Busting Brackets
Fansided

Big Ten Basketball: 10 key questions for the league entering 2021-22 season

By Trevor Sinodhinos

Mar 14, 2021; Indianapolis, Indiana, USA; Members of the Illinois Fighting Illini celebrate with the Big Ten Conference Tournament trophy after defeating the Ohio State Buckeyes at Lucas Oil Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 14, 2021; Indianapolis, Indiana, USA; Members of the Illinois Fighting Illini celebrate with the Big Ten Conference Tournament trophy after defeating the Ohio State Buckeyes at Lucas Oil Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
5 of 10
Next
Big Ten Basketball Michigan State Spartans center Mady Sissoko Marc Lebryk-USA TODAY Sports
Big Ten Basketball Michigan State Spartans center Mady Sissoko Marc Lebryk-USA TODAY Sports /

How will the Spartans defend the interior?

The Michigan State Spartans‘ opponents connected on 48 percent of their two-point attempts, which put them at No. 108 in the nation. While not every two-point basket is one that comes in the paint, the Spartans’ defense was nowhere near elite and their difficulty with preventing baskets in the post contributed to that.

Coach Tom Izzo could not find a defender in the post who had the ability to defend for extended minutes, so he resulted to using a rotation of ‘bigs’ to get the job done. This squadron of ‘bigs’ was led by the 6-9, 220 pound Joey Hauser who does not have the strength to battle 30-plus minutes in the paint without sacrificing his offensive output.

Also included was the starting center who averaged under eleven minutes of playing time in the 6-8,230 pound Thomas Kithier. Depending on the match-up Izzo would work in the 6-8, 225 pound Julius Marble for nine minutes per game, or their tallest player Marcus Bingham who comes in at 6-11, 225 pounds for under twelve minutes.

Keeping in mind that stats can be cherry-picked in order to push any given narrative, the stats of opposing centers were more times than not impressive. Trevion Williams scored 26 in a one-point victory for Purdue, Luka Garza scored 27 and eight respectively. Kofi Cockburn scored 13 in a loss and while splitting in back-to-back games with Michigan, Hunter Dickinson scored 14 and 12.

Those scoring totals are simply what each center got, it does not tell the story of the 5-7 from the arc for Joe Weiskamp who benefitted from the Hawkeyes swinging the ball when Malik Hall would continuously double down off Connor McCaffery.

With Kithier transferring to Valparaiso the rotation of minute sharing Coach Izzo had established has lost some depth and a more permanent solution needs to be found. Does Izzo go with the experience of Joey Hauser, or does he use the offensively challenged Marcus Bingham? Will Mady Sissoko who played just 136 minutes as a freshman last season be the answer?

Garza may be gone, but Williams, Cockburn, and Dickinson will still be roaming the paint this season in the Big Ten and Coach Izzo needs to find a way to stop them.

Home/Big Ten