Media Day: Lots of pieces, plenty of questions

EAST LANSING - Midway through an elongated preseason, Tom Izzo feels progress has been made toward his team’s question-mark areas, but more is needed.

“Some questions won't be answered until we start playing,” Izzo said during the Spartans’ Media Day press conference on Tuesday.

He has a long list of them:

* Who will emerge as the starting power forward? How will playing time be divvied up at that position?

* Will Josh Langford come back fully and successfully from an ankle injury that ended his season last year?

* Will Kyle Ahrens come back fully from an ankle injury which nearly ended his career last March?

* Can Michigan State fill the shooting and defensive versatility it lost in the graduations of Matt McQuaid and Kenny Goins?

* Can Michigan State deal with preseason expectations being potentially greater than ever?

“There's a chance we could be ranked No. 1 for the first time in the history of our school to start out the season, which means, unfortunately, nothing,” Izzo said.

He pointed out again that the only team to be ranked No. 1 at the beginning and the end of the season was 2009’s North Carolina team.

“They beat us by 20-some at the beginning of the year and beat us by 18 at the end of the year,” Izzo said. “So they're about the only team, and there were about three or four NBA players (on that team).”

How many NBA players does Michigan State have this year? Aaron Henry has a good chance to stick in the league. Cassius Winston and Xavier Tillman will get their chances, although they don’t have the traditional measurables for their positions.

“We don't have a ton of guys that are in everybody's first round, all-everything, but we have experience,” Izzo said. “We have very good players. Any success we have is still going to be through two things, if you ask me. A lot of hard work and try to limit the distractions that are out there every day of the year.

“With Cassius, Xavier, Aaron, and Josh, it looks good. On the other hand, you could easily say that we lost three starters. We lost Matt McQuaid, we lost Kenny Goins, and we lost Nick Ward. In that group, it was 30 points and 15 rebounds. I think people have lost sight of that a little bit, which I don't think matters one way or another.

“It would be an honor if that happened, and if it did, we would embrace it. We're going to be picked in the top five, and I think that's awesome for the program, awesome for the players.

“So while I'll embrace the expectations, while I'm excited about it, I'm hoping we're still going to remain the same blue collar institution that we are and blue collar program. We're going to continue to preach that. More importantly, our leaders will continue to preach that.”

The Spartans are three weeks into preseason camp, and three weeks from starting their season against Kentucky in the Champions Classic on Nov. 5 in New York City.

Michigan State will play an exhibition game at 7 p.m. on Oct. 29 against Albion at Breslin Center.

Michigan State Madness will be staged on Oct. 25 at Breslin Center.

Six weeks is a longer preseason than the NCAA has allowed in recent years. Izzo doesn’t entirely like it.

“We've been going two days on, one day off,” Izzo said. “We've actually taken more days off than normal, but we started so damn early, that I think it was a necessity.”

Especially for one of four teams that played into the first week of April, last season.

The Spartans upset No. 1 Duke in the Elite Eight last year and earned their 10th Final Four trip in school history, and the eighth of Izzo’s Hall of Fame era.

Michigan State lost to Texas Tech in the Final Four, 61-51, with Aaron Henry getting in foul trouble and a thin bench finally catching up to the Spartans.

“If you watched that last game and watched (Matt) McQuaid kind of cramping up twice during the game,” Izzo said, “him and Cassius (Winston) and a lot of guys played a lot of straight minutes, and that wasn't healthy for us.”

Izzo is coaching October practices with an urgency to make progress toward solving question marks but realizing it’s a marathon route to March.

“I re-watched a couple of those Big Ten Tournament and NCAA games last year, and you could see Cassius almost walking on his knees (from fatigue),” Izzo said. “This summer, he took some time off. We told him he's got to get those legs stronger, not only for his quads but also his defense because that's one area that has to improve if he's going to really take us to another level.”

Winston was first-team All-America last year and is a leading candidate for National Player of the Year honors in 2020.

“He had a great year, until at the end of the year, the knee a little bit, just wear and tear,” Izzo said. “I thought he did everything we asked of him and more (this summer), and I'm anxious to see how that pans out.”

As for the main areas of question, Izzo says slow progress is being made:

Sophomores Marcus Bingham and Thomas Kithier are the leading candidates to round out the starting lineup.

Bingham can play stretch four on offense, and defend the pivot on defense.

Kithier was ahead of Bingham in the playing group last year, but the long, athletic Bingham has a high ceiling of potential.

Freshman Malik Hall has stretch four capabilities, and freshman center Julius Marble has impressed Izzo with his low post toughness.

“We have an empty position there a little bit,” Izzo said. “Which one of those young kids will emerge? Someone's going to play in that position that doesn't have much experience, and that will be a question mark that I think we're going to have to address as we go.”

Izzo believes players determine their own playing time more so than the coaches, just by how well they play. But the choices at power forward aren’t clear cut at this point.

“I like the pieces,” Izzo said. “I like the opportunity. What I don't like is there's not been a lot of separation yet. It seems like Malik can do a little something. Marcus can probably shoot it better than anybody. Thomas Kithier probably plays the best with Xavier right now. He knows how to stay out of his way. Julius Marble might be the strongest, toughest of the bunch, one of the best rebounders of the bunch, and yet there's not a lot of separation.

“So there's going to be some picking and choosing here the next couple of weeks. That's why the scrimmages and the preseason are going to be important, and then we're right into the fire with Kentucky right off the bat.”

“He's definitely not going to be the same player today as he's going to be in three weeks, and he's definitely not going to be the same player then as he'll be probably by the beginning of December,” Izzo said. “If he's out seven to seven and a half months, it could take three months to get him back to where he was at.”

Langford averaged 15 points and 3.6 rebounds per game last year while shooting 40 percent from 3-point range.

“I’m excited about Josh because he's excited to be back playing,” Izzo said. “He kept himself in great shape. He did an unbelievable job with his body this summer, not being able to do much running. He shot out of a chair all summer. His shot looks good.

“Since he started playing full a few weeks ago, he's been very impressive but still with some unknowns. Being able to play every day will be the big key.”

Izzo said sophomore wing Gabe Brown or senior wing Kyle Ahrens could get a look at power forward, especially late in games, if Michigan State needs shooting, free throw shooting or small-ball defenders.

“I always felt good when we have the ability to go big or go small,” Izzo said. “Never felt good about going home. So I'd like to go big, go small, not go home. I think that's the kind of team I have.”

Ahrens has endured multiple injuries, from head to toe, dating back to middle school. He sustained a major ankle injury during Michigan State’s victory over Michigan in the Big Ten Championship Game, putting his fifth year of eligibility in question for 2019-20. But he rallied with a good spring and summer of rehabilitation.

“We really missed him in the NCAA Tournament,” Izzo said. “He was playing 18, 19 minutes a game, and I think we got in foul trouble, and having him out really hurt us in those games, but he's come back and has really been one of our vocal leaders. Kyle started playing again in July. He is one of our best athletes, and I think he's been kind of a forgotten man here in a lot of ways.”

Ahrens said his vertical leaping ability, which approached 40 inches, isn’t completely back, and it probably isn’t coming back. But he still has good juice to his game, and says he is playing smarter. His shooting and defense will come in handy, provided that he stays on the court.

“If those two guys (Ahrens and Langford) stay healthy, it's going to make our team a lot different,” Izzo said.