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The State News sports reporters discuss all MSU sports.
Hello, and welcome back to the sports roundtable podcast at the state news, where we bring you all the new updates on sports and talk to you about MSU Athletics. This week, we have been busy. We've got hockey. We've got men's and women's basketball. We've got football.
Madi:We've got soccer, and we gotta jump right into it. I'm here yet again with PJ. PJ.
PJ:Yeah. I'm happy to be here.
Madi:My only guest. Yeah.
PJ:Luke's been on once.
Madi:Luke's been on 2 or 3 times.
PJ:Okay. Okay. Yeah. More than once. Either way.
PJ:Yeah.
Madi:He's been on more than once. But usually, it's just
PJ:Yeah. Oh, there it is.
Madi:Yeah. There it is. But we're gonna jump right into it. We're gonna start off with football. Football team is on a 3 game losing streak currently, and their record is better than it was last year.
Madi:They only won 3 games last year, I think. And they're at 4 right now. So So it's a game better. But they've got some things that they need to work on. Last game, they struggled.
Madi:They've been struggling on a a lot on defense Mhmm. Taking a lot of penalty yardage. Now they're going against Purdue, who's 0 and 7 in conference. Mhmm. So, yeah, it should be an interesting matchup.
PJ:I think it's gonna be really bad football. Like, I'm just gonna be blunt. I don't like it's not gonna be fun to watch. It's not gonna be exciting. I don't know either.
PJ:Painful. It's gonna be a painful three and a half hours.
Madi:But hopefully, we win.
PJ:Right. Right. Yeah. No. Totally.
PJ:Yeah.
Madi:Keep some hope. We don't wanna give Purdue their 1st conference win.
PJ:No. I think MSU's gonna win. I think so too. Totally. It's just not gonna be a fun watch.
Madi:No. It's gonna it's gonna be horrible. I think that it's gonna make Michigan State almost look good in an aspect
PJ:of Oh, yeah.
Madi:Playing against the last team in the conference. Mhmm. But
PJ:Yeah. I think how is, like, how is Purdue's offense? Because That's a lot. That matched up with our defense. I feel like I feel like our defense might be a bit better.
Madi:Than their offense?
PJ:Yeah. So I feel like and I feel like offensively, we're not awful.
Madi:No. I don't think we are either. And I I think that we've talked about this before too is, like, we have guys that are going to be standout
PJ:Mhmm.
Madi:Stars next year. We have Nick Marsh. We have Aidan Charles. Who's gonna he's gonna be electric next year.
PJ:But Yeah.
Madi:They're so young. And that's what I think a lot of people forget about is, yeah, we have a defense that can go up against Ohio State for the first 15 minutes, and then we just
PJ:Tank. Yeah.
Madi:Want it. But I think, like, even our offense next year, I think that we will stand a good chance next year. And next year, we'll be a bowl game team. Yeah. Absolutely.
PJ:I think, yeah, this is more of, like, a regroup year.
Madi:Yeah.
PJ:I think What is it? Like, like, you know,
Madi:Like a rebuild?
PJ:Yeah. Sure. Sure. I was thinking more like setting almost like an outline for what next year's call.
Madi:The tone.
PJ:Yeah. There we go.
Madi:That's For what the team will be.
PJ:Yeah. And especially as with this being Jonathan Smith's 1st season with
Madi:the team. Absolutely.
PJ:Yeah. I I I don't think I don't think people should have expected the team to be, like, the best in the big ten or best in the country. No. So, yeah, I think this is definitely more of a rebuilding year, and I definitely think it'll be exciting to see next year.
Madi:Well, that's something that we talked about at the beginning of the year on the podcast too is, like, if we go 6 and 6, that's a success.
PJ:Right.
Madi:And we've won 4 games. We have the chance to win 5. So
PJ:it Yeah.
Madi:I'm not wrong. Like Yeah.
PJ:We have
Madi:we have a chance to win 5 games, possibly 6 if we can go up against Rutgers. Yeah. But only time will tell, I guess, if we see what we wanna see on Friday, which Friday game?
PJ:Side note, I'm gonna be doing concessions, so I might get a lot of angry MSU fans.
Madi:If we lose?
PJ:Just either way. In general. Yeah. But yeah. No.
PJ:I think I think the keys to the game are, I feel like getting off to an offensive, like, push very early
Madi:Yeah.
PJ:In the Q1 and then not having as many penalties as we've been having this entire season so far.
Madi:For sure.
PJ:And I guess having more control on defense yeah. Just having more control on defense. Yeah. I guess when it, yeah, when it comes to penalties and yeah.
Madi:I mean, even at the beginning of the year, defense was great. Like, you saw our defense compete with other teams' offense who were outstanding offenses. Like, we saw ourselves against Oregon and against Ohio State kinda put up a fight through those first few minutes like we said. And then it's just an overpowering offense that takes over our defense, and we aren't able to put up the fight that we want to. Mhmm.
