Last season, the MSU women's basketball team set out on a journey most expected to be impossible.
Let's just say people around the NCAA map were looking to East Lansing.
Reasonably so. With only six players in their core playing rotation - many of them playing up to 39 minutes per game - the Spartans earned a spot in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1997. Unfortunately for the Spartans, their stay in the tournament was short-lived after being defeated by TCU, 50-47, in the first round.
Last year's success was just a start for head coach Joanne P. McCallie and her goals to attain the hardware her floormate, Tom Izzo, displays in the Alfred Berkowitz Basketball Complex.
"I don't think anyone could bring on any more expectation than we already have," McCallie said. "Every day we go against a men's team that blows us out of the water, with going to the final eight and having a national championship. You can't help but have that be a motivating force.
"The bottom line is we have no hardware, and they have it all in those offices. That's just the way it is right now, and we've got to find a way to change it."
Changes are coming to the women's side of Breslin Center, and that has garnered preseason national recognition. According to Athlon Sports College Basketball's preseason magazine, the Spartans are ranked No. 16, placing them third in the conference behind Big Ten foes No. 6 Penn State and No. 11 Purdue.
Coupled with a roster that boasts 11 players with ability to play anytime, opposed to last year's six, McCallie's team can run the hardwood with less predictability.
With multiple playing groups on the floor, MSU will stray from the offensive and defensive halfcourt sets that their opponents needed little scouting report time to counter a season ago.
The near-doubling of personnel allows McCallie to use more of a fast-breaking style on offense and the possibility to run a full-court press on defense.
Sophomore guard Lindsay Bowen, who was named co-Big Ten Freshman of the Year along with teammate forward Liz Shimek, said she's willing to give up 39 minutes per game to for the ability to run the offense with variety.
"That's fine with me; I'd rather get people rotating in and out," Bowen said. "Because we're going to fast break and keep running as hard as we can."
But MSU, a team that holds plenty of firepower with five of the six athletes in last year's playing group returned, needs to focus elsewhere, McCallie said. As of Wednesday afternoon with three practices to their season, McCallie said the Spartans' defense leaves her with many questions.
"Right now, our defense is like Swiss cheese," the fourth-year coach said. "We're needing work after three practices. We have the potential to be a very, very strong offensive team, but if we can't get it on defense, you're going to ask me what's going on."
Each year, MSU has reached a new level under McCallie's lead, advancing to the NCAA Tournament last year. And her team looks to trump those goals this season.
"The progress we've been making is due to the fact that we never change our goals," senior forward Julie Pagel said. "Our goals are always to get to the highest point - to get to the NCAA Tournament and excel in the NCAA Tournament. We lost sight of that at the end last year. And we're still trying to get there; we're still trying to win championships - Big Ten championships, regular-season championships.
"In this league, you can't come here and not expect to win. Everybody wants to win and it's just who wants it more. Our goals remain the same: We want to get to the top prize and get there and do it."
