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The NBA Draft Stock Report checks in on which college basketball players have made a name for themselves in the past week; either helping or hurting their future draft position. With conference play underway, we get a better understanding of how NBA Draft prospects respond to playing better competition than some of the cupcake opponents they face in the non-conference.
Click here for The Sports Bank’s 2012 NBA Mock Draft.
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For the Michigan State basketball team, the tests that the players take in the classroom are probably a breeze compared to the tests Tom Izzo gives them.
How’s this for a multiple-choice question? To open your season you will:
a) Face a #1 ranked UNC squad
b) Face a top-ten Duke team at Madison Square Garden
c) Face a Gonzaga team in a game that has packed much more meaning in the past few years on the ‘Zags’ home court.
d) Face a Florida State team that did maximum damage in the ACC last season
e) All of the above
If you guessed E, you’re correct and you probably already know that a heavy-hitting schedule for Tom Izzo’s team isn’t even a surprise anymore. It’s expected. The words “cupcake schedule” don’t fly in East Lansing.
But opening on this tough tear may be just the swift kick-start that puts a little hair on the chests of this young remodeled team of Spartans players.
But this year, even Tom Izzo has outdone himself. [Read more…]
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When Tom Izzo looks at this current Michigan State Spartans crew, he sees similarities to the 2007- 2008 Drew Neitzel led squad. The coach referenced this at the school’s media day and said that this year’s team is young, gritty but close-knit.
Neitzel’s team, and it was his team no doubt, is like the mold of this year’s squad.
That final four team had lost its trio of superstars—stellar seniors Maurice Ager and Paul Davis and junior Shannon Brown, who now has a few rings with the L.A. Lakers. This year’s team has lost experienced Final Four veterans, and quite frankly, expectations are barely existent.
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By Paul M. Banks
As Kermit the frog once taught us, “it’s not easy being green.” To wear the green and white of Michigan State, a player must be tough, tenacious, defend like his hair is on fire and be almost willing to give his life for a defensive rebound. Kind of sounds like sophomore forward Draymond Green.
Like the narrator said in “300,” “Only the hard can be Spartans, only the strong.”
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By Paul M. Banks
Welcome to a new quasi-weekly feature where we discuss some of the biggest topics in the Michigan State Spartan world, with the insight and observations of legendary coach Tom Izzo. This installment covers the ascension of sophomore forward Draymond Green.
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