Madi:But if we can play our Michigan State, if they can play their football that they played at the beginning of the year against teams like Prairie View and, like, teams where we saw the defense really stand out
PJ:Yeah.
Madi:That's a win. Or even against Iowa, like, we Right.
PJ:Yeah.
Madi:It was what? 32 to 20, I think, was the final score of that game. Yeah. I think that's the game that Jonathan Kim had, like, 20 points.
PJ:Yeah. He had, like or, like yes. Something like that. Yeah.
Madi:But a lot of points. But still, we were able to go against Iowa who has had a pretty good team for the past few years and still get within field goal range.
PJ:Mhmm.
Madi:And that might not have been our offense or Aidan Chiles, like, making a run for it. It was Jonathan Kim who was kicking field goals, but it was still we have so much to build off of with that.
PJ:Totally. Yeah.
Madi:It's gonna suck losing Jonathan Kim next
PJ:year, though. Yeah.
Madi:Speaking of him Yeah. Because he's a grad student, I think.
PJ:Let's look it up.
Madi:I think he's in his last year of eligibility.
PJ:Yeah. I think you're right.
Madi:He's gonna be a tough one to lose, but Yeah.
PJ:Let's find him. Jonathan Kimmy. Yeah. 6th year.
Madi:6th year? 6 years? Jeez. He probably has a COVID year.
PJ:Yeah. Oh.
Madi:So his grad year and a COVID year, all 3 years of college. Was he a transfer? No. I don't know.
PJ:I don't know.
Madi:So he's in his 6th year of college football?
PJ:Yeah. So That's wild. Yeah.
Madi:Well, I've seen there's other people who are in, like, their 6th, their 7th years That's of college football.
PJ:Steven is, though. Didn't he do?
Madi:I think he did 6 years.
PJ:Yeah.
Madi:Because he had a COVID year and a grad year.
PJ:Yeah.
Madi:But then you gotta think of the guys who get a COVID year, a grad year, and a transfer year.
PJ:Jeez. Yeah.
Madi:It's 7 eligible years of college football.
PJ:Yeah.
Madi:It's wild. Yeah. It's wild. Alright. So we think that we can obviously put up a good fight against Purdue.
Madi:What about score predictions for this game?
PJ:I'm gonna guess, I'm gonna guess 2024 to 16 MSU.
Madi:It feels like low scoring for what this game is gonna be. I feel like Michigan State's gonna have more points than that.
PJ:Really? Okay. Mhmm. Well
Madi:I'm gonna go. See, this feels like an Iowa matchup to me. So I think that we're gonna have
PJ:Oh, like, a lot of points overall?
Madi:Not a lot of points, but I think that we'll get into the thirties at least. Mhmm. So I'm gonna go 35 to 20, I must use.
PJ:Wow.
Madi:Which is very similar to the
PJ:IELTS score,
Madi:but it feels right. It feels right. I think that I don't know. I don't know.
PJ:Mhmm.
Madi:I don't know. But a win is a win. Yeah. I'll give you a high five if you win the score prediction.
PJ:Okay. Yeah. I'm excited.
Madi:Alright. Next on the list, we have Michigan State Basketball. Both teams have been hot to
PJ:start? Winning? Yeah.
Madi:Not hot to start. Women's basketball, yes. Yeah. Men's basketball has been winning games. Yeah.
Madi:And that's
PJ:But they've been yeah. But they've been very closely contested. I mean, MSU lost to Kansas, which I a lot of people saw that coming. Mhmm. But, besides that, they've had 4 wins out of 5 games.
PJ:4 of them have been at home. Like, all those 4 wins have been at home. So but yeah.
Madi:I mean, even in the one loss against Kansas, they stayed close. Like, they were close the whole time, but I think that that's kind of been a storyline for Michigan State basketball the past couple years is you stay close within those top ranked teams and then end up losing it in the end.
PJ:Yeah. It just kinda falls apart in the last few minutes.
Madi:Yeah. And Kansas has Hunter Dickinson, who's a former Michigan player, and he put up, like, 28 points, I think, in that game.
PJ:Something like that. Yeah.
Madi:He within their first 8 points of the game for Kansas when we were,
PJ:Yeah. 28 points.
Madi:I think it was 8 nothing Or we were winning. I don't remember if we were ahead or what the deal was, but Kansas
PJ:was ahead. Yeah.
Madi:Hunter Dickinson had every single point on the board. Yeah. And that's when I knew I was like, oh, boy.
PJ:He's so the thing the thing with, Kansas is Kansas runs their offense through Hunter Dickinson
Madi:Mhmm.
PJ:Which is I don't think that's super smart. Mhmm. I mean, I guess it's working for them. Yeah. It's working for them.
PJ:Throw in games. Yeah. But, like, he's a 7 foot 7 foot 1 maybe center. Mhmm. So he doesn't have a great ability to shoot threes.
PJ:Mhmm. So I feel like they should if they were to run their offense through someone, I feel like it should be like a point guard or shooting guard. I mean, he is able to, like, throw outlet passes to the wings, but I don't know. I I mean, it's working for them so far, so might as well keep it. Mhmm.
