Post by KY Kid on Jun 11, 2002 22:48:47 GMT -5
Without Taylor, Spartans will rely on youth again
By Mike DeCourcy - The Sporting News
Tom Izzo is in Chicago at the Moody Bible Institute because, in a sense, this is where he misplaced his point guard. He had every reason to believe Marcus Taylor would run the Michigan State attack again next season. Instead, Taylor is at the NBA pre-draft camp.
Izzo appears tanned and rested but can't help but be a little frustrated.
Last year, Jason Richardson and Zach Randolph preceded Taylor on the early entry list, the lot of them having played a combined five college seasons. "We had the potential to have a real good team with everybody back," Izzo says. "I think it would potentially have been a top five, top 10 team. And now you're back to unknowns."
Even without Taylor, the Spartans will be favored to win a fifth Big Ten title under Izzo. If they avoid the injuries that debased last year's team, they again will rule the conference.
But that might be as much a function of the competition's decline as the Spartans' progress.
With Taylor at the point, they had every aspect of a Final Four-level team covered: size, depth, experience and direction. Without him, the point guard choices are Chris Hill, a natural wing, who enjoyed surprising freshman success backing up Taylor, and junior-college recruit Rashi Johnson.
Izzo wouldn't mind Johnson handling the point job so Hill can concentrate on shooting. Hill clearly is the program's best long-range threat, but Johnson's climb to Division I could be steep.
Were Taylor using good sense, none of this would be an issue. Like Omar Cook and Kenny Satterfield a year ago, Taylor is a first-round talent who will end up as a second-rounder because he's in the draft too soon. He played well at the camp, running the pick-and-roll as he learned it at Michigan State and making open shots. But he was muscled by former Cincinnati All-American Steve Logan in one game and struggled to prevent Logan from penetrating the lane.
What is puzzling about Taylor's impatience is that, as a Lansing resident, he had a front-row seat for the development of former Spartans Eric Snow, Morris Peterson, Charlie Bell and Mateen Cleaves. All played four seasons in the program and wound up in the NBA, though only Cleaves entered college with the sort of pedigree Taylor carried with college recruiters.
Why Taylor chose not to trust that process, he can't really explain. He relies on comments that have become clichés among early-entry prospects:
"That was the toughest decision of my life to this point," he says, "but I realize it was probably the best decision for my career."
It probably wasn't, though. It certainly was not best for Michigan State.
"This is a critical period for us," Izzo says. "We had maybe as good a spring as we've ever had. We called it toughness training. That's all we wanted to develop -- the toughness and the camaraderie. And now we'll work on the basketball."
The Spartans know what they'll get from the veteran frontcourt of Adam Ballinger and Al Anagonye. When healthy, Ballinger consistently makes midrange shots and fights inside for rebounds. Anagonye is a committed defender and has been a willing role player throughout his career.
Wings Alan Anderson and Kelvin Torbert must make significant progress from serviceable freshman seasons -- the kind of progress that's not unusual for gifted players, especially at their position.
An exceptional recruiting class led by big man Paul Davis and wing Maurice Ager restores the depth necessary for Michigan State to return to an aggressive, sound defensive posture. Last year's team rarely forced turnovers or imposed its will on offenses because it had to avoid foul trouble.
"There were probably four games last year that we could have won but didn't, but only one that we could have lost but won. We thought we competed, but not at the same level," Izzo says. "We've got to get that back."
Unlike his point guard, Izzo might find that part of his team can be retrieved.
Senior writer Mike DeCourcy covers college basketball for The Sporting News. Email him at decourcy@sportingnews.com.
By Mike DeCourcy - The Sporting News
Tom Izzo is in Chicago at the Moody Bible Institute because, in a sense, this is where he misplaced his point guard. He had every reason to believe Marcus Taylor would run the Michigan State attack again next season. Instead, Taylor is at the NBA pre-draft camp.
Izzo appears tanned and rested but can't help but be a little frustrated.
Last year, Jason Richardson and Zach Randolph preceded Taylor on the early entry list, the lot of them having played a combined five college seasons. "We had the potential to have a real good team with everybody back," Izzo says. "I think it would potentially have been a top five, top 10 team. And now you're back to unknowns."
Even without Taylor, the Spartans will be favored to win a fifth Big Ten title under Izzo. If they avoid the injuries that debased last year's team, they again will rule the conference.
But that might be as much a function of the competition's decline as the Spartans' progress.
With Taylor at the point, they had every aspect of a Final Four-level team covered: size, depth, experience and direction. Without him, the point guard choices are Chris Hill, a natural wing, who enjoyed surprising freshman success backing up Taylor, and junior-college recruit Rashi Johnson.
Izzo wouldn't mind Johnson handling the point job so Hill can concentrate on shooting. Hill clearly is the program's best long-range threat, but Johnson's climb to Division I could be steep.
Were Taylor using good sense, none of this would be an issue. Like Omar Cook and Kenny Satterfield a year ago, Taylor is a first-round talent who will end up as a second-rounder because he's in the draft too soon. He played well at the camp, running the pick-and-roll as he learned it at Michigan State and making open shots. But he was muscled by former Cincinnati All-American Steve Logan in one game and struggled to prevent Logan from penetrating the lane.
What is puzzling about Taylor's impatience is that, as a Lansing resident, he had a front-row seat for the development of former Spartans Eric Snow, Morris Peterson, Charlie Bell and Mateen Cleaves. All played four seasons in the program and wound up in the NBA, though only Cleaves entered college with the sort of pedigree Taylor carried with college recruiters.
Why Taylor chose not to trust that process, he can't really explain. He relies on comments that have become clichés among early-entry prospects:
"That was the toughest decision of my life to this point," he says, "but I realize it was probably the best decision for my career."
It probably wasn't, though. It certainly was not best for Michigan State.
"This is a critical period for us," Izzo says. "We had maybe as good a spring as we've ever had. We called it toughness training. That's all we wanted to develop -- the toughness and the camaraderie. And now we'll work on the basketball."
The Spartans know what they'll get from the veteran frontcourt of Adam Ballinger and Al Anagonye. When healthy, Ballinger consistently makes midrange shots and fights inside for rebounds. Anagonye is a committed defender and has been a willing role player throughout his career.
Wings Alan Anderson and Kelvin Torbert must make significant progress from serviceable freshman seasons -- the kind of progress that's not unusual for gifted players, especially at their position.
An exceptional recruiting class led by big man Paul Davis and wing Maurice Ager restores the depth necessary for Michigan State to return to an aggressive, sound defensive posture. Last year's team rarely forced turnovers or imposed its will on offenses because it had to avoid foul trouble.
"There were probably four games last year that we could have won but didn't, but only one that we could have lost but won. We thought we competed, but not at the same level," Izzo says. "We've got to get that back."
Unlike his point guard, Izzo might find that part of his team can be retrieved.
Senior writer Mike DeCourcy covers college basketball for The Sporting News. Email him at decourcy@sportingnews.com.