In the post-game festivities after demolishing Nebraska yesterday, it was hard for even Tom Izzo to find much to complain about (though he did think of a couple of things). The discussion that stuck out to me was the idea that MSU is rolling out 10 guys every night with almost no drop off. Sometimes the bench guys right the ship after a slow start and sometimes they give a burst of energy after everything settles in. In an ideal world, the rotation would shrink a little, but who are you giving LESS time to right now? EVERYBODY is contributing and it's a problem for opponents. MSU's poor three-point shooting was disguising the fact that this team is really good at a LOT of things. In the second half, I think MSU just wore Nebraska out and they folded like a chair after a church potluck dinner.
But you have to wonder if playing so many guys will cause some problems. Izzo told some funny stories about Jaxon and Jeremy wanting to pad their stats at the end of the game. It does not seem to be a problem right now, which is awesome, but it might be something to watch. I think that the obvious solution to this issue is just to run more so guys are OK just playing 24-28 minutes.
I also got a bit of a bonus quote from Jase right at the end of the player availability in the locker room. Izzo mentioned that he has never coached a player who was as "ready for the moment" as a freshman than Richardson (which I think is accurate). I asked Jase about this comment and asked why he thinks that might be the case. His initial answer was:
"I am trying to put as much confidence as I can into myself when I'm playing the game, when I came in here, I came in here with a lot of confidence that I was going to be able to play right away."
I then followed up by asking him if he got any tips from his dad (which is what I think the actual answer is) and he said:
"He just told me, come here, keep my head down and work. every day just keep working. You never know who is watching and, you know, play your hardest."
Check out the full article here:
The Spartans are consistently playing at least 10 guys ... and loving it.
michiganstate.rivals.com