PJ:But in the future, maybe March Madness, if they stick with it, I would wouldn't be surprised if they start to lose.
Madi:Like, if they were an upset team?
PJ:Yeah.
Madi:Yeah. I texted my dad. My dad is a Michigan fan and has been for his whole life, and I texted him when, we were playing Kansas. And I was like, Connor Dickinson, that name's familiar. I texted him.
Madi:I was like, he play at Michigan, or am I stupid? He was like, yeah. I said, how old is he? 30? Like, I remember when he was there when I was, like, in 8th grade Yeah.
Madi:In high school.
PJ:Yeah. Like, he's he's old.
Madi:Yeah. My dad was like, yeah. I know. I know. So, yeah, back to basketball.
Madi:I mean, they're 4 on 1 to start the season, but you've been in all the games so far. What have you seen from them that you think that they need to fix going into conference play or just fix in general?
PJ:Yeah. It's really their their 3 point shooting is struggling a lot. Heading into the game against, Sanford, which they won last night. MSU beat Sanford last night. They were shooting 20% from the 3 point line, which is really off, like 16 for 80, which is the worst in the big ten.
PJ:It's just awful.
Madi:Oh my.
PJ:Yesterday, they shot 29%, I believe, and they made 7 threes. And I will say, those 7 threes were, like, the most crucial points Mhmm. Throughout the game. Most of them. Most most of them were the most crucial points.
PJ:Xavier Booker hit the first three, after MSU missed their first 9.
Madi:Mhmm.
PJ:That was when MSU started to kinda get into it. Booker had 5 quick points, and then it was, I'm trying to remember. I think it was Akins had a layup and then Zappala had a dunk, and then all of a sudden the game was tied. And then all of a sudden, like, we hit a couple more through MSU hits a couple more threes. Mhmm.
PJ:And then we're up we're up 3828. You know, like, it was very crucial. And with that, a huge like, the biggest thing about the home games is the momentum that the Breslin creates. Like, even Izzo said it yesterday after the game, he was like, there are a number of reasons why we won and one of them was the crowd. Mhmm.
PJ:Because after once the game was tied and then when Cohen Carr flies and dunks it. Flight 55. Yeah. Flight 55, Jack Steger. Once he dunks, literally everyone is just on their feet cheering.
PJ:I I've I don't like some of the loudest, like, crowds I've ever experienced have been these 4 games at home after it's just complete, like, pandemonium.
Madi:It's funny you say, like, how Izzo always gives credit to the crowd because Adam Nightingale does the same thing after hockey games.
PJ:Oh, really?
Madi:Like, it's just I love that coaches don't, like, take all the credit for themselves and their team and
PJ:Yeah.
Madi:Like, how they coach, and they're like, yeah. I won that game for them. No. It was the crowd. Right.
Madi:Like, the crowd was into it. They were loud. Like, that's always so interesting to hear their perspective from it after the game because, obviously, as a somebody who's watching the game or cheering for somebody like, cheering for the team, like, you are around everybody that's cheering. But if you're in, like, not a quiet spot, but, like, up in the press box, none of us are we can't yell. Right.
Madi:So just hearing everybody around, like, in the arena, whether it's Breslin or Spartan Stadium or Munn, like, everybody just going wild
PJ:Yeah.
Madi:Is so it's fun. Like, it's Yeah. It's just so fun. It's so much more fun to hear a crowd going crazy than
PJ:Yeah.
Madi:You're getting shut out 3 nothing, and there's everybody's walking up to leave. And
PJ:Yeah.
Madi:It's like,
PJ:Oh, yeah. Yeah. But, besides that, I mean, MSU men's basketball, they, they kinda like their the big thing this season for them is strength in numbers. I've I've, like, written this multiple times in articles. Like, I, like, need to, like, stray away from saying this.
PJ:But, like, genuinely, like, it is such a big factor for the team. It's their deep roster. Mhmm. Like, they have every night, it seems they play 10 players to 11 players, sometimes even 12 or 13. Like, genuine like, they just have so many players that can create momentum and can literally make or break Mhmm.
PJ:The game. Yeah. And we've kinda seen this a little bit with Booker and Jackson Kohler switching on and off the bench, or the start to start. Yeah. But, yeah, it's just like Jace Richardson.
PJ:He's he's one of this I talk about this with Thomas all the time and, like, Izzo has said it. He's like the smoothest player ever.
Madi:Richardson?
PJ:Yeah. He's a freshman, and it's his 5th game. And he's he's just super confident and comfortable. And he just knows exactly where to go and what to do. So he's great.
PJ:You know, like, Trey Holloman, Cohen Carr, like, literally I mean, everyone else is just so good. Kurtang is, like Izzo said, is one of the best shooters he had like, he's seen.
Madi:Mhmm. Well, it's funny you say that too because I've done the same thing with Michigan State Hockey is Adam Leitengill keeps talking about the depth of the team and how there's no such thing as a first, second, 3rd, 4th line. Like, they have to put lines on a sheet of paper, and that's just how it goes.
