The Michigan St. Spartans are more than aware of what they’re getting into in tonight’s ACC/Big Ten Challenge finale. Defending national champions, the Duke Blue Devils have blown out everyone on their schedule, including the then-fourth-ranked Kansas St. Wildcats.
ACC/Big Ten Challenge 2010: Michigan State’s Slim Chances Against Defending Champion Duke Blue Devils
Our Sparty community, The Only Colors, previews tonight’s game with concern and a plan: Own the boards, hang on to the ball, and defend the perimeter:
If there is a chink in Duke’s armor, it’s on the boards. The Devils rank just 118th nationally in offensive rebounding percentage and 86th in defensive rebounding percentage. Zorbek’s graduation has left a void here, particularly on the offensive end where he was a force of nature last season (21.4% individual OffReb%). Unfortunately, MSU’s rebounding ranks aren’t any more impressive (#109 on offense; #165 on defense). The defensive number is, we hope, at least partially a function of having played some very good offensive rebounding teams in South Carolina, UConn, and Washington. Still, something is clearly amiss relative to the historically standard Spartan rebounding dominance.
Overall, Duke is clearly operating at a much more efficient level than the team that started the season ranked just below them in the polls. To pull out a win in what will be, as always, a very hostile setting, things will really need to fall into place for MSU.
The Blue Devils are favored by 10. Does Michigan State have a chance at pulling off the upset? Whoa, let’s not get ahead of ourselves:
In my 3+ seasons of basketball blogging, I don’t think I’ve ever made a statement like this going into a game: I will consider it a moral victory if MSU keeps the game within a single-digit deficit for 40 minutes.
One of the year’s most anticipated inter-conference matchups tips off tonight at 9:30 on ESPN.
Join The Only Colors and Duke Basketball Report for more on this game.
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