MSU DOA at IPFW

The sluggish Spartans survived a potential Wright State moment thanks to the inside force of Raymar Morgan and the play of its freshmen.

    Delvon Roe is at least the fourth-best player on this team, and he's far from full go. But the guy who surprised me tonight is Draymond Green. I swear, this was the best seven-minute, no-statistic performance I've ever seen. The guy knows where to go on defense and had a couple key deflections and took a charge in MSU's 13-0 run that clinched the game.

    On the other end of the floor, he had some "hockey assists," getting the ball to the right spot, leading to the pass that got the basket. That may not sound like much, but Roe and Green are both natural basketball players. Heady. They get it.

    Green essentially replaced Marquise Gray in the second half tonight. I don't know where this will go, it's too early to discount Gray or pencil Green into the rotation, but there's real competition here. And they can't all play.

    Green was moved to the scout team this week. At first, he took it as a slight. But it got him more time to play. On Monday, he was out there swishing 23-footers, making point-guard passes. He quickly realized the benefit of wearing a white jersey in practice.

    "I had to check my ego," he said. "I'm willing to give whatever and do whatever I need to do to get this team to the Final Four in Detroit."

    As for Goran Suton, he rebounded well but missed some bunnies. It still looks like he's laboring a bit. He'll be fine. MSU will be fine. But tonight showed, once again, that a slowdown approach bothers this team, that it isn't close to where it needs to be defensively, and that all the euphoria after the Spartans scored 330 points at home against three cardboard opponents was a bit premature.

Comments

[idaho vandals basketball team]

cardboard? we take offense to that :) i mean we outscored gonzaga in the second half yesterday.

[Stone]

1. thanks for calling out the sport of hockey as the only to recognize a 2nd assist. it's something the sport should be commended for recognizing.

2. when in doubt, change colors from gray to green. i still worry greatly about the lack of bball iq on the floor. lots of brain freezes and playing units that just get stuck. gotta find a rotation that wont let that happen

[xwing]

sutton will be fine? i sure hope so. i hope it is because he is hurt but it seems to me like he is playing weak this year. i hope it isn't because of the weight he dropped. he needs to play stronger. he played very well towards the end of last year. if he tanks i think t hat every road game has the potential to be an adventure.

[xwing]

i know izzo was dissapointed in the lack of leadership from the upperclassmen and went on to talk about how it is on lucas and how he played 30 minutes and he has to take responsibility as the leader of the team which i agree with. the thing i don't understand is why he would give walton a free pass. walton played 23 minutes and scored ZERO points on 0-3 shooting and had ZERO steals. at least lucas scored 17 points for crying out loud. i sure hope izzo sits walton if he isn't producing.

[VegasMike]

Joe,

Thanks for the update. It's tough to get a feel for the game by just following on espn.com. I really liked the stuff about Green. I thought he would redshirt, but it looks like he's got himself in shape, and has the b-ball iq. Plus, he was such a winner in high school. On a side note, what do you think of the possibility of Dane Fife being an assistant coach at MSU in the future? I remember how much Izzo loved him in high school/college and obviously has respect for him as a coach, or he wouldn't have schedule this game. He seems like an Izzo kind of guy.

[Lakeshore Sparty]

Walton should get about 8 minutes a game at most. Just to give Lucas a breather when needed. I don't know what Izzo has seen in him from day one. I am not buying the fact that he plays great defense either. He is the vocal leader of this team but doesn't produce on the floor

[spartandawgs]

I think Suton will be fine he didn't shoot the ball much today and I didn't seem him playing weak. I thought he had a good game on the glass, 10 rebs and 4 offensive is not a bad outing. e didn't shoot much or well but he was strong on the glass. I think since he has arrived on campus his better games are againist good competition and usually had bad games vs small teams and schools. This team will be fine and we won't know if they will be great for awhile only time will tell.

[Michael Motta]

It seems like this year we should have enough individual players who can break down a defense off the dribble that we shouldn't fall into the old throw-the-ball-around-the-perimeter-until-we-turn-it-over thing. Run that 1-4 flat or whatever it's called and let Lucas or whomever do his thing. If they collapse on it, kick it out for a three. I'm sure it's not so simple, but still, we have more individual scoring talent on this team than we've had in a long time.