PJ:Yeah.
Madi:Like, their 4th line, Shane Vansagi is a freshman, one of the youngest players in college hockey, and he had 4 points on the weekend.
PJ:Like Wow. Yeah.
Madi:It it goes for it goes both ways for hockey and for basketball. Like, you have strength in numbers, and that's all like, something that I have had to stray away from a lot too is because I feel like I'm getting so repetitive with talking about the depth of the team. Yeah. But even, like, obviously, coaches realize it. You can't like, you there's no way that you can get away from that.
PJ:Yeah.
Madi:It's just there, and it's something that you have to talk about. But
PJ:Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But, a big thing because of that is, like, the bench points that come from that come from the games.
PJ:You know, they're averaging, like, I don't even know. But, like, I wanna say in the high twenties to, to low thirties points per game from the bench. Wow. Yeah. It's insane.
Madi:I feel like that's so many more than there was last year too. Like, I feel like last year, they weren't getting as many people off the bench as they are this year.
PJ:Yeah.
Madi:Am I wrong in that? Or
PJ:I think you're right. I would agree. I would agree.
Madi:I I mean, I feel like last year, you saw a lot of Walker, Hoggard, Akins. Who am I thinking of?
PJ:Me and Marty Sissoko.
Madi:Oh, Marty Sissoko and Cooper.
PJ:Oh, yeah. Yeah.
Madi:It was a lot of the time that was a lot of the starting 5, and you didn't see, like, a lot of, like, other people coming off the bench. You did, but it wasn't like, you saw Jeremy Fierce get off the bench. You saw Trey Holloway get off the bench. But now you have guys that are putting up taking these guys off the bench that have 20 to 30 points. Like, that's
PJ:Yeah. And, like It's speaking
Madi:to the depth of the team.
PJ:Yeah. And, like, Jace Richardson, he's averaging, like, he's averaging around 21 minutes a game. Mhmm. And so are all a lot of these subs. They're getting, like, 18 plus minutes per game.
PJ:Mhmm. And it's just and they're all impacting the game. Mhmm. They're all impacting on offense and defense. So it's it's great to see.
PJ:I think MSU just needs to figure out their shooting a bit more.
Madi:Mhmm.
PJ:But besides that, yeah, if they're gonna
Madi:Tom Ezell needs to make them shoot threes until they drop.
PJ:Yeah.
Madi:If you miss a 3, go.
PJ:Yeah.
Madi:Run. Run. Yeah. Keep doing it.
PJ:I agree.
Madi:Yeah. So moving from men's basketball to women's basketball, the women's basketball team has been on fire. Yeah. Oh my gosh. They have put up over and I think 4 out of the 5 games they've played this season, they have outscored their team by over 50 points.
PJ:Yeah. That's
Madi:Except for against Western. And it is just awesome to see the turnaround that Robin Fraylik has brought to this Michigan State women's basketball program.
PJ:Mhmm.
Madi:Last year, it was the same story of just getting off to a hot start and, outscoring opponents the way that they did. Like, last year, their first game was against Oakland. They won 87 62, and then it was Wright State 99 to 55, 105 to 44, 105 to 49, 95 to 69. Like and then you get into big Yeah. 10 play, and things get a little closer.
Madi:Like, I think their first their first loss this season was to Creighton in November. It was 83 to 69, but after that, their first loss was to Nebraska, and it was 80 to to 74. They only lost by 6 points in their 1st big 10 matchup with a first time head coach. And then we get into this year. Their first game of the year was against Oakland, 107 to 42.
PJ:Yeah. When I saw that, I my jaw dropped. Yeah.
Madi:Like, holy crap. But they have added I think it speaks to the women's basketball team as well is they've added depth to their roster.
PJ:Mhmm.
Madi:They, Frohlich went into the, transfer portal, picked up players that she knew would be great for the team in the portal, brought them to Michigan State, and now they're outscoring opponents by anywhere between 40 to 50 points.
PJ:Yeah.
Madi:Every team that they have played so far has not scored over 50 points except for Eastern Kentucky, and they scored 54. Everybody else, 42, 49, 42, 44.
PJ:Wow. That is insane.
Madi:I'm gagged. Yeah. Like, oh my gosh. Yeah. It's just so awesome to see what has come of this program.
Madi:Like, there's so many programs at, excuse me, at Michigan State that are overlooked, I feel like.
PJ:Yeah.
Madi:And I think that women's basketball is one of them. Yeah. Like, people don't pay attention as much as they should to gymnastics or women's basketball. Hockey just became relevant within the last couple of years because of Nightingale. There are so many teams at this school that are on fire
PJ:Yeah.
Madi:And people don't realize it.
PJ:Right. Yeah. Like, gymnastics gymnastics won back to back.
Madi:Back to back big 10 champions. Yeah. Yeah. Or even soccer. Soccer won back to back big 10 champions.
