What's Going On With Michigan State - Gets Boat Raced, Has The Worst Start Ever For A Preseason No. 1 Team (Hint: It's Because They Actually Stink)

Obviously the biggest story in college hoops last night was Michigan State just getting absolutely boat raced by Duke in East Lansing. Spare me the talk that they won by 12, this game was a blowout for 30-35 minutes. It was so bad that I started thinking and can't really name one thing Michigan State does well besides inbound the ball to Cassius Winston. Maybe they offensive rebound fine after throwing up a million bricks, but that's really it. 

So here's the thing. We need to get into it. Remember this is the same Michigan State team that was unanimous No. 1 in the preseason. This is the same Michigan State team that set a record for being picked to win the title over on CBS Sports where they poll 100+ Division I Coaches. This is the same Michigan State team that everyone said you just have to write into the Final Four. 

This is the same Michigan State team that has absolutely 0 reason to be ranked if AP poll voters actually paid attention to what's going on in the sport. So what's the reasoning for the worst start ever by a preseason No. 1 team? 

Well, for starters they don't have top end talent, especially outside of Cassius Winston. Yes, Winston was a preseason All-American, NPOY and the first 1st Team All-American to return to school since JJ Redick. All great, but you know what we're seeing teams do to him? First, they are putting size on him which is bothering him a ton. Duke didn't start the game with Tre Jones on Winston, they used a variety of guys like Jordan Goldwire to give different looks. The other thing teams are doing - and this is arguably the most important thing - is taking away what Michigan State wants to do with ball screens. They want to throw Winston in a million ball screens and let him attack out of there. Well when you're not scared of Marcus Bingham, Malik Hall, Thomas Kithier, etc., you can hard hedge/double the ball screen and force someone else to beat you. 

The fact is very few people that you listened to on TV or whatever overlooked a gigantic thing. They saw 'junior, sophomore, etc' listed on Michigan State's roster and thought, oh okay these guys are experienced. No, they aren't. Everyone is asked to take on a WAY bigger role and we're seeing Aaron Henry struggle (even though I really like him). We're seeing Xavier Tillman be fine but not this breakout guy that so many thought. Just because they didn't have freshman next to their names people thought there wouldn't be an adjustment period. We're seeing that. 

I know everyone expected Josh Langford to be here (though I'm not quite why with that injury lingering) and he'd make a drastic difference. But Izzo has no idea how to get the right lineup out there right now. He's recently added Bingham to the starting 5. I don't think that's the answer. He probably needs to go even smaller but he doesn't love doing that. He needs to find a way to really let Aaron Henry loose without overcoaching him, but that doesn't seem to be happening. 

There's no other way to put it. Michigan State flat out stinks right now.