MSU Will Sink or Swim with Neitzel
Oh way back on December 4th, 2005 I wrote a post about the Spartans struggling in the early non-conference season.
I discussed the team’s problems against a zone, Neitzel’s “dribblitis”, lack of defense and no movement on offense.
Most of these issues were blatantly apparent in Michigan State’s 60-50 loss to Illinois on Thursday night.
The Spartans defense wasn’t bad. Illinois just made some great shots. Almost every shot was contended and MSU played decent perimeter defense despite the Illini shooting 10-21 beyond the arc. And Illinois did not play in a zone to disrupt State.
Where MSU failed was on offense and it was due to the poor play of Drew Neitzel.
Michigan State will never have another point guard like Mateen Cleaves. However, Neitzel possesses the potential to be a very good point guard, he just plays too weakly.
The Spartans took an early 13-10 lead on an 11-2 run mostly due to Neitzel pushing the fast break and finding Paul Davis off dribble-drive penetration. Then after that Neitzel backed off, Davis got in foul trouble and the Illini ended the first half on a 25-15 run.
Neitzel routinely starts the MSU offense from 40 feet out. This allows defenses to pressure the ball and half-court and trap in the corners. He also picks up his dribble too early, allowing the trap to be even more successful. And when Neitzel does not pick up his dribble too early, he dribbles and dribbles and dribbles around the perimeter. In the game against Illinois he was called for a five second violation. That is inexcusable for a sophomore point guard with Neitzel’s experience.
Another Neitzel faux pas is his inability or lack of recognition to put the ball at a specific spot. He waits for Maurice Ager to be open as opposed to throwing the ball where Ager will be after streaking off a screen. Furthermore, Neitzel does not give the ball to Davis in the post on a regular basis and even more disconcerting is that Ager does not get enough touches. He only took eight shots against Illinois. The best offensive player in the Big 10 should shoot the ball between fifteen and twenty times.
So the Spartans success depends entirely on Neitzel. If he starts to run the offense in a more efficacious manner, i.e., feed Davis the ball on the block and get Ager the appropriate touches at the right times, as well as limit is tendency to dribble on the perimeter for most of the shot clock, MSU will go far in the NCAA Tournament and contend for a National Title. However, if Neitzel continues his play, the Spartans will have trouble winning eleven games in the Big 10.
The defense has improved, but now it is MSU’s offense that is slowing this team down. And the improvement on offense is solely on Neitzel’s back. The game at Wisconsin will tell if the Spartans can handle another top defensive team and if Neitzel can eliminate his mistakes and pick up MSU’s sluggish offense.
I discussed the team’s problems against a zone, Neitzel’s “dribblitis”, lack of defense and no movement on offense.
Most of these issues were blatantly apparent in Michigan State’s 60-50 loss to Illinois on Thursday night.
The Spartans defense wasn’t bad. Illinois just made some great shots. Almost every shot was contended and MSU played decent perimeter defense despite the Illini shooting 10-21 beyond the arc. And Illinois did not play in a zone to disrupt State.
Where MSU failed was on offense and it was due to the poor play of Drew Neitzel.
Michigan State will never have another point guard like Mateen Cleaves. However, Neitzel possesses the potential to be a very good point guard, he just plays too weakly.
The Spartans took an early 13-10 lead on an 11-2 run mostly due to Neitzel pushing the fast break and finding Paul Davis off dribble-drive penetration. Then after that Neitzel backed off, Davis got in foul trouble and the Illini ended the first half on a 25-15 run.
Neitzel routinely starts the MSU offense from 40 feet out. This allows defenses to pressure the ball and half-court and trap in the corners. He also picks up his dribble too early, allowing the trap to be even more successful. And when Neitzel does not pick up his dribble too early, he dribbles and dribbles and dribbles around the perimeter. In the game against Illinois he was called for a five second violation. That is inexcusable for a sophomore point guard with Neitzel’s experience.
Another Neitzel faux pas is his inability or lack of recognition to put the ball at a specific spot. He waits for Maurice Ager to be open as opposed to throwing the ball where Ager will be after streaking off a screen. Furthermore, Neitzel does not give the ball to Davis in the post on a regular basis and even more disconcerting is that Ager does not get enough touches. He only took eight shots against Illinois. The best offensive player in the Big 10 should shoot the ball between fifteen and twenty times.
So the Spartans success depends entirely on Neitzel. If he starts to run the offense in a more efficacious manner, i.e., feed Davis the ball on the block and get Ager the appropriate touches at the right times, as well as limit is tendency to dribble on the perimeter for most of the shot clock, MSU will go far in the NCAA Tournament and contend for a National Title. However, if Neitzel continues his play, the Spartans will have trouble winning eleven games in the Big 10.
The defense has improved, but now it is MSU’s offense that is slowing this team down. And the improvement on offense is solely on Neitzel’s back. The game at Wisconsin will tell if the Spartans can handle another top defensive team and if Neitzel can eliminate his mistakes and pick up MSU’s sluggish offense.
posted by az at 1:12 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home