Guards must step up for MSU to go far
Sean Ely
If the MSU men’s basketball team wants to ride the Final Four rodeo in San Antonio two months from now, senior guard Drew Neitzel needs to be the cowboy who leads it there.
The Spartans’ guards are the team’s main components in avoiding being struck by a bull’s horns (or a drastic losing streak) at any point this season.
It’s no secret that Neitzel and Travis Walton are the team leaders — they have played in big-game situations as deep as the Final Four just two years ago.
Not to mention, this year, the two co-captains’ assist-to-turnover ratios are unbelievable — they really are making other players on the team better.
Izzo has even said that when Neitzel is playing at the top of his game, so is the rest of his squad. He admitted that his bigs don’t need to shine for MSU to be great.
It’s not about that.
If the guards aren’t clicking, the big guys aren’t clicking. If Neitzel, Kalin Lucas or Chris Allen’s shots aren’t falling, Goran Suton, Drew Naymick and Marquise Gray will need to take more shots.
And although some guys have stepped up huge, it doesn’t mean that’s going to just keep happening consistently.
The guards’ confidence needs to thrive in every game.
When the Spartans need a big shot with 6.3 seconds left on the clock, who do you think will have the basketball in his hands?
A guard, that’s who.
Sean Ely is a State News men’s basketball reporter. He can be reached at elysean@msu.edu.
Published on Monday, January 21, 2008
Comments
Ryan
01/22/08 @ 12:01pm
Firstly, the last final four we were in was in 2005 which was three years ago and Travis Walton wasn’t there. Secondly, if anyone is taking us anywhere, it’s going to be the best player on our team, Raymar Morgan, that you somehow didn’t even mention. True, Neitzel needs to play well for us to make a run, but he is also quite possibly the worst defender on the team (and I’m including walk-ons in that statement). It’s also true that Walton playing well, and actually developing an offensive game, will help us to go deep into the tournament. The real burden of getting this team over the hump however rests on Morgan’s shoulders. He is as dangerous of a slasher as there is and when our bigs are struggling, which pretty much happens for at least ten minutes a game every game, he can go down low and provide some consistency. Finally, I will concede to you that with 6.3 seconds left Neitzel will take the shot every single time. Unless we are down by one, in which case we should give the ball to Morgan and see if he can get fouled and hopefully not shoot as terribly as he did last game from the line.
jason
01/22/08 @ 1:26pm
I couldn’t agree more with you Ryan, you said everything I was going to say in my response, no need…well done.