Madi:Women's soccer was on fire, and they didn't lose a game and they didn't lose a game for, like, 15 or 16 games in a row Yeah. This season. That was a record. Yeah. It's And then, obviously, they kinda they didn't fall off, but they were at one point and they were at one point ranked number 1 in the country.
Madi:Yeah. Like, holy crap.
PJ:I'm trying to see but And now they're in the tournament right now. So Yeah. We'll see how they do.
Madi:But a big name that I've been hearing a lot for women's basketball has been, Grace Van Slooten. Mhmm. And I forget where she transferred from, but she has been a really key player for the team. This article by Dougie, she had 15 points, 9 rebounds, 4 assists, and 3 blocks.
PJ:I think she transferred from from Oregon.
Madi:Oregon.
PJ:Hopefully, there's not a ghost in here. The door just opened. The door just opened.
Madi:So There's literally we're haunted. We're literally haunted. It's the ghost of former sports roundtable podcast hosts coming to get us.
PJ:But, when you look at MSU's women MSU women's basketball's 5 games, they're outscoring their opponents by 49.2 points as can be averages.
Madi:Mhmm. They're
PJ:averaging almost 52% from the field from field goal. 35% from 3 point, making almost 83 pointers per game. Free throw percentages, 74%. Not awful.
Madi:Mhmm.
PJ:They're making 21 per game. Yeah. 20 yeah. They're making 21 per game. I don't know if it was making or attempting.
PJ:Rebounding, they're averaging they're averaging 41 rebounds a game, which is 10.4 more than than their opponents.
Madi:Mhmm.
PJ:22 assists 20 almost 23 assists per game, 13 turnovers, but they're also forcing 27.2 turnovers a game. That's absurd. I don't think I've ever heard that before.
Madi:I am very, very interested to see what those numbers turn into, though, when they start big 10 play.
PJ:Yeah. Oh, totally. It'll be different.
Madi:A lot of, obviously, you start seasons playing teams that aren't fantastic. Like, they're not powerful colleges. They're not as like, big 10 SEC. Mhmm. Whatever the other team has
PJ:been through.
Madi:Yeah. The other conferences. But they're not, like, huge powerhouse teams that you're playing. Like, with MSU Football, you're playing Prairie View. You're playing Central.
Madi:You're playing Western Kentucky. You're playing Western Michigan, Eastern. And then you get into big 10 play, and it's kind of a reality check for the team of, like, holy crap. Like, we're playing against people who now, no offense to the smaller college athletes, have the same athletic ability as you do.
PJ:Mhmm.
Madi:And, obviously, you get players that come from smaller schools to the big ten and to powerhouse colleges.
PJ:Yeah.
Madi:But I couldn't speak. But, again, it will be very interesting to see what happens when Michigan State women's basketball does start Mhmm. Conference play, and they have 3 more games until then. They have Detroit Mercy, they have Cal, and they have DePaul.
PJ:Okay.
Madi:And then Iowa is their 1st big 10 game, which, again, will be interesting because they don't have Caitlin Clark anymore.
PJ:Yeah. So It'll also be interesting to see what the Iowa at home, their home games, what the attendance is gonna be like post Kaitlyn Clark.
Madi:Because Kaitlyn Clark's not there anymore. Didn't their head coach retire too, or am I wrong?
PJ:You know what? I I I feel like you're right. Did. Let me yeah. Basketball head coach.
PJ:Jan.
Madi:See, but then they play Montana and they play Alabama. What?
PJ:No. I think I think she's still Is she still there? Yeah. I believe so. Jan Jensen.
Madi:This Oh,
PJ:wait. No. Never mind. She's a new head coach. Sorry.
PJ:But she's she's been a head coach for
Madi:This podcast is gonna turn into us talking about the Iowa women's basketball team. Right. Where did she coach at before? Before? Hello, Jan?
PJ:Coaching career. Okay. So before oh, she was the assistant head coach. That's why from 2 since 2 hours,
Madi:she's been the assistant Okay. Well, either way, there is a coaching change, but she has been with the program for 25 years, it looks like.
PJ:Yes. So real quick though, still about MSU Women's Basketball. 35 over 35 points off a turnover is, like, I just, like
Madi:Gagged?
PJ:Yeah. Yeah. Like, 16 steals a game, 4.2 blocks a game. Like, this is just incredible numbers.
Madi:The way that you're holding on to the computer, like, you wanna I
PJ:know. Right?
Madi:Yeah. Oh my gosh.
PJ:Yeah. Van Slooten, she's, she's averaging 16.8 points per game.
Madi:Mhmm.
PJ:Incredible. Julia A. Rault. Is that how you pronounce her name? Yeah.
PJ:Okay. I thought so. Yeah. 13.6 points per game. Yeah.
PJ:No. Those 2. Those little
Madi:Just those 2?
PJ:Well, no. Well, yeah. Theron Hallock. I was
Madi:gonna say Theron Hallock is a
PJ:big 13.2 points per game.
Madi:Very key player in that team.
