How a tournament this new is a "classic" I'm not sure. I know, Classic is associated with basketball tournaments. I'm trying to figure out why.
MSU returned to "classic" form for the first round of the CBE against Chicago State. The game was dominated throughout, and once the Spartans locked down on defense (and Chicago missed the 3 point bombs everyone else seems to make), the score started to indicate just how dominant the performance was.
The Spartans had a substantial rebounding edge. Morgan (despite Ellie's opinion otherwise) is about 25lbs of muscle larger this year. Mentally he is what Gray should be; unstoppable and playing the game like everyone else is in slow motion. No thought, just instinctive action. Finally Morgan was standing beside Gray during a technical foul timeout when Ellie said "wow, I thought Morgan was Gray for a second." That's how physically big Morgan is now.
Morgan played like the tweener he is against Chicago State. He was too quick (and honestly too strong) for Chicago State's biggest players, and far too strong (and quick) for the smaller Chicago State forwards/guards. I am anxious to see how he does against the big ten.
I stand by the statement that Kalin Lucas is the best all around freshman I've seen come in (I was not at MSU yet when Mateen came in, though I saw them on TV). Mateen was a better leader--but needed to be. Walton is this team's leader, along with Drew, but Lucas has got to be #3 already on the leader list. He is the kind of player that drives you crazy on defense. He is the key to this season (along with Gray and Suton being consistently decent).
Drew isn't getting a lot of shots to drop. His shooting seems to be coming around. Teams are hounding him though, and again, he seems to be a step slow, a little sluggish off picks and off the dribble. He will continue to get better looks as the freshmen hit more shots.
Chris Allen never saw a shot he didn't like. He will shoot the ball until he can't lift his arms. I suppose I'm fine with that, as long as the bigs hit the boards.
I like Naymick. He's our best defender on the block. I also like the way he plays instinctually this year. I don't know how else to describe it. Some players think and then do (too late). Some players just do (anticipate and act). Naymick has been a victim of overthinking in the past. He seems confident. If Suton ever got to the point where he just did (correctly) it would help his defense 100%. He's too slow to handicap himself by overthinking.
We play again on Monday in K.C. Should be interesting to see what happens on national tv.
Go Green!
(Gus has been replaced, rumor has it, by Tim Bograkos for now)
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