Such are the kingly basketball standards in East Lansing that even the best start in the 109-year history of the program, twenty wins by early February, and the tenth spot in the current AP poll aren’t enough to keep Izzo and the legions of his zone from maligning the team that has delivered these riches.

What for many programs would be cause for contract extensions and much pomp and circumstance brings yawns and discontent. But, alas, this is no ordinary basketball program and it is stewarded by no ordinary coach.

Banners Or Bust

Thanks to the success Izzo has delivered and continues to demand with the kind of zeal and exacting internal barometer by which even blowout wins are cause for pained faces and extra-long practices this has become a banner or bust basketball program. Either a banner is raised in the Breslin or there is consternation and laments from the fan base. That’s the price of National Championships, four Final Fours since 1999, and a conference best ten straight NCAA tournament appearances.

And the Spartan squads that have been deemed special by the prognosticators, squads with the blend of senior preseason All-Americans, upperclass stalwarts, and next wave superstars? Pity them. Izzo and the program’s faithful are going to prod and flog them until all potential has been realized, until new banners are unfurled, or else. No one in Green and White is allowed to entertain the or else category.

Such is the case with this week’s Spartans, a team despite two tough losses to representatives of the conference’s lower half that enters the week still in viable position for a Big Ten title run. And it is this week’s Indiana swing, tonight against first place Purdue and Saturday against the second place Hoosiers, that may well determine whether this Spartan team answers its elite expectations and rewards Izzo’s tough love with his fifth regular season Big Ten championship.

Take The Excuses Elsewhere

Of course one reason for the grumbling currently presiding in East Lansing is that the recent losses came against Iowa and Penn State, teams though far from pushovers, are in the midst of regime change and star absence respectively that have made it an uphill climb for both teams. Though the stingy defensive identity and intelligent play catalyzed by Lickliter and the fighting spirit of DeChellis’ team are to be credited, these were games this year’s Spartans were supposed to win. Excuses can be made in both cases, especially the home team’s free-throw olympiad in Happy Valley. But excuses, even valid ones, don’t enjoy much traction in Spartan country.

The Toughness Quotient

While the jumpshot of Neitzel has been a frequent explanation for the Spartans’ aura of fragility this season, given the recurring comments from Izzo, it is overall team intensity, concentration, and the fickleness of his freshmen on the defensive end that are of biggest concern. Certainly Neitzel’s shooting when at peak powers forgives many a sin, but Izzo correctly understands it is the other categories that will set the ceiling for this year’s ultimate success.

The buzzword Izzo trumpets year in and year out as the difference between his greatest teams and his merely great ones is toughness. It is toughness that gets teams through bad shooting nights, that allows a team to overcome bad officiating or an unfavorable turnover margin and escape with wins. And while his upperclassmen already have a molecular understanding of Izzo’s demand for mettle and effort, his first-year players are still absorbing some of these lessons and have exhibited lapses, especially on the less glamorous defensive end.

A Chance To Steal Two Back

The two losses have set up a scenario in which the Spartans’ Big Ten title aspirations will likely depend on stealing a few back. And the quickest solution would be to give the teams currently ahead of them in the race a home game blemish. Quick solutions, however, will not arrive easily.

Nights at Mackey have, in short order, become unforgiving of even modestly flawed efforts from visiting teams. With Painter’s own persuasion about team toughness finding a receptive, quick learning audience with his freshman, it will take an unwavering forty minutes of fortitude from the Spartans just to have a chance to win. Spartan experts also suggest a tough sled for Izzo’s bunch tonight.

The visit to the Assembly Hall is going to require a full bodied defensive effort both inside and out. Eric Gordon and his lively band of backcourt brothers will not forgive Izzo’s freshman forgetting to find their men or playing defense with their hands. The frontcourt depth of the Spartans could be the factor by which Izzo’s team can separate from the Hoosiers who are, beyond D.J., vulnerable down low.

The Season As An Arc

It is also important to consider Izzo’s penchant for getting his teams to peak at just the right time. While the value of a Big Ten regular season title is revered by Izzo, he is also not afraid to let his team practice through large swaths of the conference schedule. Where some coaches may take more opportunities to pull back the throttle before big conference games, Izzo often keeps the accelerator to the floor in practice. November through February are for teaching, March is for peaking.

While this approach can sometimes mean a few additional losses in conference, it often pays crucial dividends in the latter sections of the season. One need only check the conference results of several of Izzo’s Final Four teams for corroboration of this methodology.

On a micro level this philosophy is exemplified by Izzo’s response to adverse in-game circumstances such as those on January 15 against Ohio State. With the Buckeyes in the midst of an explosive run, a run that erased what was a twenty-point Spartan lead where many coaches would’ve called a timeout, Izzo let his team play through it. There are lessons imparted by sometimes letting a squad figure their way out of jams. Lessons that often come in handy in the biggest games of March.

Fight Or Flight

So facing the biggest week of its conference slate to date, will the Spartans look like a team ready to embrace its consensus preseason identity of Big Ten favorite and Final Four caliber ballclub or amplify the whispers of vulnerability planted by the losses to Iowa and Penn State? Whatever the case, Michigan State’s established excellence makes anything less than the best untenable for Izzo and the program’s acolytes. Needless to say, it’s a good problem to have.

Veni Vini Vaden

Just as D.J. White’s decision to stay a Hoosier appears to have been a wise one, his close friend and former teammate Robert Vaden is enjoying the fruits of loyalty to Mike Davis. Like D.J. who is having a senior season to remember, Vaden is assembling a junior campaign of note down in Birmingham. After landing on the All Big Ten freshman team in 2005 and notching All Big Ten Honorable Mention as a sophomore, Vaden has matured into a 20.8 per game scorer and team leader for Davis’ Blazer squad.

Given Eric Gordon’s residence in Bloomington, Vaden’s decision looks even better. Had he stayed he would’ve found himself orbiting the Gordon star along with the other of this year’s Hoosier backcourters. As Gordon says:

“Basically, coach gave me all the freedom I want. He promised me that, and he’s living up to that.”

While the Sampson kid gloves are working out well for E.J. and D.J., something says Vaden would’ve been less well served.

Harsh Echoes

Since beating Michigan on December 1, Amaker’s Harvard Crimson have gone 2-12 and now stand at 6-16 overall and dead last in the Ivy League.

After going 13-2 in one of his typically soft preseason schedules, Alford’s New Mexico club is 5-4 in Mountain West play with 17- and 19-point losses to BYU and UNLV.

Posted by DJ Elsass on Tuesday, February 12th, 2008 at 2:11 pm.