Rebound or else.
That is the motto MSU head coach Tom Izzo tells his team heading into the NCAA Tournament. Especially since Nevada (23-8), the Spartans' first-round opponent, is the fiercest rebounding team in the Western Athletic Conference.
"If you watch them on film, you would say, 'That is Michigan State four years ago,'" Izzo said. "They are sending four there religiously; four guys are peppering all the time."
Fifth-year Nevada head coach Trent Johnson said he, like Izzo, thrives on seeing his players hit the boards.
"Our strength is rebounding," Johnson said. "If you're going to win or give yourself a chance to win, you've got to rebound."
The Spartans (18-11) have had many weakness exploited this season: lack of a point guard, lack of experienced big men and lack of dominating the glass like Spartans teams of the past.
The latter proved to be the worst weakness. MSU survived a brutal nonconference schedule and still managed to finish in a tie for second in the Big Ten with a two-headed point guard system. Sophomore center Paul Davis improved his defense as the season went on, and senior center Jason Andreas proved to be more than just a senior leader on the floor on defense.
Yet rebounding hasn't been a natural reaction for MSU this season. It's been a complicated science.
The Spartans do outrebound their opponents by 1.8 boards per game. But that number is minuscule compared to MSU teams of the past, whose goal was to outrebound opponents by 10 each game. They usually came close.
In the matchup between mid-major Nevada and MSU, it's the Wolf Pack that has the rebounding edge. The Wolf Pack averages 38.9 rebounds per game, 6.2 more than their opponents.
"Anybody with two eyes can see we're not rebounding like we used to in the championship days," Andreas said. "And many will say that's why we haven't won a championship in the past three years."
Izzo is making sure he does all he can to end the championship drought, even if the Spartans are outsiders looking in as far as the NCAA title is concerned. He joked about tripling the team's rebounding practice drill, and assistant coach Dwayne Stephens brought a 2-on-2 war drill from Marquette, which Andreas said was "like your backyard 3-on-3 game; ball goes up, it's anybody's ball, diving on the floor no out of bounds."
But, Izzo isn't as concerned with his big men rebounding, though he said this could be the biggest weekend of the year for the big guys. He is more concerned with his wings (junior Alan Anderson, sophomore Maurice Ager and freshman Shannon Brown).
"Those guards, they will see ? they've got to rebound like Charlie Bell," Izzo said, adding that the coaching staff is putting together a tape of Bell's highlights. "They have the athletic ability; they have the skill; they have the strength, the toughness. I think they have the heart to do it. I just don't think it's a priority right now. That's a slap, challenge, whatever it is, it's a reality. We're going to have to change."
Bell was a guard for the Spartans from 1998-2001. Much of his rebounding ability helped MSU advance to three Final Fours and win the national championship.
"Ever since I got here, he's been talking about that," Brown said. "Coach believes in us a lot, but he knows me and Mo (Ager) can rebound better than we have. He expects us to rebound, and we're going to rebound."
If the Spartans do rebound, not only will they make their head coach proud, they will continue to portray MSU as a rebounding empire, something a head coach not only wants, but expects.
"We've built it as a 'Rebounding U,'" Izzo said. "It's like gang tackling (in football): Whenever you see not three guys on the tackle, but eight, you kind of say, 'Wow.' That is the way I think about rebounding for us."