PJ:Yeah. But yeah. No. Van Sluytan is also averaging 9 rebounds a game. I mean, it's incredible.
Madi:She's gonna be a rock star for us this year. You can tell. Oh, yeah. Alright. So they've got Cal coming up.
Madi:Every time I think of that college, by the way, I think of, is it Sunday night football, I think, when they introduce all the players on the bottom, and it's, like, their name where they went to college. And every time I think of Cal, I think of Jared Goff. Oh, yeah. Jared Goff, Cal.
PJ:Yeah.
Madi:And then it just keeps going. Yeah. But that's it. That's all I needed to make a point about.
PJ:I I wish I could go to the game. Like, well, it's in Palm Springs. The game's gonna be in Palm Springs.
Madi:But Road trip.
PJ:Yeah. Low key because yeah. No. I grew up watching Cal. Did you?
PJ:Specifically, Cal women's basketball, actually. Because my best friend's mom used to coach there, so then we had season tickets, and we would, like, be courtside. Yeah.
Madi:Where is Cal at?
PJ:Berkeley. Berkeley. Mhmm.
Madi:Oh, that's UC Berkeley?
PJ:Yeah. Oh.
Madi:Yeah. I got it. I was like, dang. You're making road trips to LA every weekend to go watch California basketball?
PJ:Yeah. No. From That
Madi:doesn't sound like fun. How far is that drive? Hours? To what? From where you are to LA?
Madi:San
PJ:Francisco to LA?
Madi:Yeah.
PJ:Like, 8 hours, but it it it could be 5 hours or it could be 10 hours depending on traffic. Take. It just depends on the traffic. But sure. Different routes.
PJ:So yeah.
Madi:I was gonna say there's different routes that you can take. Yeah. Because you can what's that? The West Coast Highway or something?
PJ:The 1? Yeah. Yeah. That one's the 1 is sick. I love driving out.
Madi:Well, we just turned into a geography bomb.
PJ:We're seeing everything. Yeah.
Madi:Welcome to the roundtable podcast where we bring you everything of the United States' geographical system. Today, we're talking about California. Highway 1. Oh, boy. Alright.
Madi:Next up, we've got hockey. Mhmm. Yay. So Michigan State hockey
PJ:team away.
Madi:Say less. Michigan State hockey team has started a big ten play. And since then, they are now undefeated in the big ten. They're number 2 in the country, which is huge. They moved up 2 spots after Notre Dame or after they moved up 2 spots.
Madi:We swept Notre Dame. Minnesota split with Bemidji State, and Boston College split with Yukon. So that moved us up to number 2 in the country, number 1 in the Big 10. We scored 12 goals on the weekend, against Notre Dame this past weekend. That's the first time in big ten history for hockey that Michigan State has scored 8 goals on a big ten opponent.
Madi:Last year, we scored 7 goals twice in 2 games. This is the first time we've scored 8, which is crazy. Yeah. And I was looking the other day, but don't quote me on this because I can't figure out like, I I wasn't paying enough attention to, like, actually go into depth about it, but I'm pretty sure that that's this season is the first time that Michigan State has swept big 10 opponents back to back 2 weekends in a row for the first time in conference history. Last year, we swept
PJ:I saw it.
Madi:Last year, we swept the 1st week in a big 10 play, and then we split with Penn State. We won 1 night, and then we lost in shootout night 2.
PJ:Right.
Madi:Okay. I remember that. A tie. So we didn't sweep. And then the year before that was the 1st year under Nightingale, and I think we split or we got swept one of the weekends, of big 10.
Madi:But, yeah, since 2013, 2014 is when we became a big 10 team in hockey, we haven't swept back to back weekends of big 10 play since.
PJ:Wow.
Madi:Yeah. But I was like, holy crap. Like, I was looking through. Like, I was scrolling for a while too because I didn't know. I had to text Jamie and be like, hey.
Madi:When did Michigan State turn into big 10 for hockey? Mhmm. And so I got back to, like, 2008. Like, I got back to the national championship team, and I was like, we were in the CCHA then. Like, what am I doing here?
Madi:But, yeah, it's very interesting to see.
PJ:Oh, yeah. It's very cool. And it seems like, yeah, MSU has just been completely dominant. A 7 game win streak.
Madi:Mhmm.
PJ:5 okay. So we've lost at home once. Against Boston College. Right. But besides that, 5 wins at home, 4 away, which is pretty incredible.
Madi:Mhmm.
PJ:Yeah. What do you what do you think is gonna happen this season?
Madi:I mean, I think that this season is as much as like, we lost last year. We lost key components of the team. We lost one of the best defensive pairings in college hockey in my opinion because we lost Nash, and he graduated, and we lost Artem Levchinov to the draft. Mhmm. But we have brought in other players who cannot replace them, but who we build on the depth of the team.
Madi:Yeah. Like, we were talking about earlier. I think that this is a national championship contemporary team. I think we'll definitely go further than we did last year. Last year was in heartbreaking fashion to Michigan in the regional round, and then they got shut out in the frozen 4 against Boston College.
