Depth is the Key: Summers and Green Lead the Michigan State Spartan Bench

Scott Eckersley — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 02:00:55 -0400

By now most everyone knows about Michigan State's starting lineup. Goran Suton will get his double-double. Kalin Lucas will run the offense. And Travis Walton is the defensive glue guy who makes the team what it is. The key to this spartan team, however, is the play of their bench.

Against a good rebounding team like Uconn, depth down low is going to be very important. This is where freshman Draymond Green will be huge. Green came in over the summer overweight and most people thought he would be redshirted.

Well he worked harder than anybody this summer to get in shape and it is paying off with him playing valuable minutes in the Tournament.

MSU fans did not know what to expect with Green, and doubted that he would play this season. Doubt is nothing new to this freshman.

"I wouldn't be here right now without the doubters doubting me. I just like to prove the people wrong who don't believe in me," Green replied when asked about what it feels like to play in this role after most people thought he would be redshirted.

Green provides the toughness and tenacity down low that the Spartans need. He may only be 6'6", but he plays much bigger. His six points and 10 rebounds were huge against Louisville especially with starters Raymar Morgan and Delvon Roe combining for just two points and two rebounds.

The other key to taking down Uconn is having the ability to spread the court on offense. Durrell Summers has been doing just that this tournament shooting 7/10 from 3-point range in the last three games of the tournament. He has been playing with confidence in his whole game and it really shows.

When I asked him what confidence did to his game he smiled and said, "man, when my confidence is going it feels like I can almost do anything. I just feel like every shot is going in."

While seniors Travis Walton and Goran Suton seemed to will this team to the Final Four at times, the underclassmen filled pivotal roles throughout the season, and this run in the tournament. Chris Allen, a sophomore guard, will battle Summers and Green to be the first sub in the game for Tom Izzo.

Although his numbers do not show it, he has been playing with much more purpose in these last few games. He has been playing harder defensively, and been much more into the offense. If Summers struggles to find his stroke, look for Allen to step in and light it up.

If all else fails for the Spartans, Magic Johnson will be there and I am pretty sure that he stills has a couple years of eligibility left.

Detroit Tigers: 2008 Preview

Scott Eckersley — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 14:02:21 -0400

With Opening Day just around the corner it is time to look at how the Detroit Tigers are going to do.

With arguably the biggest off-season move, the Tigers added LHP Dontrelle Willis and third baseman Miguel Cabrera in a trade with the Florida Marlins.

Both of these guys should have huge roles for the team this season.

Willis should end up being the third starter in a rotation that has been very promising this spring. The way it looks now, Justin Verlander will be at the top followed by either Jeremy Bonderman or Willis. The last two spots belong to Kenny Rogers and Nate Robertson.

Jim Leyland has expressed his gratitude for having this rotation nailed down early on in the spring so that he has not had to worry about figuring it out at all.

The Tigers lineup is the most dangerous lineup in the Majors. Leyland has not said what his starting lineup will be yet, but I have a feeling it will look something like this:

Curtis Granderson CF

Placido Polanco 2nd

Miguel Cabrera 3rd

Gary Sheffield DH

Magglio Ordonez RF

Carlos Guillen 1st

Edgar Renteria SS

Jacque Jones/Marcus Thames LF

Pudge Rodriguez C

The 3-7 hitters could all be switched around with each other since they are all capable of driving in lots of runs.

My favorite part of the lineup is having a future first ballot Hall of Famer batting ninth. Most of the time that spot is used for a defensive specialist who does not bat very well. In Detroit's case, we have a .300 hitter setting up the top of the order.

There are no weak spots in the lineup.

The one problem area is the bullpen.

Joel Zumaya is going to miss a lot of this season, and he was expected to have a vital role as the set up man for the ever-shaky Todd Jones. The man who was going to take over for Zumaya, Fernando Rodney, is also injured to start the season. Denny Bautista has looked very good in the spring and he should be able to give some valuable innings to start the year.

The Tigers still have Jason Grilli, Bobby Seay, and Tim Byrdak who all pitched extensively last season.

If the bullpen is able to hold on to leads, this could be a very good season for the Tigers.

It is expected that they will score around six runs per game, which will take a huge amount of pressure off of the starting pitching.

The team has made some fantastic moves and look poised to make a run at the World Series.

Bleacher Report - Articles by Scott Eckersley

Depth is the Key: Summers and Green Lead the Michigan State Spartan Bench

Detroit Tigers: 2008 Preview