Jan. 26, 2011
EAST LANSING, Mich. -- If you're Tom Izzo, it could be worse.
You could be coaching the Cleveland Cavaliers these days. They've lost 19 in a row.
Izzo turned down the Cavs' lucrative offer over the summer, choosing to stay at Michigan State.
His team was projected as a legitimate national title contender, ranked behind only Duke in the college basketball preseason polls. Some even thought it could be Izzo's most talented team, which was saying a lot considering he has made six Final Four appearances in the past 12 years.
But as they enter a rivalry game Thursday against Michigan, the Spartans are 12-7 overall and 4-3 in the Big Ten, 3-1/2 games behind Ohio State in the conference standings and no longer ranked in the coaches' poll.
In reality, they will be closer to the NCAA tournament bubble if they don't snap out of it soon than they are a threat to make another familiar run come March.
This is, arguably, the most disappointing team in America.
"It's been one of the harder teams I've had to coach," Izzo said at a recent news conference.
And that was before the latest setback in which he kicked junior guard Korie Lucious, who hit the last-second shot to beat Maryland in the second round last season, off the team for the remainder of the season because of "conduct detrimental to the program."
It's another distraction to deal with for Izzo, who was suspended for a game earlier in the season for a secondary recruiting violation.
His players have rarely displayed the sense of urgency expected out of a championship-caliber team.
So what's gone wrong?
First of all, to be fair, the Spartans have lost to some quality opponents. Six were to teams ranked in the top-20 in this week's Associated Press poll, including No. 3 Duke, No. 5 Connecticut, No. 7 Texas, No. 9 Syracuse, No. 12 Purdue and No. 20 Illinois.
The only loss to an unranked team was at Penn State, which also took No. 1 Ohio State down to the wire and nearly beat Purdue on the road.
Michigan State has played eight games against opponents ranked in the latest RPI top 25, most in the nation, with victories over Washington (No. 21), Minnesota (22) and Wisconsin (25).
Still, when you have such lofty expectations, you're supposed to win most of these big games, not just compete.
Izzo believes some of the Spartans' problems actually go back to the summer, when several players, including guard Kalin Lucas, missed valuable training time because of injuries. Lucas is still recovering from surgery last spring for a ruptured Achilles' tendon.
"That's a million-dollar question that kind of gets overlooked," Izzo said of the offseason rehabs. "Teams are made in the season, but players are made in the summer. If you don't get better as a player, it's hard to get better as a team."
A rash of turnovers and missed free throws plagued the Spartans early in the season. The inside presence of forward Raymar Morgan has been missed. Morgan, now playing professionally overseas, provided much-needed toughness and defensive versatility in the post. He and guard Chris Allen, who transferred, were the only key losses off last year's Final Four team.
Some of Lucas' struggles have been understandable considering his comeback from injury, but it has been much more difficult to explain senior Durrell Summers' downfall.
This was supposed to be the year Summers would put it all together from start to finish to impress the NBA scouts. He averaged 18.8 points and 5.6 rebounds while shooting 54.5 percent, including 51.5 percent from 3-point range, during an fabulous five-game stretch in the NCAA tournament a year ago.
Summers, however, has been an enigma this season. He is averaging 13.9 points and 4.3 rebounds with a .425 field-goal percentage in 19 games. Izzo threatened last week to severely reduce his playing time if Summers didn't give a better effort defensively.
Izzo said he told Summers, "If you don't guard better, your playing days might be done here."
Summers took that to heart Saturday in the second half of the 86-76 loss at Purdue, the second straight opponent to shoot better than 53 percent against the Spartans.
"It showed me if I continue to do that for the whole game, we'll be a different team," Summers said of his newfound defensive intensity.
As for trying to live up to his national-championship hopes and NBA dreams, Summers said: "I have been putting a lot of pressure on myself. You're supposed to. If you play good or bad, you want to do better. I've got to live with that."
Summers has been complacent, but he's not the only one.
Junior forward Draymond Green, who leads the team in rebounding, assists and steals, admits the Spartans have been missing that killer instinct needed against opponents who are highly motivated to play them.
"We're always the hunted," Green said. "Everybody's going to hunt us. We have to turn into some hunters and hunt them back.
"That's what this program has been built to. Everybody's coming with their best shot. Right now, we haven't responded to that. We haven't played like everybody's going to give us their best shot."
It would help immensely if Lucas could return to form. He has shown signs of regaining some of his quickness in recent weeks, but now he has to figure out how to finish some of those plays. He was 3 for 16 shooting against Purdue.
"The last step is my burst, trying to explode to the basket, draw fouls and trying to finish a little bit better," Lucas said. "I'm still about this far (holding his thumb and index finger about an inch apart) from exploding and being back to my old self."
Some critics are starting to write off the Spartans, which might be an overreaction considering their track record.
Would you want to play them in March?
They have reached the Final Four as a No. 5 seed twice in the past six years, including last season after Lucas was injured in the second round.
Losing Lucious this time puts more of a burden on freshman guard Keith Appling, along with role players Austin Thornton and Mike Kebler.
"We've been a good group coming back from having our back against the wall," Summers said. "We didn't plan this to happen this way. But we've been here before. We know what to do to get out of it."
Izzo said he's seeing progress, including fewer turnovers, but that it's "just slow."
Forward Delvon Roe insists the Spartans are "so close" to making a turnaround.
After the Purdue loss, Roe wrote the following message on Twitter: "Matter of fact I guarantee u we will be were everyone expect us to b come end of season."
Roe and Appling have developed into defensive stoppers, which is probably the highlight of the season to this point.
The Spartans still haven't gotten any semblance of consistency from their trio of centers, Adreian Payne, Derrick Nix and Garrick Sherman.
Payne is a freshman trying to live up to his potential, which is considerable. Nix, frustrated by playing time, left the team for a while earlier in the season and considered transferring, only to return about a week later. Sherman has lost his confidence since a solid first month or so.
More than anything, though, Izzo needs his stars, Lucas and Summers, to produce like they're capable.
If they do, Michigan State will be dangerous once again at tournament time.
If not, it's going to go down as one of the greatest letdowns for this program during the Izzo era.
