Year of the Spartan Still to Come

The Michigan State Spartans concluded a very successful season just over a week ago. They rode a two-seed past the defending champions, the top overall seed, and a supremely talented Connecticut squad before falling to the obvious best team in the nation, the NCAA champion Tar Heels.

After a brief rest, the Spartans will eventually get back to work in East Lansing, and it won't be a rebuilding project. It will be a reloading one. They did lose Goran Suton, Travis Walton and Marquise Gray to graduation, but there's plenty left for Tom Izzo to make another Final Four run -- one that would be his sixth in the past 12 years.

A stellar cast returns to the Spartans, along with two highly-rated recruits.

- Kalin Lucas, the reigning Big Ten player of the year, grew by leaps and bounds as an on-floor leader during this past season. He showed flashes of being one of the top point guards in the country during the tourney run, including the ability to lead the Spartans to a victory by assuming any offensive role. He can let others take the shots while he plays distributor, or take the initiative and score himself. With Walton's departure, Lucas will be needed more on the defensive end next season, but he has the ability and tenacity to at least partially fill Walton's shoes.

- The silver lining of Raymar Morgan's health-ravaged season is two-fold. First of all, many more players were able to develop while he was either absent or struggling. Secondly, if he continued to flourish as he had his freshman and sophomore seasons, he was headed to the NBA. Instead, he pretty much has to stay, and he'll be hungry for a huge senior year. He showed in the Final Four against UConn -- where he had 18 points, 9 rebounds and 5 steals -- that he still has crazy talent, and that was with a protective mask over his broken nose.

- Durrell Summers has shown flashes of being a spectacular player, and it wasn't just the defining dunk of the Final Four, either. He scored over 20 points three times and in double-digits 16 times during the course of his sophomore campaign. And his defense will only continue to improve.

- Delvon Roe grew into a really solid rebounding and defensive presence during his freshman season, and with the departure of Suton, his offense will blossom as well.

- Chris Allen, Korie Lucious, Draymond Green have all shown the capability to play more than a few meaningful minutes in pressure situations.

Latest College Basketball Images

In this photo taken Jan. 8, 2009, Xavier coach Sean Miller, left, and assistant Chris Mack, right, watch an NCAA basketball game in Cincinnati,. Mack is to be introduced at a news conference Wednesday, April 16, 2009 in Cincinnati. Xavier has promoted assistant Chris Mack to succeed Sean Miller as basketball coach. Miller left Xavier to take the head coaching position at Arizona. (AP Photo/Al Behrman)

South Carolina's tailback Jarvis Giles picks up yardage during the annual garnet and black spring game at Williams-Brice Stadium in Columbia, South Carolina. (Kim Kim Foster-Tobin/The State/MCT)

MCT

This photo, supplied by the Michigan Governor's Office, shows Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm paying off her NCAA basketball tournament debt in a photo released Friday, April 10, 2009. Granholm poses in a Tar Heel jersey and hat to settle her wager with North Carolina Gov. Beverly Perdue on the tournament's championship game. North Carolina toppled Michigan State 89-72 on Monday.(AP Photo/courtesy of Nicole Haley)

UCLA basketball coach Ben Howland, left, speaks at a news conference in Los Angeles on Thursday, April 9, 2009, where freshman guard Jrue Holiday, center, with his father Shawn Holiday, right, announces he will make himself available for the NBA basketball draft, but will not hire an agent so as to maintain his NCAA eligibility. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon)

With head coach Ben Howland in the background, UCLA freshman guard Jrue Holiday announces he will make himself available for the NBA basketball draft, but will not hire an agent so as to maintain his NCAA eligibility, at a news conference in Los Angeles on Thursday, April 9, 2009. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon)

UCLA freshman guard Jrue Holiday announces he will make himself available for the NBA basketball draft, but will not hire an agent so as to maintain his NCAA eligibility, at a news conference in Los Angeles on Thursday, April 9, 2009. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon)

Pittsburgh's Shavonte Zellous, right, holds up a Detroit Shock jersey as she poses with WNBA president Donna Orender after Zellous was chosen as the 11th overall pick iick in the WNBA basketball draft Thursday, April 9, 2009 in Secaucus, N.J. (AP Photo/Bill Kostroun)

Connecticut head women's basketball coach Geno Auriemma, left, and player Renee Montgmery listen to the applause of the crowd at Gampel Pavilion at Storrs, Conn., Wednesday, April 8, 2009 during a homecoming celebration for the team. Montgomery holds the NCAA Division I Women's Basketball trophy. Connecticut beat Louisville 76-54 in an NCAA college basketball game on Tuesday in St. Louis to win the title for the first time since 2004. (AP Photo/Bob Child)

Connecticut's Maya Moore high fives the fans at Gampel Pavilion at Storrs, Conn., Wednesday, April 8, 2009 at the end of a homecoming celebration for the UConn women's basketball team. Connecticut beat Louisville 76-54 in an NCAA college basketball game on Tuesday in St. Louis to win the title for the first time since 2004. (AP Photo/Bob Child)

- Of the players mentioned above, only Roe is really at home in the post. That's okay, though, because the Spartans have two highly rated centers coming in as recruits who bring different elements to the team. Derrick Nix (6-foot-9, 285 pounds from Pershing, Mich.) brings power and bulk to the post and Garrick Sherman (6'10" 225 from Kenton, Ohio) brings a lanky shot-blocking presence who can shoot from both the inside and out. The two, along with Roe, give Izzo a variety of post options. Seven-footer Tom Herzog also adds depth -- he'll be a junior in 2009-2010.

The talent is there, the pedigree is there, and now they have Final Four experience. It's entirely possible that 2010 will be the year of the Spartan, adding yet another entry to the already impressive Izzo resume.