EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Drew Neitzel hasn't received the reception that typically accompanies a 6-foot, 170-pound freshman's arrival to the Michigan State campus.
Sure, with his short cropped hair and unassuming build, Neitzel looks very
much like just another West Michigan kid finding his way around the
classroom buildings on the banks of the Red Cedar River. If he was
sitting in a filled lecture hall and you were asked to pick out the
basketball player in the group, he certainly wouldn't be your first
selection.
Neitzel, however, isn't a typical freshman. He is a point
guard, and of late, those have been a bit rare at Michigan State. Hence,
the hype machine already is in full production mode, even as Neitzel is just going
through his first practices with the Spartans.
"A lot of people are saying I'm a savior and stuff like that," Neitzel
said, shaking his head in disbelief.
How's that for immediate pressure? Nothing like having the
entire Spartan universe telling an 18-year-old that he's the
difference-maker for a program that over the past seven seasons has won
174 games, four Big Ten titles, reached four Final Fours and won the
2000 national championship.
Even so, the past two Michigan State teams have been classic
examples of just how important a point guard is to winning in college
basketball. Ever since Marcus Taylor made the extremely ill-advised
decision to enter the NBA Draft after his sophomore season, Michigan
State coach Tom Izzo has been faking it a little at the point.
Izzo played Chris Hill, who thrives when he has time
to catch and shoot, some at point. He played wing Alan Anderson
there -- despite his never having played point guard growing up. Both players saw their production drop.
"I've had to do a little bit of putting round pegs in square
holes and square pegs in round holes," Izzo acknowledges. "You know
what? We won a lot of games, but usually in doing that, you sometimes
don't win championships."
And that's been the case with Michigan State. The Spartans have
come close to winning the Big Ten (tying for third in '03 and tying for
second a year ago), but they haven't been as dominant as they were in
the Mateen Cleaves era.
When Anderson, Hill and Kelvin Torbert arrived here before the
2001-02 season, they expected to watch banners be hoisted to the Breslin
Center roof, to receive gaudy championship rings and carry trophies off
the court like so many Spartans before them. But as they enter their
final season, they haven't truly won anything. And Anderson knows why.
"I think (not having a true point guard) played a big part,"
Anderson said. "You see what teams did with great point guards. You see
Jarrett Jack at Georgia Tech, you see (former Duke point guard Chris)
Duhon, you see Wake Forest and Chris Paul. The good point guards just
make everybody feel comfortable and they just put everybody in their
correct spots."
That's what Neitzel wants to accomplish as a freshman. He wants
to create comfort and direct traffic. If he does that, everything else -- the points, the victories, the accolades -- will come.
"I just want to help these guys out," said Neitzel, who averaged
33 points per game as a high school senior. "They haven't had a point
guard getting them the ball in the right spots, and I'm just going to try
to help them out and help their games go to the next level by making
them look good.
"All they need is someone getting them the right shot."
Last season, watching from the Breslin Center stands and on television
from his Grand Rapids home, the 2004 Michigan Mr. Basketball knew he
could have helped the team, which finished one game behind
Illinois in league standings.
"They did a good job last year for what they had," Neitzel said.
"They had tons of great players, but players were playing out of
position. They knew that; it was tough for them. For what they had, they
did a great job ... but I could see myself out there helping them."
Izzo hasn't decided whether to start Neitzel from the beginning
or bring him off the bench. Regardless, there's little question of his
importance as the Spartans attempt to catch Big Ten favorite Illinois.
If Neitzel can provide stability at the point, that's going take
pressure off of Anderson and Hill. Add Paul Davis, the Big Ten's best
big man, and athletic guards Shannon Brown and Maurice Ager to the
equation, and the Spartans could be a legitimate league title contender.
"Is there going to be too much pressure on the freshman? Of course. He
can never be everything everyone wants him to be," Izzo said. "But he's
got a couple of things going for him. He's a 4.0 student, he's very
intelligent. He's a coach's son, so he understands how that works. And I
don't think he's got good people around him ... he's got great people around him."
What does Izzo expect from him? Pretty much the same thing Neitzel
does, substance over style.
"He has to be what a good point guard should be. He has to get those
other guys better," Izzo said. "Get them the pass in the right place at
the right time and they'll take care of the rest. We haven't had that
for a while."
Since his arrival on campus, Neitzel -- who will be the first Spartan to
wear No. 12 since Cleaves left campus -- has worked to get to know his
teammates in that point guard kind of way. He doesn't care about what
kind of pizza his teammates like or whether they favor Jay-Z or Nelly.
"Where do they like the ball? How do they run the floor?" Neitzel said
of his summer studies. "Where are they at when I drive and kick out? I'm
just learning each guy's way of playing. That's been the biggest
adjustment.
"Something I talked to Coach Izzo about coming into this summer was
kind of treating the summer and the preseason as if it was my freshman
year. Learn everything, work on being a leader and getting better so
when the season starts, I'll be almost like a sophomore, maturity-wise and
leadership-wise."
While he's still a month away from playing in his first college game,
Neitzel already has instilled faith in his teammates.
"He's a tough dude, I love him," Anderson said. "He just knows the game,
and his work ethic for a kid coming into college is great. He fits in
good. He's what? Maybe 6-feet, probably 165, maybe, but that kid plays
big, he has a very big heart. I think he's going to be another one of
the great point guards."
Yep, nothing like having immediate expectations.
Jeff Shelman of the Minneapolis Star Tribune (www.startribune.com) is a regular contributor to ESPN.com