great article, on a team thats been toying with my heart for the last 3 years
http://www.freep.com/sports/michstat...e_20041201.htm
DREW SHARP: Spartans too timid
Michigan State must acquire killer instinct -- for seniors' sake
December 1, 2004
BY DREW SHARP
FREE PRESS COLUMNIST
DURHAM, N.C. -- The claustrophobic aren't welcomed here. This is basketball with a saliva spray. It's in your face. It's in your hair.
The hyperkinetic sardine can that's also called Cameron Indoor Stadium provides one of the strongest competitive tests. If you can keep your wits here, you can keep them anywhere.
Time is closing in on Michigan State's seniors. They're feeling smothered, a legacy of failure breathing down their necks.
"I'm tired of losing these close games," said Alan Anderson. "I've had to put up with it my first three years. I'm tired of coming up empty-handed. I'm tired of having to take positives out of a close loss, like we competed and played hard."
Well there's a simple solution.
Win!
Make a big shot! Make a big stop! Make a big free throw!
Make something happen!
Instead, the Spartans' 81-74 loss to the Dookies further underscored the ingredient missing from this team.
They've got the numbers. They've got the offensive diversity. They've got the athleticism. They've got the speed. They've got the desire to defend. They're more than talented enough to beat you, but they're not tough enough to snatch a win away from you.
They just don't have "it."
This remains a team that scares too easily. They still haven't beaten a nationally ranked team since late in the 2002-03 season.
"We didn't play scared," said Paul Davis. "I thought we did a pretty good job of taking their crowd out of it, and that's always a big factor when you play down here. But we just couldn't get it done down the stretch."
This isn't a vintage Duke team. The Blue Devils are in transition, having lost a freshman (forward Luol Deng) and a prized recruit (Shaun Livingston) to the NBA draft. Their bench comprises names requiring an FBI search to determine who they are.
But even as the Blue Devils trailed by as many as 10 points in the first half, they still looked like a team certain it would win.
The Spartans haven't had that look since Andre Hutson and Charlie Bell left four years ago.
Where was their J.J. Redick or Daniel Ewing?
The expression "on fire" is loosely applied these days, but these kids were gasoline accepting the match all night. Redick even amazed himself with some of the aerials that fell, shaking his head as he ran back down the court.
Tom Izzo screamed at his defense: "Don't let him set his feet!"
And when they got in his face, Redick would take them off the dribble.
It was the Blue Devils' sizeable edge along the frontcourt that proved the difference in their 22-point romp in East Lansing last year. But it was the guards this time, with Redick and Ewing combining for nearly 72 percent of Duke's offense.
The Spartans don't merit a pat on the back for coming back, closing the gap to two with a little more than four minutes remaining.
Aren't they beyond the point of moral victories?
The problem is that Izzo can't provide the answer for the biggest question about his team. The Spartans want to define themselves as a special team, but do they need to define themselves under those terms?
And that's got to come from the players.
For all the talent at the Spartans' disposal, they're headed for another abbreviated NCAA tournament run unless someone grabs them by their pride and pulls.
Davis thought the Spartans should have fed the post more, but it's incumbent upon him to prove himself worthy of carrying the heavy load. His teammates don't know whether, on any given night, he'll take a game off.
And nobody trusts that the senior triplets -- Anderson, Chris Hill and Kelvin Torbert -- are capable of stepping forward at the climactic moment.
The toughest player might very well be sophomore guard Shannon Brown.
The kid is fearless. This could have been his backyard in Chicago instead of the home of the Cameron Crazies. He had a thunderous slam off an alley-oop that even the home crowd appreciated.
Brown was frustrated by some of the things he saw during his freshman year, but his father told him that a young fella must defer to his elders, so Brown stayed quiet and adapted.
But he has become the assertive force on this team, pushing his way into the starting lineup -- at the expense of Torbert, who has become a sixth man.
"You recruit guys who you believe have those leadership qualities that you're looking for," Izzo said, "but those qualities emerge in their own time, and that can be frustrating for a coach."
That's because time is running out for his seniors.
Contact DREW SHARP at 313-223-4055 or
dsharp@freepress.com. Order his book, "Razor Sharp," for $14.95 at
www.freep.com/bookstore or by calling 800-245-5082.
users 
Michigan State 
Linear Mode
