The Front Row

Looking forward to the updates. Thanks Steve.

Oh, and that picture of Matta is aweful.

I'll see if I can find a different one of the coach LOL.

Getting ready to get started with Minnesota's Tubby Smith shortly ...

Not me. MSU has talent, and he has a good one year transfer move in and he has a solid 5 man squad on top of that that was young, but very talented.
MSU had chemistry issues last year with two seniors, they are not gone.
The big center from Detroit Nix has lost a lot of weight and is in great shape as well. Throw in Appling, Green, Payne and the one year senior transfer and stud recruits like Dawson and Kearney, MSU has more talent and athletes than UofM.
MSU has more talent than Michigan and Izzo is a better coach, makes sense to me.

On Big Ten difficulty: "You can just look at the number of players nominated for Wooden Awards and other awards. We have 2 All-Americans back ... not to mention the outstanding coaching. There are also a lot of freshmen and newcomers who will make an impact as well."

Smith: "We think we can be an improved team after losing 10 of our last 11 games. We lost games a lot of different ways. We have to figure out a way to be more consistent. We expect to be in postseason play this year. We did not make postseason play last year."

Sadler says the different styles of play and the attendance you see on the road are among the changes he sees in going from Big 12 to Big Ten. Most Big 12 teams were straight man to man teams. Notes how Big ten has led country in attendance for 35 years.

Sadler said his team is excited to go into Big Ten arenas. "It's probably more exciting for me than for them ... I am looking forward to going to some of these places. It is kind of exciting for me."

Named Indiana, Michigan, MSU and Ohio State as places he grew up watching games on TV.

NU's Bill Carmody asked about Wildcats never making Big Dance

"I was hoping to get through this without having to answer that," he said joking. "There are 340 teams and everybody is shooting for that. We have more coverage of that becauuse we haven't been there. That's what we're working for and I think we have a chance to do that this year."

Matta "Excited to get college basketball started. Our guys have had a good work ethic to this point. They realize we have a long way to go to be a good basketball team. That's exciting when they are willing to do the work."

Said Deshaun Thomas was 229, now 214 and his bkb instincts are coming quicker. Developed keen awareness of what little things can do for him --- extra pass, defensively. Pleased with strides he has made in off-season.

Matta asked about Trey Burke playing PG at Michigan: "He was a guy who could score the basketball."