"Rebuilding or Reloading?" A Michigan State Legacy"

[Future Spartan]

Gone are the days of Mateen Cleaves and Magic Johnson leading the Spartans into the NCAA national championship game. Gone are the days of the Mo Pete, J-Rich, Zach Randolph, and other well accomodated NBA players. It is now 2007-2008 and time for the Michigan State program to find out what it is really all about. The coach still remains, standing tall, a well-respected, future hall of fame coach that goes by the name of Tom Izzo.
This is a fresh start from last years team that went 23-12, carried every game by their all-american combo guard Drew Neitzel, aka Neitzilla. As a pre-season all-american, Big Ten preseason POY, a lot is expected from the star 6'1 Neitzel. Can he carry the load? Will the Spartans have to settle for a nother 2nd round exit in the NCAA tournament? Or will other key spartans such as starting small forward Raymar Morgan, and key center Goran Suton step up to the plate? Tom Izzo has his eyes on the prize. He's thinking championship. He wants another banner hung up in the Breslin Center.


2007-2008 Starting Lineup
PG: Travis Walton (81ovr) 6'2 Junior
SG: Drew Neitzel (88ovr) 6'1 Senior
SF: Raymar Morgan (75ovr) 6'8 Sophomore
PF: Marquise Gray (76ovr) 6'8 Junior
C: Goran Suton (76ovr) 6'10 Junior

Reserves
PG Kalin Lucas, a 6'1 lightning quick freshman, expected to see the most time out of any of the 3 talented freshman, also the 6th man of the team. (75ovr)

SG Chris Allen, a 6'3 guard who can light it up from deep with some talent all around. (74ovr)

SG/SF Durrell Summers, a 6'5 athletic wingman who can shoot the J, or drive to the rim and dunk on your 7 footer. Most potential on the team by a longshot. (73ovr)

The freshman above will seperate MSU from being a good team, from a great team. Mark my words. Michigan State will either have to rely on Neitzel to score 20 a night, or good performances by the young freshman who can provide plenty of offense, step up and all play their rolls. Lucas driving and dishing, Allen hitting his shots, and Summers doing a little bit of everything.

C Drew Naymick: 6'10 senior (73ovr)
C Idong Ibok: 6'11 junior (68ovr)
SG Isiah Dahlman: 6'6 sophomore (69ovr)
C Tom Herzog: 7'0 redshirt freshman (65ovr)



Recruiting updates will be weekly. Pregame predictions and thoughts will be discussed. Expect a report after every game, and like I said, recruiting information, and top 25 info every in-game monday.

[Future Spartan]

Beginning of a New Year: Chicago State.

Game one begins at the Breslin Center against Chi-town State. Not a very talented program, MSU should take care of business in a 86-61 blowout. Neitzel shouldn't have a problem against their 2-3 zone defense, i'm expecting a big game from him. We should see plenty of minutes from the three freshman Lucas, Summers, and Allen all coming off the bench, from what Izzo tells the press. Not too much to talk about here, MSU has a couple of recruits coming to town soon on a visit, too early to talk about yet, however.

Chicago State at Michigan State #4.

Pregame quotable from Izzo: " Well we have 5 returning starters, three talented freshman, and an all-american in Drew Neitzel. Time to find out whether this will be just pre-season talk, or a great team.

[Future Spartan]

STATE SMASHES CHICAGO STATE 79-52

In day 1 of the O'Reilly Auto parts CBE Classic, Michigan State defeats Chicago State 79-52. Raymar Morgan lead the way with 18 points, and freshman Durrell Summers added 16 off the bench. Forward Marquise Gray cleaned the board with a phenomenal 17 rebounds, along with 4 points off two field goals. Lucas and Allen combined for 15, but the suprise of the game was Drew Neitzel. No he did not score 30, or dish out 10 assists. The stat sheet reads: 4 points, 1 rebound, and 3 assists. 2-10 from the field, 0-5 from three against a weak zone defense. Other than Neitzel, the team was clicking. 10-19 from deep, and outrebounded Chicago State 39-18.


Day 2: Michigan State plays the University of Luisiana Monroe who is coming off a fresh victory against VMI. Expect a similar score, hopefully another great team effort. Neitzel should come out of that one game mishab, expect him to show up today. Make it: Green 80, ULM 69.

Tom Izzo on his team's performance against CSU: " I thought we played well. I called off the dogs with about 8 minutes left in the 2nd half, giving some minutes to our lower end of the rotation players. I don't know what was up with Drew, but everyone else looked good out there. We are still going to have to improve to keep up with the likes of the top teams in the country."

[chestnutz6]

reading, good job s ofar

[vikingfan1]

Good start, I am following.

