Recruits impressed by MSU’s fast-break offense
Thanks to Mo Ager and Shannon Brown, MSU has been pushing the ball up the court as well or better than any team in the nation and have been doing it with high-flying style. The Lansing State Journal reports that recruits such as recently committed PG Kalin Lucas are definitely noticing the Spartan’s exciting brand of offense, and it’s a style that they want to play.
Watching Michigan State zip up and down the floor on fast break after fast break in a blowout of Wichita State, Lucas was sold.
“I was like, ‘Dang, they just push the ball up the floor all the time,’” recalled Lucas, a highly coveted prep point guard who verbally committed Thursday to MSU’s class of 2007. “This is my style; this is the style I want to play.”
That statement alone is an indication of an apparent change in perception regarding MSU coach Tom Izzo’s program. With athletes such as Maurice Ager and Shannon Brown making above-the-rim plays every night, the Spartans are no longer perceived as a football team in shorts.
Mick McCabe of the Detroit Free Press has some nice quotes from Kalin Lucas today about his commitment to MSU.
“I told him I wanted to play for him,” Lucas said Friday. “Before I could get out the word ‘commit,’ (Izzo) stared screaming.”
Lucas, 6-feet, is worth screaming about on a couple of fronts. He is one of the top junior point guards in the country, and next season he probably will be listed among the top 25 players at any position.
And Lucas doesn’t plan on signing with MSU alone. One of his closest friends is 6-3 Durrell Summers of Redford Covenant, another of the state’s top juniors who also has a fine national reputation.