament","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spartanshadows.com\/?p=15480","title":{"rendered":"Michigan State basketball: Ideal starting 5 heading into NCAA Tournament"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>What is the ideal starting lineup for Michigan State basketball as the NCAA Tournament approaches in a couple of weeks?<\/h2>\n<p>I\u2019m not going to pretend to be a basketball expert. From and Xs and Os perspective, I\u2019m a first grader put in a college statistics class. That said, I feel like there have been some glaring differences in some of the lineups <a href=\"https:\/\/spartanshadows.com\/michigan-state-basketball-considered-lock-to-make-ncaa-tournament\/\">Michigan State basketball<\/a> coach Tom Izzo has put on the floor.<\/p>\n<p>On one hand, we have seniors who have struggled to make any sort of improvement and honestly, you could probably argue that they actually regressed.\u00a0 On the other hand, you have two elite freshman who are healthy, and a sophomore point guard who has developed a jumper and leveled up his game. For some reason though, Izzo continues to lean on a starting rotation of AJ Hoggard, Tyson Walker, Jaden Akins, Malik Hall, and Mady Sissoko.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Hoggard\/Sissoko have struggled mightily<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Akins didn\u2019t make the jump we were all expecting<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Hall has been streaky<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Walker is obviously dealing with an injury<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Now that the calendar has turned to March, given the way the last four years have gone, are we still referring to this month as Izzo\u2019s?<\/p>\n<p>Tournament time is right around the corner (Big Ten Tournament, at the very least) and I wanted to \u2018socialize\u2019 a question. Now, I\u2019m not claiming to have the right answer, and neither should you. Heck, our Hall of Fame head coach doesn\u2019t even know the answer.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>What is the ideal starting lineup for MSU hoops heading into the tourney?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>The analytics say the starting five Michigan State&#8217;s trotted out there for the majority of the year is nowhere near its best. I feel like I come across a new chart daily that highlights how much better Michigan State basketball is with Booker on the floor.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">michigan state &#8211; when tyson walker &amp; aj hoggard play w\/ mady sissoko vs. when they play w\/ freshman xavier booker, who tom izzo only plays 8 minutes per game <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/e30hi19BTu\">pic.twitter.com\/e30hi19BTu<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Jay Cuda (@JayCuda) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/JayCuda\/status\/1764484230409544015?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 4, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Jay Cuda via Twitter (X) shares some of my favorite content on the entire internet. Most of it humorous, but this one hits different. Just swapping out Sissoko with Booker alongside Hoggard and Walker, you see a huge difference.<\/p>\n<p>I won\u2019t lie, Booker struggles against some of the bigger centers in the league. He had a rough go against Purdue\u2019s Zach Edey. But what he lacks in defense, he makes up for on the offensive side of the ball by spreading out the floor. Since Booker has a legit 3-point shot, it forces the opponent\u2019s center away from the basket to guard him. I get secondhand embarrassment when our other centers are beyond the arc and there\u2019s no one even within 15 feet of them. The extra body down low clogs everything up.<\/p>\n<p>Booker opens driving lanes for Walker, Hoggard, and others.<\/p>\n<p>Theoretically let\u2019s say Izzo makes the switch. This is your new starting lineup:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>AJ Hoggard<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Tyson Walker<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Jaden Akins<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Malik Hall<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Xavier Booker<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Although I think this is better, I still see a hole. It\u2019s in the point guard position. I would be a billionaire if I had $1 for every time Hoggard drove hard to the basket but failed to finish. It just isn\u2019t the same \u2018dawg\u2019 mentality we saw from No. 11 in last year\u2019s Sweet 16 run. So what is the fix?<\/p>\n<p>Sophomore Tre Holloman.<\/p>\n<p>Known for his elite defense as a freshman, Holloman developed a jumper this offseason and has established himself as a legit 3-point threat. Sure, he doesn\u2019t have the same experience as Hoggard does but does that matter at this point? If there\u2019s no production, there\u2019s no reason for him to be on the floor regardless of tenure.<\/p>\n<p>This is what I think Michigan State&#8217;s primary rotation needs to be starting as soon as possible.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Tre Holloman<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Tyson Walker<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Jaden Akins<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Malik Hall<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Xavier Booker<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Again, I don\u2019t claim to actually know anything but from a fan\u2019s perspective I feel as though this primary lineup is what\u2019s going to help salvage what is left of their preseason expectations.<\/p>\n<p>I want to hear all comments, questions, and concerns.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This starting five would solve a lot of problems.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":56,"featured_media":15485,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[187],"tags":[59,190,189,504,211,285],"class_list":["post-15480","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","tag-featured","tag-michigan-state-basketball","tag-michigan-state-spartans","tag-news","tag-tom-izzo","tag-xavier-booker"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/spartanshadows.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15480","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/spartanshadows.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/spartanshadows.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spartanshadows.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/56"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spartanshadows.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15480"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/spartanshadows.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15480\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spartanshadows.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/15485"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/spartanshadows.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15480"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spartanshadows.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15480"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spartanshadows.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15480"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}