[Deuce2223]

Sure Viking runs and hides when I come to back to the Big Ten and now I get a new guy starting something up at Michigan State. Well good luck because you got Coach Dezaron and his mighty Golden Gophers to contend with. ;)


Just kidding.
Good luck I will be following. Looking foward to seeing if Tubby can get things going in your legacy.

[vikingfan1]

Sure Viking runs and hides when I come to back to the Big Ten and now I get a new guy starting something up at Michigan State. Well good luck because you got Coach Dezaron and his mighty Golden Gophers to contend with. ;)


Just kidding.
Good luck I will be following. Looking foward to seeing if Tubby can get things going in your legacy.

Well, I thought it was time for someone else to dominate the Big Ten. Looks like its up to you two now! Good luck!:lol:

[Future Spartan]

A little late, but the MSU schedule will be released after the O'Reily classic tournament.



Alone With Rome: Tom Izzo

Jim Rome: Today on Jim Rome is Burning, we have Tom Izzo from the Michigan State Spartans, how ya doing Tom?

Tom Izzo: Im doing good Jim, how about you

Jim Rome: Good, good, what are your goal for the Spartans this year?

Tom Izzo: We plan to contest for a national championship and a Big 10 Championship. We want more Banners in the Breslin Center.

Jim Rome: Well your #4 in the nation now, 1-0 after the victory against Chicago State, how do you plan to keep on the winning trail?

Tom Izzo: Neitzel is going to have to be a senior leader and a major contributor. Raymar Morgan, Marquise Gray, and Goran Suton need to have improving season in the frontcourt, and our three freshman Lucas, Summers, and Allen need to improve and play well for deeper guard depth.

Jim Rome: All solid points, Tom. How do you feel about Indiana and Kalvin Sampson? Tubby and Minnesota?

Tom Izzo: Well both are tremendous coaches. Indiana is a top 15 team in the nation, they are going to be real tough to beat this year. Minnesota is going to improve. Mark my words, Tubby is going to turn that team around in the right direction.

Jim Rome: Tom you have had numerous chances to jump to the big bucks, the NBA. Why not? What makes you want to stick around in the cold up at Michigan State University?

Tom Izzo: Well first of all Michigan State has a GREAT campus. I love it here. The tradition here is a major plus, and I love these kids. I never want to leave East Lansing.

Jim Rome: So MSU will be making it's 11th straight NCAA appearance, right Tom?

Tom Izzo: I sure hope so. (Laughing) It would be a major letdown if we were not to, but i'm not thinking about that at all. We will be there in March, and doing our best to contend for a National Championship.

Jim Rome: Thanks coach, always a joy talking to you.

Tom Izzo: You too Jim, thanks for having me.


http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a145/NickJ18/izzo.jpg

[blue_apocalypse]

I'm following. Looking forward to seeing you turn Michigan State into a national powerhouse again

[chestnutz6]

Ha, in that picture, it looks like most of the stadium is empty. Very ecstatic crowd, no?

[Future Spartan]

SPARTANS DEMOLISH ULM 90-58

Neitzel and his fellow Spartans won in a struggling effort against Luisiana Monroe. ULM came out on a 7-0 stretch, then improving to 12-2 a few minutes in. Neitzel ended the Spartan drought, draining a trey, which sparked a 45-33 halftime lead in favor of MSU. Neitzilla lead all scorers with 20 points, and assists, with 6; Including 4-8 from beyond the arc. Freshman Chris Allen came off the bench to score 12, Raymar Morgan dropped 10, and center Suton had 11 points and 7 rebounds. Izzo called off the dogs midway through the 2nd half, providing plenty of minutes for the 6-12 men of the rotation. Drew came to life against the ULM weak man to man defense.

Now Michigan State is 2-0, and looking for a challenge. Next against Missouri, they might just get what they are wishing for. The Tigers are 3-0, and are playing in a not so neutral court in the state of Missouri. Missouri plays a full court man to man press, which is going to test the depth and ball handling off the Spartan guards. Everyone is going to need to be clicking on all cylinders to come out on top, which I believe will happen. Make it; Green 88 Missouri 81. The winner will play the winner of the UCLA-Maryland game in the next round of the tournament.

Izzo: "No looking ahead to the potential UCLA-MSU matchup. We are focused on the Tigers. They are undefeated so far, and play a rough full court man to man defense. No slacking off unless we want to end up with a loss."

