Spartans Sold On Team Concept, From Defense To Development
By Ashley Dunkak
@AshleyDunkak
EAST LANSING - Whether Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo agrees with the distinction or not, the seven-seed Spartans enter Saturday's Final Four matchup as the underdog against one-seed Duke.
Duke is one of the highest-scoring teams in the nation, and by Izzo's own admission, the Spartans do not have the kind of lockdown defenders they have had in previous seasons.
However, Izzo expressed confidence Tuesday in what the Spartans do have: players willing to help each other, both during games and in preparation for them.
For starters, the coach has been impressed by the team's defense, the absence of defensive stars notwithstanding.
"Maybe [Branden] Dawson's the closest thing to a lockdown defender," Izzo said in a press conference. "Some of our other defenders, it's kind of the open door policy. So we just made some commitments to go back to how we use to play as far as being in gaps and doing our work early and helping each other, almost having five guys guarding the ball and the other guys. Really what our rules are is every guy's got to guard his man and somebody else's, and the team's slowly bought into that.
"We've evolved into a different kind of defense," Izzo continued. "We're not a smashmouth defensive team, we're not a team that gets after you as hard, but we are pretty solid, pretty steady ... It's been great that guys have bought into something, and I think that's what they've bought into, the team concept of defense, helping one another, knowing they're not good enough individually, but collectively, they've done an incredible job."
The improvement the Spartans have shown in that regard has surprised even Izzo. While Michigan State may not be a defensive powerhouse - and while the players might not be quite as talented overall as ones on previous rosters - the group functions well together, and that has been enough.
"When some of our defensive stats came out in the Big Ten, I'm coaching the team, but I'm amazed by the stats, so they were better than I thought," Izzo said. "I kept saying to my staff, 'How?' Then you'd watch us, and we were pretty solid, would be our best word. We didn't turn people over a lot; we didn't do a lot of things like that. We were pretty solid."
The players have clearly bought into the team concept in other areas, too. Izzo marveled at the leadership of seniors Branden Dawson and Travis Trice, who among others have made a point to aid in the development of their teammates.
"I don't think of it this way, but in a small way for a small period of time, [Lourawls Nairn Jr.] took Travis' job, and Travis Trice has been so good with that kid," Izzo said. "On the road, they're so good it's amazing, and of all the people, Branden Dawson, who to me doesn't have that same personality, he's taken Marvin [Clark Jr.] under his wing the whole time, and I keep reminding those freshmen every day, 'You'd better appreciate those guys. You'd better appreciate them a lot because not everyone does this.'"
In Izzo's eyes, the closeness the players have developed as they help each other grow has turned a relatively average team - one that finished the regular season with a record of 21-10 - into a Final Four team.
"This is some of the things that has separated this year's team: from top to bottom there is a - I don't know if you can use the word, but there is a true love for one another," Izzo said, "and that is a powerful, powerful thing, so I'm appreciative of those upperclassmen. Even go far as [Matt] Costello. He was starting early, and I started [Gavin] Schilling. Some of it was because of foul trouble and different things, but they've kind of helped out the people that are even threatening their own jobs.
"I'm just not sure in our society in this day and age that's normal, but for this team it's normal, and it's probably what's taken a decent-to-good basketball team and on Saturday night going to play in the greatest weekend of sports in our country," Izzo added, "so yeah, I'm pretty proud of them, pretty excited about it."
