Michigan State mailbag: Aaron Henry was a star against Duke. Will it help his NBA stock?

This week’s mailbag opens with an important public service message, for the sake of my digital sanity.

Every fall and winter the past few years, my email and Twitter mentions get flooded with questions (and other less savory comments) about the football and basketball rankings within my stories. Let me explain.

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The Free Press is part of the Gannett media chain, which also includes USA TODAY. Our company sponsors the coaches’ polls in both major sports, and it is company policy to use those rankings over the ones from The Associated Press.

For example, in this week’s coverage of Michigan State-Duke basketball, the Spartans were No. 12 and the Blue Devils No. 8 in the USA TODAY Coaches Poll. The disparity during the first weeks of college basketball always brings the most vitriol from readers over these, because they are the preseason rankings. The coaches poll for both sports are generally updated midafternoon on Mondays during the season. And barring a loss Friday to Detroit Mercy or Sunday to Western Michigan (if that game is played), MSU will certainly move up when they get updated next week.

SHAWN WINDSOR: MSU just beat Duke without scratching surface of its potential

So, no, if the ranking is lower than the AP, I am not against the Spartans. And if it is higher than the AP, I’m not a homer. Just doing my job, good people.

And my next task is answering more of your questions from Twitter and email. As always, you can send your weekly mailbag questions via email (csolari@freepress.com), on Twitter (@chrissolari). No rankings needed, they’re all No. 1 in my book.

Chris: In your opinion, would it be better for this week’s game to be cancelled, from an MSU viewpoint, and have a chance at a winning record, 4-3, by beating Penn State and the other conference's team in the finale? Or, would Mel Tucker, who has been fantastic by the way, prefer to see how his team measures up to the best team in the league and play Ohio State? — Kitt P. (via email)

Hey Chris, is Michigan State still playing on Saturday? — @stevenDiVietri4

As of Wednesday night, the Buckeyes have been practicing and preparing to make the trip to East Lansing. As of early Thursday morning, they still do not have their game notes available. It remains to be seen if they will have enough active bodies available to proceed, as Ohio State has remained quiet about how many players are out due to COVID-19 and contact tracing. Its game last week at Illinois was called off last Friday for reference.

WHAT'S UP WITH SATURDAY? MSU, Ohio State practice. But will they play?

To me, Tucker and MSU want to keep building on Saturday’s win over Northwestern. He’s also a Cleveland native who coached for the Buckeyes with a number of players from Ohio, so the game against OSU has extra meaning. Not to mention this would be senior day. Record at this point is meaningless compared to showing continued development, consistency and buy-in to Tucker’s philosophies. Beating two ranked teams this fall, considering all the oddities and circumstances, is as good a building block as finishing above .500.

Are we expecting a Sunday against Western Michigan (basketball) or do we think it will get cancelled? — @matthewfelan

This one also remains in limbo, with athletic director Kathy Beauregard confirming to multiple outlets Tuesday the basketball program had a “couple” of positive COVID-19 tests and others in quarantine due to contact tracing that forced cancellation of the Broncos’ game Wednesday at Notre Dame. The visit to Breslin Center also likely will be determined late this week.

MSU’s assists-to-shots made percentage vs Duke was quite a bit lower than it had been the first two games. What do you think a good assists-to-shots made percentage is and how important of a stat is it? – @Althelion

The nearly 90% clip the Spartans showed in the first two games was impressive, but both Eastern Michigan and Notre Dame played a good amount of zone. Duke came out and played aggressive man defense that challenged passes and kept MSU’s guards from finding a rhythm swinging the ball, thus the 33% rate (nine assists on 27 makes). Still, those first two games showed a lot of promise. Last year’s team, with Cassius Winston and Xavier Tillman, had 549 assists on 845 makes, so that 65% clip should be considered outstanding. And it's important because of how much MSU relies on moving the ball and making the extra pass to get its depth involved in scoring.

DUKE IS DUKE: Michigan State gets elusive win, shows it can play with anyone

How much NBA money did Aaron Henry make with his effort and results vs. Duke? — @stschultz

That is hard to say, particularly with a 7-of-21 shooting performance. But Henry’s Swiss Army knife talents were on display. His defense disrupted Duke’s outside shooting. His scoring came in key stretches and in bunches. His rebounds showed his leaping ability, and his passing showed his court vision. More consistency in his shot is needed, but aggressiveness and willingness on offense are areas Izzo and pro scouts felt he had to improve. The shots will fall, though, and his stock will continue to rise toward another testing of the NBA draft waters in the spring.

Will Mady Sissoko and AJ Hoggard get more playing time, or are they gonna ride the bench for most of the year? — @ZivenHavens

Hoggard is behind after having a knee procedure not long before the season opened. Izzo and his staff will take it slowly with the freshman combo guard, but there are not a lot of minutes available at the moment on the perimeter. Sissoko’s length, strength and shot-blocking ability will get him minutes as he learns MSU’s defensive demands. But the emergence of Julius Marble with a 12-point, 12-minute showing at Duke along with juniors Thomas Kithier and Marcus Bingham Jr. also could minimize Sissoko's minutes.

A little context on your avatar would be awesome. — @sambep22

It was from an old MSU volleyball media day event, during which the team worked on drills on sand courts with members of the local press and TV stations. We had done it in 2014, and everything went great. Those pics are still on the internet as well.

But by 2015, I was perpetually tired from the first year of being a first-time parent. And I’m not terribly adept at timing my jumps in the sand. Swing and a miss, the volleyball hit my face, a team photographer caught it just at the right moment. I can laugh at myself, and there were plenty of deserved chuckles at that. The picture is iconic since I started using it as an avatar that fall, and I am not sure I can change it because it kind of became my brand on Twitter.

Funny side note: there is video of this that ran on TV. The ball knocked off my hat, and I caught it behind my back. So at least there was some athleticism going on in that moment. It’s nowhere near as impressive as that still photo, though.

Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @chrissolari. Read more on the Michigan State Spartans and sign up for our Spartans newsletter.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan State mailbag: Will football, basketball play this weekend?