Thread by @Franz_NanniBK

Let's take a look at one of the most intense and crazy games of the year!
Kansas State - Michigan State
Long thread, full of clips 🧵
#marchmadness

Nice ATO to start the game by KSU, creating a high-tag behind the backscreen

The way that MSU plays high in the gap on defense and how KSU was able to exploit it will be a recurring thing in this thread

On the other end good ATO to start the game
Veer action to get Hauser a good look

After some initial DHOs the main action is a spread P&R
You could see some miscommunication on KSU's defense, Nowell points to the baseline to ICE it, then get back in front of the ball that goes toward the middle of the floor

Love what Hauser does here
He moves from the weakside corner, fakes a flare, then jumps out behind the ball, his defender was caught in the middle of his help on the roll, able to shoot open
Good off the ball stuff from him

Nowell is in perfect control attacking the paint after the hedge
We're going to see a lot of clips of him punishing MSU's aggressive coverage in different ways

Nowell vs Show
Here he punish with a split, gets a paint touch, corner 3

Let's start looking also at the corners, and how MSU's defenders are helping high in the gaps, here you see that baseline cut but it's not completely open, but let's keep an eye on those...

No show here because the defender was deeper in the paint, so Nowell is able to get inside
The big leaves him open to recover on the pop instead of calling for a late switch
Last man has to help, opening up the baseline cut for the basket

Double high, MSU gets a switch on the first one, getting Nowell on their big
🤯But they don't read the situation and move on to a second screen, allowing KSU an easy chance to switch back and reduce the mismatch

Cut baseline, from both sides
We're going to see more of this, as my friend has noticed

...+1
Here you can see that their idea is to create a wall and slow down Nowell's drives, stunting in the gap, but KSU was ready to punish it almost every time

For me in the 1st half, KSU had better control of the XsOs of the game, the way they were punishing MSU's coverage on P&R and their off-ball defense
But Michigan stayed in the game with 3 things:
1v1, ORs, quick transitions also after a made basket

MSU once more loads to the ball, this time KSU punishes it with a pin-in instead

Unnecessary help here from Nowell, the defense did a good job at "stealing the under" on the Get and it's covering the action 2v2, his help allows the offense to create an easy 3

Once again Nowell turns the corner over the hedge, once that happens it's easy for the offense to generate easy baskets

Possession immediately after, look how Michigan is able to run immediately and score on the other end
They've done this all game long, displaying a great mentality and a consistent effort

One thing that stood out to me was the inability of MSU to punish the switches inside, here you can see it
Not a really deep seal, not a flash from the weak side
Later in the game they did a much better job attacking the other end of the mismatch on the perimeter tough

Another example, good job by KSU's defenders but...

Quick inbound, quick pass ahead, trailer 3
Perfect

Another baseline cut, this once generated not via P&R but with a 1v1
It's possible that KSU used this incredibly new technology in their practices to stress this principle (tweet):

KSU here tries to slip vs the hedge but the defense does a good job, 4 hands active, and deflect & steal the pass

Nowell is out for a few minutes for an ankle twist, KSU offense becomes more stagnant
They don't find great advantages on the P&R anymore and they settle for shots like this

Hoggard gets at the rim for the "and-1" two times in a row, to give MSU the lead

Nowell gets back on the court, so, in a completely logical way, KSU finds 3pt

Exactly the play that Tang draw up in his board 😂

Once again MSU keeps finding paint touches using 1v1 more than any specific set or action

The one time that MSU plays a perfect, literally perfect textbook defense on the P&Pop they allow another baseline cut
Here there's a smart screen by 5 to help, but the concept is similar to what we've seen before

KSU switches on the stagger here, as we've said MSU did a better job attacking the switch on the perimeter to generate open 3s than using the big inside, here's a good example of that

For 2 times in a row KSU looks for the slip on the empty corner P&R vs the hedge, they're able both times to score out of this, even tough not immediately on the first pass

KSU scores - quick transition - MSU open corner 3

Two great things here:
Walker attacking dynamically, splitting and getting in the paint
Akins creates a passing window by moving out of the shadow of his defender (who's caught ball watching here)

Switch, once again Hoggard is able to drive inside, gets 2 defender on him, and even if he misses the shot there's an open rebound for MSU

In the OT the game slows down and we saw more 1v1 to generate advantages, here Walker is able to knock down a crucial 3pt

Nowell vs hedge, once again, attacking the big as soon as he moves back

This time the defense doesn't hedge vertically, maybe it was a decision maybe he was just slightly late, but Nowell stretches it to the side and finds the roller

Hoggard playing some bully ball late in the game

Play of the game: Alley oop backdoor pass with 1 minute to play, that's crazy

🤔Also, at the end, do we think that Tang and Nowell were pretending to speak to set this up on purpose? Or were they really thinking of what to do but Nowell saw the opportunity for the pass?