Tom Izzo has used words like "enigma" and "challenging" to describe Raymar Morgan. He has spoken of the difficulty he's had in finding the multi-talented junior forward to keep his mood up, and to play with consistency. In a year of challenges overcome at Michigan State, Morgan has represented one of Izzo's most persistent coaching conundrums.But after Morgan went off for 18 points, nine rebounds and five steals Saturday night in the Spartans' national semifinal victory over Connecticut, the word Izzo used to describe Morgan was short and simple: "Best."
From the Detroit News:
"He was our best player. I knew we didn't have to reinvent the wheel (preparing Morgan for the game). We just had to go back and find a way to get him to remember it. I told him to watch films of when he was playing good."There is plenty of such film. At the beginning of this season, Morgan was as good a player as Michigan State had. He started out better than Kalin Lucas, who would eventually be named Big Ten Player of the Year. He was as good a defender as Travis Walton, who became Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year. And he was more of a factor at both ends of the court than Goran Suton, who was the MVP of the Midwest Regional.
But he had a rough year, with all manner of illness from the flu to mono, and the result was that he became a mystery to Izzo and the rest of the Spartans. They had no idea what, if anything, they could count on from Morgan from game to game. All they knew was that if the real Morgan showed up, he could be their best player that night -- the player who could lead them to victory.
So before Saturday night's game, according to that same Detroit News story, Izzo pulled Morgan aside and told him how badly the Spartans needed him.
"He's a very quiet guy, and it's sometimes hard for me to find the right buttons," Izzo said. "Today, the button was, 'Ray, I need you.' I mean, all but get down on my knees and beg him. That's what I went to. (It) just came down to old-fashioned begging, and it worked pretty good.If Izzo can find that button again Monday night, he could be staring at a second national championship. The Spartans will be heavy underdogs against North Carolina, but they have ways to win. They are the nation's best rebounding team, and that's helped carry them to wins over Kansas, Louisville and Connecticut to get to this point. They have versatility on offense and defense. They have home-court advantage with the Final Four being played in Detroit.
And in Raymar Morgan, they have the equivalent of a trade-deadline baseball acquisition -- a player who, if he can play the way he did Saturday, makes them a better team than they were even last weekend, when he was a non-factor.
Morgan and Chris Allen were the only two Spartans who had good games Dec. 3, when they lost to North Carolina by 35 points on the same court on which Monday's championship game will be contested. Morgan had 21 points and six rebounds that night -- one of the last really good games he'd play before his maladies kicked in. So he's had success against Ty Lawson, Tyler Hansbrough and this team of North Carolina superstars. He's unlikely to be awed by them.
That night, Suton was out with a knee injury and the Spartans were playing their fourth game in seven days -- a scheduling snafu for which Izzo faulted himself.
"The blame goes on me for the scheduling," Izzo said that night. "We were dead. You didn't see our real team tonight, but our real team might have lost by 20."And they might again Monday, but with Suton healthy and the way the Spartans have played for the past two weeks, it's not a major stretch to think they can make up the 35 points by which the Heels whomped them in early December. These Spartans have looked like a complete and very versatile team for the past couple of months even without the help of Morgan. Instead of looking around and wondering when their best player was planning to play like it again, Izzo's players took turns raising their own games.
Now, Lucas and Walton and Suton and Durrell Summers are playing with a confidence they didn't have in early December. And what might matter more is that Morgan on Saturday night played with the confidence he did have that night in December. He's added a scoring option where those were already ample. He's a monster on the offensive glass. And he can be a real weapon in transition, offensively or defensively, which is going to be very important against the high-octane Heels.
All Izzo has to do is find that button again, push it and watch Morgan do the work. If that happens, North Carolina is going to have a fight on its hands.
