Carolina will see a different Spartans team this time around
Apr 5, 2009
Tags: ACC
The last time North Carolina played Michigan State on, the Tar Heels walked away 98-63 winners in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. Monday night, the teams will place again, this time with a national championship on the line.
There are a number of similarities between the teams' clash December 3rd, and the game that will take place Monday night - the court, the city, and the assumed home floor advantage for the team from East Lansing to name a few.
But there is one dramatic difference - the Spartans themselves.
For starters, Tom Izzo's team will have the services of Goran Suton, Michigan State's top low post player. The 6-foot-10 senior only recorded four points and seven rebounds against UConn Saturday night, but he's averaging nearly a double-double (10 points, eight rebounds) per game on the year.
"We're a whole different team," said Durrell Summers. "We were missing a strong point in our team in [Goran], and with him being back I think that adds a big dimension to our team."
Suton himself was "stunned" when he watched from home as his team was humiliated by the Heels - now that he's back, he feels he's in a position to help his team in a number of ways.
"We'll be able to run some different things offensively and defensively," Suton said. "I'm usually able to get some deflections and do the little things to help the other guys on the floor."
Clearly though, Suton alone is not the difference between a team losing by 35 and that same squad making the national championship game just several months later - there is more to the transformation than that.
"We're hungry now," said Raymar Morgan, the team's second-leading scorer in the regular season. "Guys want the same thing. We've put our personal achievements to the side, and hopefully if we can [win the title], we can bring the whole city of Detroit with us."
One thing seems certain - the dead legs and slow start that plagued the Big Ten's last 2009 NCAA Tournament hope in December likely won't be a factor this time around.
"[We're] ready for the game," Summers said. "I think everybody is pretty hungry for this. We've looked at the old film and seen the things that we did wrong. There were lot of things we could have improved on, and I think there are a lot of things we have improved on throughout the year. I think you're going to see a different Michigan State team on Monday."
All of the fans wearing green on championship night better hope Summers is right.