[boomosby50]

this is pretty good, but my advice is to not out as much in the pregame info

[Future Spartan]

TIGERS DOWN #2 MSU

The Spartans were ahead for much of the first half, only to give up an 8 point lead into a 34-30 Tigers lead into the break. State ended up losing the game 77-84 with a total of 19 team turnovers. The press causing most of these turnovers, the MSU guards just could not handle the pressure on this given night. Drew Neitzel scored 19, but with 5 turnovers. Raymar Morgan scored 17 with 6 rebounds, Marquise Gray and Goran Suton both had double doubles, recording 15 and 14 points, both with 11 rebounds. The bigs had a tremendous game, but the guards and MSU bench did not step up to the challenge. 9 bench points, and 3 points from starting point guard Travis Walton and 1 assist is not getting the job done.

The next game is against Maryland, who is 3-1 coming off their loss against ranked UCLA. Michigan State will not win the game with a nother game of 19 turnovers. My prediction; Maryland stings the Spartans with back to back losses. Coach Williams of Maryland also uses a full-court pressure man defense, expect a similar result. Green 76, Maryland 82.

[Future Spartan]

2ND HALF COMEBACK PUTS TERRAPINS OVER MSU

A very disappointing week for the Spartans, going 0-2 back to back days. UMD outscores MSU 48-37 in the 2nd half, after a Neitzel buzzer beater 3 had the Spartans up 4 at half. "It seems like were just giving up in the 2nd half. I mean we have the teams right where we want them, and we just let them crawl back into it." -Drew Neitzel speaking of his team from the past 2 games. Drew lead in scoring with 23 points, but with a mediocre 4turnovers. Thats 9 for him in the last 2 games. Raymar Morgan had a below average game, scoring 8 points on 4-11 shooting, and coach Izzo decided to go with Durrell Summers for much of the 2nd half. Summers scored 12 points. Drew Naymick had 2 points off the bench as well, but those two combined for the team bench points. Izzo NEEDS to get his bench involved more, or maybe the freshman just need to come alive.

Marquise Gray is playing Phenomenal Gray had a double double by half, and ended up with 15 points, and 18 rebounds off of 9-13 shooting. He is now averaging 11.5 ppg and 13.3 rebounds per game.

Up next is the ACC/Big 10 challenge, against NC State. I feel that Izzo will get his team back in the win column, Green 76, NC State 63.


2007-2008 Schedule

Chicage State
Luisiana Monroe
Missouri (Neutral)
Maryland (Neutral)
NC State
Jacksonville
@Bradley
@BYU
IPFW
San Jose State
Texas (Neutral)
Minnesota
Purdue
@Iowa
Ohio State
@Minnesota
@Northwestern
Michigan
Illinois
@Penn St
Northwestern
@Purdue
@Indiana
Penn St
Iowa
@Wisconsin
Indiana

[CincyFan]

can't believe you loss to Missouri. I had to re-read that 3 times to get it right. Thats not the remainder of the schedule that you posted is it? Seems like there is 1 or 2 too many games on there. Either way good luck and suprised to see someone else predicting him team will lose.

[Future Spartan]

MSU BOUNCES BACK AGAINST NC STATE

Michigan State bounces back from an 0-2 week to beat NC State 71-57. Forward Marquise Gray posted another double, 12 points and 13 rebounds. Drew Neitzel scored 13 points on 5-13 shooting, and Durrell Summers added 11. MSU dominated the 1st half, up 43-26 by half, and Izzo got some reserves some burn. Key Stat: Michigan State outrebounded NC State 29-9! MSU has outrebounded every opponet this season by at least 8.

As Michigan Sate improves to 3-0 at home, they will play Jacksonville U in the Breslin Center. After the MSU-JU game, the Spartans play @Bradley and @BYU. Could be a tough week, but MSU should get it done.

State should handle JU easily, Green-93, JU-69

[Future Spartan]

STATE HANGS ON

Jacksonville almost snuck up on the Spartans at the Breslin Center. MSU ended up beating JU 76-69 in a close and tight game. Center Goran Suton lead the Spartans with 18 points, followed by Raymar Morgan with 15. Marquise Gray owned the glass once again, 10 points, 16 rebounds; his fourth consecutive double double. After 4 years, (redshirted) he is finally living up to his 5 star potential. Neitzel had 13 points on a struggling night, 4-13 from the field.

NATIONAL SIGNING WEEK

Izzo has signed two top prospects to play for the 08-09 Spartans. All-American Point Guard Savoy Dearman, the 8th ranked player in the class, and W.M. Franks, the 31st ranked player. Dearman, a 5'10 160 lb. guard is very undersized, but makes up for it with his ability to shoot and drive. Franks, a 6'8 216 lb forward has a lot of upside.

Next Game: At Bradley, should be a close fought game. Bradley is struggling of late, (4-4) but will be looking to bounce back against the Spartans. MSU should hang on, make it Green 72, Bradley 68