Rosemont, Ill. -- Michigan State had one of the nation's top rosters last season. That, like its Elite Eight run, was not uncommon for a program that's reached the Final Four six times under Tom Izzo.
Players and coaches agree, however, that the Spartans, picked to finish second in the conference in a league poll, had leadership problems that impacted the team last year. But they're determined to avoid the same issues in 2014-15.
"I'll say that Keith Appling and (Adreian Payne), they really weren't the two who really talked a lot," Branden Dawson said Thursday during Big Ten Media Day. "Gary Harris, he didn't really talk like that. Keith, he was kind of shy. Now, I feel like, myself, Travis [Trice], and Denzel [Valentine] ... we can talk to each other. Last year, we would talk to each other but it wasn't like we were all on the same page."
Dawson said the team's veterans were impacted by former Michigan State star and current Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green, who spent time with the program in East Lansing during the offseason. Green was one of Izzo's best players and leaders and he backed up his words with how he competed. This year's upperclassmen intend to follow that example, Dawson said.
"They were just so quiet," Dawson said about last season's veterans. "Not trying to throw those guys under the bus but this year, our communication is better. I talk a lot. Denzel is talking a lot and Travis is too. ... As far as this year, we're all on the same page."
His coach agrees. Izzo kicked off Big Ten Media Day by addressing leadership challenges that he doesn't expect to affect the team this year.
"I think [this is] a team with the same kind of passion we had last year, the same kind of camaraderie, but a little better leadership," he said. "Last year just wasn't ... it wasn't a strength of our team. It wasn't necessarily a weakness, but we had, we didn't have quite the leadership that I think we have with Travis Trice and Denzel Valentine."
Trice said the team's veterans have made an effort to hold more team meetings and to be more vocal, especially with younger players. He said an established group of leaders is something that the Spartans lacked last year.
"When you don't have a designated leader," Trice said, "it makes it hard because everyone wants to be the guy or everybody tries to fill that role and that can be confusing at times."