A rotation that worked

Something clicked yesterday.  The team we saw on the floor was a different team we saw from the previous game against Miami.  What changed? We can state the obvious home court advantage, Nicholls State playing without their top three players, etc. And while all those reasons are true, the Spartans also found a rotation that worked.

For starters, Payne became a sixth man rather than starting with Nix.  But the real butter on the toast was Dawson positioned as the power forward, a position he does not normally play.  The man did a phenomenal job as the four and not only was 4-5 for his own field goals, but also helped create baskets from other players as well.  At one point, his quick hands anticipated a pass from Nicholls State, stole the ball, and dribbled it down the court for one of his famous one-handed dunks.  I watched a special on the Big Ten Network, later in the evening, about the Top Ten Dunkers in the Big Ten.  With greats like Greg Kelser, Shannon Brown, and Jason Richardson, all making the Top Ten, I thought to myself, "Give Dawson time, and he will be on that list some day."  His athleticism was by far a highlight and enabled his team to play with great speed and confidence.

Then there were our Bigs.  Payne got a double-double with 10 points and 12 rebounds.  The man wanted the ball.  This was a stark contrast to the game against Miami where our Bigs played like they were Goliath who had just been hit with a stone.  Payne and Nix wanted the ball and attacked the basket.  In fact, every Spartan who played yesterday was in attack mode.  That's right, they battled against the Trojans.  Harris and Valentine made clear that their freshmen success was not pure luck, but was here to stay.  Valentine connected with Nix for a simple alley-oop dunk.  Valentine did a no-look pass to Harris for another quick play in the paint.  Those kind of plays come from knowing your teammates well.  If they're coming from the hands of freshmen, expect more of this.

Some might argue that you can't take too much stock in yesterday's performance as it was based on a short-handed Nicholls State team.  True.  But games like this are important to remind teams of what they're made of, what they can do, and perhaps, try out a rotation that from what we saw, seems to work.  For Michigan State, that win was not only necessary for our actual record, but also for our morale as well.

And last, but certainly not least, our team likes each other.  They celebrate each other's successes whether on the court and from the bench.  Smiles were all around the Breslin.  And from my couch, the smile was pretty big as well.

Next up: Arkansas-Pine Bluff on December 5th.