By the way Stone, NCAA hockey rocks, but soccer scoring also allows credit for up to two assists per goal.

[karatechop6]

xwing...I agree. When a player like Walton is an offensive liability you would hope they would make up for it with defense, effort, and leadership. Of course I didn't see the game so I don't want to say much.

What's tough is that every year we expect players to improve. It just hasn't happened with a bunch of them (Gray, Walton, Suton, Dahlman, Ibok). I think we can throw Herzog in that category too. Only a Sophomore, but in his 3rd year. With that being said, some of these guys are good players. Just not a whole lot of improvement from year to year.

Maybe this close call will be good for the team. They have over a week to get ready for the nightmare non-conference schedule.

[Jimmy in Indy]

Your statements about Green are way overrated. I think that his performance was well deserving of being stat-less in the box score. The best thing he did was not do anything bad. That's not really a good thing. Were you at this game?

It was almost as if Izzo said to himself that he was going to play each player a certain number of minutes in certain situations regardless of the score even if it meant that we were going to lose.

We played the small line up WAY too much and couldn't rebound. At this moment, we cannot play Roe and Morgan as our only bigs (which we did a lot of).

I would have liked to have seen Gray, Suton, and Morgan more. Even throw Ibok into the mix against IPFW.

Lucious played pretty well bringing the ball up the court aside from a stupid no-look turnover on a break. I like his pace. He's very underrated.

It's also time for Dahlman to officially transfer. Seeing Thorton play again before Dahlman leaving the bench is a sign of where Isaiah is. He seems like a good kid, but there aren't minutes for him here.

[Spartan95]

This team will take weeks to figure itself out and nothing speeds the process like adversity in the form of poor D and poor shooting. With a new pressing style, new players to rotate in and no official commitment to defense and rebounding yet, this team will struggle. I imagine that coach Izzo will not wait any longer for the upperclassmen to get it with lots of talent salivating for minutes on the bench. Seems like he learned the "we can win by outscoring people" lesson in the Agar, Brown, Davis year. The leash should be short for Gray and Walton. If you don't produce quickly in a game, there's probably someone who will. This team doesn't have any real chemistry carryover from last year, so until they adjust mentally to what's expected in a new style with new teammates in real game situations where the pressure to perform right away or be benched is real, they will struggle, especially if they don't shoot well. Shooting well covers a multitude of sins but talent alone will not get it done in the long run. Better to be exposed now than later when it really counts.

[Bill]

I listened on the internet radio cast of the Ft. Wayne radio station. Their announcers had high praise for Roe, and a lot of respect for Izzo and nothing but disdain for the refs.

To hear them tell it, MSU was getting call after call because they were a Big Ten team.

Also they played an interview with Izzo at halftime (that I am sure was taped earlier that day). He said (and I am paraphrasing) that while it is an ultimate goal to play hard for a full 40 minutes, no coach will ever get a team of college kids to do that game after game.

That statement seemed to be the antithesis of anything I have ever heard him say. Does that mean he is mellowing, or that he somehow feels that this team isnt going to have the drive he usually expects?

Or am I reading to much into it?

[Lycurgus13]

Vegas Mike: It is highly unlikely that any head coach would leave to become an assistant coach @ a bigger school. This is the case regardless of the rift between the programs. Assistant coaches all want to someday become head coaches - even if it's a backwater locale like IPFW. Hence, I seriously doubt that Fife will ever be an assistant @ MSU (or anywhere else). That is, unless he is fired, which is highly unlikely right now. Fife has the IPFW program pretty much @ the zenith of what it's capable of being.

Dane is cool. It's his wolvie brother Dugan whom I can't stand. I'll never forget Dugan's demure airball performance in the Brez in his last game vs. MSU!

As for the game, I was hoping MSU had learned its lesson re: respecting their opponent from last year's GVSU (my alma mater) stunner. In the exhibitions & 1st game it appeared they had got over that. Guess not. This was their first road game, so I'll cut them some slack. Still, they will need plenty more moxie for the next two weeks when they make a run @ the ACC title.....

Thus spake Lycurgus

[Bill]

@ xwing

Izzo feels that Walton should be on the court due to his defense and ball-handling skills.

