Spartan Basketball 2006-2007: The Starters

Spring football is here. So what. College basketball is still fresh in my mind. Since Michigan State was unable to make it to a fourth final four in eight years I lost interest in this year’s NCAA Tournament. And Jon was right, outside of Florida and southern California, no one cared about this championship game.

So let’s take a quick look to next year’s Spartan basketball team.

(This was going to be a long post, so I split it into two posts: the starters and the players off the bench. I’ll do a spring football wrap-up after the practices conclude.)

Good-bye Maurice Ager and Paul Davis. It was fun for the four years you both were here. You both accomplished a lot and hopefully your professional careers will be filled with success.

Now onto next year.

2006-2007 Starting Line-up
PG – Drew Neitzel: Neitzel struggled this year running the team. That won’t be the case next year as he becomes a legitimate scorer. He needs to take it to the basket more often and improve defensively. If he does that he will have a strong year.

SG – Shannon Brown: He’s good. He’ll average 20 points/game and will get into the 30’s several times. The only concern is he doesn’t go into the Spartan Senior Slump like Adam Ballinger, Mike Chapelle and Chris Hill.

SF – Raymar Morgan: The freshman will get significant playing time and will produce. At 6’8’’ he can play the three or four and allows the Spartans to have versatility defensively. Morgan is an old school Izzo type player. He’ll hit the wall mid-season like all freshman do, but will still be a productive player.

PF – Marquise Gray: Gray must develop a 12-14 foot jump shot and improve on his free throw shooting. Generally players make their biggest improvement between their freshman and sophomore years. Under Coach Boylen Gray will make huge improvements and dominate in the post next year.

C – Drew Naymick: If Naymick can stay healthy he could be a nice surprise for Spartan fans. His role next year will be similar to Jason Andreas’ role a few years ago. Five or six points and seven or eight rebounds from Naymick will actually go a long way.