Sports: Tough Schedule Could Help MSU

            An early gauntlet of Top 25 teams proved tougher than expected, but it could help the young Spartans improve. 

            “We’re confident that we can be a good team,” says Tom Izzo after the preseason, where MSU lost six games to a gauntlet of national powers.  “We need to learn from these games and wipe the slate clean (in preparation for the Big Ten conference).  We can still achieve all our goals.”

            A 5-6 preseason record is atypical for an Izzo team, but it resulted partly from arguably the toughest schedule ever—one made before Erazem Lorbek, a wily inside-outside player who keyed MSU’s advance to the NCAA Elite Eight in San Antonio, TX, decided to turn pro.  Without him, the Spartans lost to Kansas, Duke, Oklahoma, UCLA, defending national champions Syracuse and Kentucky.  The latter game, played at Ford Field, set a world attendance record of 78,129.

            Nonetheless, Izzo has no regrets about what he calls his “dream come true” schedule.  “It was good for Michigan State, it was good for our players,” he explains.  “We learned some things.  We should be held accountable for playing without the toughness and without the defensive tenacity an MSU program should (play with).  But we made great strides and played some decent amounts of minutes really well.  We hung in there for some tough situations.

            "The only regret I have is the (schedule’s) timing, maybe not putting a more winnable game in between some of them to give us more time to practice.  We are struggling at power forward and at the point. There are always reasons, and maybe the biggest one is we've played some good people."

            MacDonald All-American freshman guard Shannon Guard emerged as a player and won a starting position.  Juniors Alan Anderson, Chris Hill and Kelvin Torbert, and sophomores Maurice Ager and Paul Davis, have been key players.  Senior Jason Andreas, freshman Drew Naymick, redshirt freshman Delco Rowley, and junior Tim Bograkos played spot roles. 

            With conference play looming, MSU needed to improve its defense and its rebounding, two hallmarks of a program that went to three straight Final Fours and won four straight conference championships, as well as to limit turnovers. 

            MSU’s declining prowess in caroms was quantifiable.  Under Izzo, MSU led the Big Ten in rebounding margin for six straight seasons, and led the nation in both 2000 (+11.7) and 2001 (+15.4).  In 11 games this season, MSU’s rebounding margin was a puny +0.8.  Equally disappointing to Izzo has been MSU’s perimeter defense, which was outstanding last season during the NCAA run.  This year, after 11 games MSU was allowing opponents a .485 shooting percentage, .367 from three-point range.  That a higher percentage than Izzo would like to concede.  On the plus side, MSU has shot free throws well and its scoring average is up.

            Izzo, the winningest active coach in NCAA tournament competition, believes tough competition can help a team find out where it is and what it must do to improve for conference and post-conference success.  Helping him are two new assistants, Doug Wojcik and Duane Stephens, along with Mark Montgomery. “We never expected to go undefeated,” he notes.  “We can still achieve all our team goals.”

RELOADING FOR 2004-05

• Marquise Gray (F, 6-8, 215, Flint, Mich./Beecher High School)
• Drew Neitzel (G, 6-0, 170, Grand Rapids, Mich./Wyoming Park High School)
• Goran Suton (C, 6-10, 250, Lansing, Mich./Everett High School)

            Signed letters of intent to play at MSU beginning next season.  "We are pleased that we were able to sign three players that fit our needs," says Izzo. "We thought it was incredibly important to land a couple of big men, and every program always needs a good guard. We're excited about the signees and the way they complement the players already within the program.”