Michigan State's Izzo still aims for Big Ten title

Tom Izzo thrives on putting his team on the biggest stages against the best programs in college basketball.

Izzo kind of wishes he didn't this year.

Michigan State opens the season Nov. 11 against North Carolina aboard the USS Carl Vinson in San Diego and plays Duke four days later at Madison Square Garden.

''Of all the years to start out with Carolina and Duke, if I had to look at my 17 years, this would rank in the bottom couple that I'd want to do that with,'' Izzo said without the hint of a joke.

Izzo hasn't been this uncertain about his team since his first two seasons as Jud Heathcote's successor in the mid-1990s.

He has just two players who averaged double-digit minutes last season, forcing him to count on contributions from up to seven Spartans who haven't played a single moment for the program.

Izzo thought he'd have seniors Delvon Roe, Korie Lucious and Garrick Sherman on the roster when he agreed to play the Tar Heels on an aircraft carrier, an idea Michigan State athletic director Mark Hollis has been working on for several years, and to play the Blue Devils in New York.

But Roe's career ended before this season started because of knee injuries, Lucious transferred to Iowa State and Sherman left to play at Notre Dame. Add the fact that Kalin Lucas and Durrell Summers, the first- and third-leading scorers last season as seniors, are gone and it's easy to understand why some expect the elite program to slip.

Michigan State was picked third in the Big Ten preseason poll and isn't expected to start the season ranked. Simply extending the school's NCAA tournament streak to 15 years would be seen by some as a feat.

Izzo, though, refuses to give in to the bar being lowered.

The coach with one national championship, six Big Ten titles and six Final Four appearances insisted this team still has goals of winning the conference championship and playing in the national semifinals.

''I think most of the time, I'm pretty realistic,'' he said.

Michigan State will go as far as Draymond Green can lead the team on and off the court.

The do-it-all senior forward, a preseason All-Big Ten player, averaged 12-plus points last season and led the team by grabbing almost nine rebounds and making more than four assists per game. Green became the third Spartan to have a triple-double last season, then the seventh to pull off the accomplishment in the NCAA tournament.

Michigan State didn't have a true leader last season in part because Lucas and Summers were struggling. Lucious was dismissed from the team during a season of relative turmoil, and Izzo is looking to Green to do more than score, rebound, pass and defend.

''Leadership will be the most important thing he does,'' Izzo said.

Shooting, distributing the ball and locking down guards is what sophomore guard Keith Appling will be asked to do.

Appling was a scoring sensation in high school, setting a Michigan state title game record with 49 points in 2009, but he deferred to Lucas last season and scored just six points a game. He bristled at the notion that he's playing for a rebuilding team.

''We're looking forward to shocking a lot of people,'' Appling said.

He will likely be joined in the starting backcourt with Brandon Wood, who transferred to Michigan State after graduating from Valparaiso. Wood took advantage of an NCAA loophole that allows him to play immediately because he has a bachelor's degree, has eligibility left and is pursuing a master's degree that wasn't offered at the Horizon League school in Indiana. Freshman Travis Trice, one of three freshmen expected to play right away, is projected to back up Appling and Wood at point guard.

On the perimeter, freshmen Branden Dawson and Brandan Kearney will have every opportunity to learn on the job. Inside, Derrick Nix and Adreian Payne will help the Spartans soar or sink. With the loss of Roe and Sherman, the duo of Nix and Payne will play a lot because there aren't a lot of other options.

In a season full of unknowns, Izzo knows that he and his players will learn a lot more about where they stand in a few weeks after facing North Carolina and Duke - two of the top teams in the nation.

''We as coaches, they as players, are going to have a better understanding of where they are right off the bat,'' Izzo said. ''The name of the game is to get better each and every game, not worry about what you do in November, but worry about more in February and March.''