PJ:Yeah. I
Madi:don't see that happening this year.
PJ:Mhmm.
Madi:I think that we repeat big 10 championship. I think we repeat, tournament championship, and I think we make it to the frozen 4.
PJ:Whoo.
Madi:And then we'll see from there. Yeah. Because, again, it's only Adam Nightingale's been coaching here for two and a half years. Yeah. That's I feel like that's a lot to ask Uh-huh.
Madi:In a coach that's only in his 3rd season to be like, take us to a national championship game and win
PJ:it all. Right. Totally. Which
Madi:I know that that's the mentality of the team is take it one game at a time, but I know that they're probably all like, alright. Mhmm. Like, we got a chip on our shoulder, and it's time to get after it.
PJ:And, yeah, it's time to do better this season. Yeah.
Madi:Like, take us further than
PJ:Yeah.
Madi:Last year. But yeah. So this weekend, they, play an exhibition game tomorrow. Well, this comes out on Friday. They play an exhibition game on Thursday.
Madi:Sorry. Cut the cameras. They play an exhibition game on Thursday against the US National Team Development Program where Nightingale coached a few games.
PJ:Right.
Madi:Players like Charlie Stremel, Trey Augustine, Isaac Howard, Shane Bancaghi, Red Savage. 5 or 6 of them played for the national team development program, and that's where we see Charlie Stramel come to Michigan State because he knows how Nightingale coaches, which is great. But a portion so every ticket bought, $5 is taken off the ticket and given to the family, I think, is how you pronounce the last name. I forget the husband's name, but the wife is Kelly Deshamp, and her husband is an assistant coach for Michigan Hockey right now. And Adam Nightingale played with him in the NHL for a little bit, so they have a relationship, and a portion of the proceeds $5 off every ticket is getting donated to, a fund for his wife, who was just diagnosed within the last couple of months.
Madi:I've seen it on Instagram. Within the last couple of months, she was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer. So Adam Nightingale decided with, help from the national team development program in USA Hockey Arena that they were gonna donate a portion of the tickets to her. Mhmm. So it's gonna be a packed crowd.
PJ:Yeah.
Madi:There's gonna be a bunch of people there. I've heard through the rumor mill that there's gonna be former, national team development players there. So, yeah, it it should be it's always interesting, like, going up against the national team development program or how we went against Windsor, last month because Adam Nightingale says that he wants them to play mature hockey. Mhmm. Like, don't play your style of hockey, but don't be too flashy.
Madi:Don't be cute about it just because you're playing an exhibition game against a team that's 6 years younger than some of them. Mhmm. I know Danny Russell's 23rd birthday was on Saturday, and they're playing the I don't know if it's u 17 or u 18. So some of those kids are 17 18 years old. Yeah.
Madi:That can be his little brother.
PJ:Yeah.
Madi:So
PJ:Mhmm.
Madi:Yeah. I mean, it it'll everybody has said, like, that's an arena that they love going back to. I've talked to other reporters who just love the arena in general. But yeah.
PJ:Yeah. I think I think the game I just looked it up. So it's Matt and Kelly DeCham. Matt
Madi:is his first name. Yep.
PJ:Yeah. I think the game is going like, obviously, it's gonna be competitive or whatever, but I feel like there's actually gonna be fewer people wearing, like, MSU gear, and I think there's gonna be or, like, memorabilia, whatever. Mhmm. I think there's gonna be more people wearing, like, pink Mhmm. To support Kelly.
Madi:So even Michigan. Yeah.
PJ:Yeah. Oh, yeah. I wouldn't be
Madi:surprised about that at all, which is okay because the the proceeds are going to a Michigan coach. But
PJ:Yes. But so I think it's gonna be a really, like, important game for this game. Yeah. This game is gonna be very important. I think it's gonna be packed.
PJ:Mhmm. It's gonna be it people are gonna be watching. I feel like more people are gonna be there supporting them. Mhmm. Maybe not more people supporting them watching, but, you know, like, a lot of people there are gonna be there to support them.
Madi:Mhmm. And there's a livestream where you can watch the game for free.
PJ:Yeah. Like, yes. Yeah.
Madi:So you wanna know something funny? So Sure. So there's a former Michigan State, hockey player who I don't know where he hang on. 20 minutes later. His name is Justin Abdelkader.
Madi:I think I actually he played for Detroit, and he played for the Griffins for a while, which is the AHL team for them. But on the front page of the Detroit free press after the lions beat the jags at home
PJ:Uh-huh.
Madi:Justin Abdelcater was on the front page of the paper with Amin Ra and Jameson Williams next to him, like, cheering on the team.
PJ:Oh, no way.
Madi:Yeah. I can't get the picture pulled up. Oh, it was on the Instagram. Maybe. But it was so cool, like, just to like, he's, obviously, he's a Michigan guy through and through because he played for Michigan State.
