NCAA Basketball: 7 biggest takeaways on opening day of 2023-24 season
By Joey Loose
1. What happened to Michigan State?
The last few seasons have been a bit unusual at Michigan State, as the Spartans haven’t been at or near the top of the Big Ten standings. Returning four starters this season, and having tons of experience and talent on the roster, bigger things were anticipated in East Lansing, a major reason why they started the season #4 in the AP Top 25. With Tyson Walker and AJ Hoggard helming the backcourt and strength at the back end, the Spartans looked like a champion threat.
Opening night was certainly unkind for the Spartans, who dropped a thriller in overtime to James Madison, losing 79-76 in front of their home crowd. Walker had a legendary performance with 35 points, but the other starters struggled shooting the ball. As a team, the Spartans were a paltry 1 of 20 from outside the arc, while T. J. Bickerstaff (21 points, 14 rebounds) and this Dukes team was not afraid of the environment in East Lansing.
Where exactly does Michigan State go from here? Based on last season, this isn’t the biggest shocking result, though Tom Izzo was hoping things would be different this year. Hoggard and some of the other pieces in this lineup struggled with consistency and Michigan State simply didn’t show up early tonight. They let James Madison get an early lead and didn’t have enough fight late to pull or put the game away. The Spartans play Duke in just a week in the Champions Classic and clearly have to shoot the ball significantly better against the Blue Devils.