You, obviously don't,

I have read many articles about Izzo's biography, resume and qualifications; yet I know nothing about yours.

You have come onto this site several times calling for Walton to be benched; yet your own resume remains a mystery. Please detail your college coaching experience (including NCAA appearances) in your next post. If indeed, you can demonstrate that you are better qualified than Tom Izzo to make decisions like this; I will gladly jump on your bandwagon and join your call to revamp the lineup,

[Fred]

If u guys are half as good as ur saying, TOM IZZO needs not to be here. Let him figured out the problems since he's paid to do the job and u just watch the game.

[Columbus Spartan]

Bill and Fred,

The best posts I have seen on green and white in awhile.

The peanut gallery decides they are basketball coaches and has a relationship with every MSU player.

It's game 2. Relax.

I'll sit back and wait for people to respond with, "this is a blog and we can post whatever we want, it's our opinion..."

[Chris]

Bill, Fred, and Columbus Spartan. What is great about the internet and the comments sections is that we can voice our opinion on the games. Why does everybody get soo defensive when somebody questions a coaches decision? We are not saying we could do a better job than Izzo, or that we would want any other coach in the world coaching the Spartans. But that doesn't mean we have to agree with every decision he makes. When you get together and talk sports with your friends, do you just talk about everything that went right in a game, or do you talk about the bone head plays/coaching decisions?

[JD]

Like Rich-Rod says...Some fans just need to get a life. Columbus Spartan, Bill and Fred got it on the nose. GO GREEN!

[smarty pants]

Also a Dic-Rod saying... Fans are making a mountain out of a mole hill.

This team is just fine. Its exciting to see this team have so much young talent. Nice job by Izzo to get this group of players together. Lucas is the key cog to this team. His play = wins and losses.

[Ben Green]

Well stated Chris.

If we all just praised every move our (I assume) future hall of fame coach does and posted nothing but positive comments this blog might as well go away.

Xavier beat IPFW by 28. MSU's performance doesn't deserve criticism?

Izzo is still feeling his way with player combinations. He just found out a ton about how his team plays when confronted with a ball control opponent. And it was a bit scary. The game was certainly a good lesson.

[Stan]

Chris ... GREAT POST

I wouldn't want anybody but Dantonio coaching the football team, but that doesn't mean I won't criticize him if I think he does something dumb.

Just because somebody's the leader doesn't make them exempt from criticism ... you guys sound like Republicans defending everything GW does ....

[xwing]

wow, i didn't realize that saying that "i hope izzo sits walton if he isn't producing" was such a high crime. i like walton as a person and even as a player at times. i guess you guys all think that walton played great yesterday??? izzo can coach and i never said that i knew more than him and suggesting that is putting words in my mouth. if you have been paying attention to any of my posts in the past i have always defended izzo. if you guys are that sensitive i think you need to get a life.

[karatechop6]

Easy guys. A little criticism after a poorly played game isn't going to hurt anybody. There's no bomb throwing here. That's reserved for the Freep blogs. I agree that in the past some of the comments about Hoyer and others were uncalled for. But this is just a bunch of fans commenting on a poorly played game.

I always thought this section was to discuss what we liked / disliked, who played well / poorly, any insight, etc. I personally enjoy reading other fans thoughts on the game, regardless if I agree with them or not.

[Marc]

The thing that concerns me about Walton is that his defense hasn't been good. He was getting beat off the dribble in the first game, and if he isn't playing defense he's a liability. I'm sure that will get corrected as the season goes on.
Draymond Green will take Gray's minutes before the season is over. He's a player, and comes from a quality high school program. He has a greater understanding of positioning than Gray does, and will do the "little" things that make others look good. He's taken a charge in each game. It's rare to see a big man take charges (although Suton will as well).

[Prophet]

I'm trying to imagine what the players are thinking when they read this stuff. They are working hard, having fun in practice, worried about classes - and girlfriends - just being college kids and they come on here and finding every move dissected and probably getting a different take than what Izzo is giving them.

When you post on here, do it with the knowledge that the kids read this stuff. They are not NBA players. They have faults or holes in their games and they are working hard to improve - harder than the NBA guys are working. They've got a lot on their plates.

Remember that.