Mikey D

Early in the first half, the ball zipped around the perimeter and found itself in the hands of a wide-open Mike Kebler. From 15-feet, he let it fly.

Swish!

It was the first jump shot I can ever recall Mike Kebler hitting. I should have felt happy for the guy; happy that he was contributing to the team's effort against our most hated rival.

But it was at that moment that reality had finally sunk in. It hit me like a ton of MSU shots (bricks...see what I did there?)- we're now a team that needs and relies on guys like Mike Kebler and Austin Thornton (walk-ons, nonetheless) to contribute meaningful minutes because we have nobody else.

It shouldn't have been like this. Lucas was supposed to come back healthy, Summers was supposed to keep his tournament form, Lucious was supposed to grow as a player after his fantastic tournament performance, and we were supposed to have Allen. Appling was supposed to come in and be our 5th guard. Kebler and Thornton were never supposed to see the floor, except during 30-point blowout wins against Michigan at the Breslin.

The loss of Lucious was really felt last night. Despite his poor performances during recent games and poor decision making, Lucious was flat-out a better option at point guard than anyone else on our team. When Lucious was in the game, teams had to respect the fact that he was a 3-point threat, and they had to respect his ability to create for teammates (2nd on the team in assists). With Kebler, there is no threat. Of anything. If Lucas has an off-night, there is no one who can pick the team up in the backcourt.

And poor Keith Appling. Last night also made me realize how tough this must be on him. He's been thrust into the starting role and asked to play as well as an Allen or Lucious, not because he's ready, but because we need him to. Again, we have no other choice. I'm sure he feels the pressure, too, but it's sad he does. The kid is just a freshman, and should have been the 5th man in our guard rotation. To put in perspective, Appling is, in essence, trying to replace both Allen and Lucious. It's impossible.

I'm afraid it's time to reach the conclusion that this team is what it is. The time to question a lack of effort or chemistry is over, and now it's time to face reality. We have two great guards who have tremendous ability (and played great last night!), but no depth behind them. We have a great small forward in Green, but he's being asked to do too much in providing a low-post presence while also being a facilitator with the basketball. We have big bodies down low that cannot produce consistently on a nightly basis, for a variety of different reasons.

We are, for this year, a middle of the road team. We will be competitive every game, but that may not get us far (or into) the NCAAs. It hurts to say that. We are MSU basketball, and I want to be elite every year.

I think we need to look ahead a bit to next year and realize that it will (should) get better. Before the season we were planning on replacing Lucas, Summers, and Allen next year, and now we'll have Lucious to probably add to the list. Four perimeter players. Enter Travis Trice, Brandon Kearney, and Dwaun Anderson. Enter Russell Byrd, a sharp-shooting redshirt freshman. Throw in the heralded Branden Dawson at the small forward (allowing Green and Roe to work down low). The reinforcements are coming; it's just unfortunate we don't have two of them to use right now.

We'll have a pretty young group, so there will be some growing pains, but I think we're all a little tired of our current team. We need some fresh faces, some new blood, and hopefully some positive energy. I'm sure Izzo is looking forward to that as well.

For now, I'm still going to be living and dying on every shot, but my expectations have finally been tempered. My reality has been checked.

~Mikey D