Madi:Gosh. Can I just not log in to Instagram anywhere? But we all like, it was posted on MSU Hockey's Instagram, and I was like, oh my gosh. Like, that's so cool. Mhmm.
PJ:Yeah. That's awesome.
Madi:I found it. I found it. Where'd it go? Or not. Or it's gone.
Madi:Maybe it was just on her ins on the Instagram story. Okay. Cool. That's okay. But either way, I spent way too much time trying to talk about that.
Madi:It's gone. But, yeah.
PJ:That or something. Yeah.
Madi:Can we just cut the cameras, please? But, yeah, it was super cool, like when worlds collide.
PJ:Yeah. Time to wrap up. Right?
Madi:So last thing we're getting to is, women's soccer earned a number 5 seed. I don't like you. Go home. Michigan State women's soccer earned a number 5 seed in the NCAA tournament.
PJ:Mhmm.
Madi:They were sadly knocked out in the big ten tournament to Rutgers.
PJ:Yeah. They lost 2 to 1 in overtime.
Madi:Yes. In overtime.
PJ:Or extra time, whatever you wanna say.
Madi:Yeah. Overtime, extra time, whatever it was. So they earned a number 5 seed in the NCAA tournament. They welcomed in Western Michigan to DeMartin Stadium on Saturday. Saturday.
Madi:Yes.
PJ:I believe so. Yeah.
Madi:And they knew coming in Western Michigan was going to be tough, because they won the MAC. And Western hadn't from what I was hearing on the broadcast, they hadn't allowed more than, like, 2 goals in a game the entire season. Michigan State won 31.
PJ:Yeah. That's And
Madi:now they move on.
PJ:Yep. That's pretty sick.
Madi:I thought it was so cool. Yeah. And Western hadn't lost a regulation game. Like, I think they only had, like, 2 or 3 losses on the entire season. They were a wagon in the Mac this year.
Madi:And, obviously, they deserved the NCAA tournament spot, but Michigan State was ready to fire after they lost in the big ten tournament, especially
PJ:Yeah.
Madi:When they had the chance to 3 peat
PJ:Right. Yeah.
Madi:For big ten championship. But yeah. So they ended up winning 31. Yeah. And I believe they play Texas?
PJ:They play Texas on Friday. Yeah. They play Texas on Friday. Texas is ranked 4th. And if MSU beats Texas, then they play the winner of Duke versus Texas Tech, I believe.
PJ:And Okay. Duke is ranked 1st. So we'll it'll most likely be Duke. But yeah.
Madi:But, I mean, we were ranked number 1 at one point.
PJ:Right.
Madi:So who's to say we can't go in and beat Texas or Duke?
PJ:Yeah. No. Very true. Against Western Michigan, MSU had more shots, and they had 11 shots and 9 okay. Here we go.
PJ:11 shots and 9 on target while best Western Michigan had 9 only 9 oh, 9 shots, but only 2 on target.
Madi:Oh, geez.
PJ:Yeah. And of those 2 shots, MSU had one save and the other one went in. Mhmm. So Yeah.
Madi:Yikes.
PJ:But and then corner kicks, MSU had 9 and Western Michigan had 0. Pretty crazy to think about.
Madi:I think Western had a red card at one point from what I saw on Twitter. Oh, yeah. Somebody from LSJ posted that they had to play a man down for, like, 40 minutes almost, like, a really long time.
PJ:Exactly. 40 minutes. Yeah. Or just over 40 minutes. Yeah.
Madi:Yeah. So, like, obviously, that played a part of Michigan State winning.
PJ:Totally.
Madi:Playing down a player is tough. It's like playing on a penalty kill for 40 minutes.
PJ:Like,
Madi:you don't realize how tough it is to play down a player.
PJ:It's yeah. It's awful.
Madi:Even if you're on a bigger field than
PJ:Uh-huh.
Madi:A hockey rink, but still
PJ:yeah. Yeah. So yeah. So MSU plays Texas on Friday at 4 PM. You can watch it on ESPN plus.
PJ:I won't because I don't have ESPN plus.
Madi:I do.
PJ:Oh, fun. Do you
Madi:want my ESPN plus login?
PJ:Actually, we have our meeting during that time anyways. So
Madi:Oh, we do. Yeah. It's okay. And I have to cover the flip login. So
PJ:Oh, okay.
Madi:Yay. Fun. I can't even watch the soccer game. That's okay. Yeah.
Madi:But yeah. Yeah. That was a lot of sports today.
PJ:That was a lot of sports, some geographies, some,
Madi:Got a history lesson.
PJ:Some additional information that wasn't completely necessary. But But hey. But maybe it was to you guys. Yeah. Maybe it was.
Madi:It should be. It's still fun.
PJ:Yeah. Still fun. We had fun.
Madi:We had a great time.
PJ:Yeah. Absolutely.
Madi:Alrighty. This has been the how do you just go and end
PJ:it like that? And then this show If PJ
Madi:doesn't laugh at me, this has been the Sports Roundtable podcast, and we will see you guys soon.