Michigan State's Morgan is Mr. Mismatch!!

The secret is out Raymar Morgan is good. How good? Well, let’s just say that I believe Morgan is the best all around player in the Big Ten Conference. No one presents bigger mismatches in conference play. Morgan, listed at 6’7” and 225 pounds, is probably a hair taller at this point in his career and is a mismatch for most defenders.

Izzo once said that he thought Raymar could leave Michigan State as one of the best forwards in school history. Tom’s prophecy appears to be coming true. Morgan is on a tear. He is lethal on the boards with his leaping ability and he seems to have impeccable timing around the rim.

One analyst called him a power forward playing small forward. No, not exactly. I have heard others refer to him as a power forward type with guard-like quickness and ball skills. Maybe… but it is still not accurate. Call him what you will, I think Raymar Morgan is the most versatile player on the floor. He has skills that combine both forward positions and moves fluently like a scoring guard. There are times he reminds me of Hutson. There are other times that he reminds me of Smitty when he puts the ball on the floor and goes to the rim with his long, yet agile first step. There are even times he reminds me of Morris Peterson when he knocks down the jumper and is a complete “ball-hawk” around the rim.

Raymar is just a lot of fun to watch and all of the weapons around him make him a tougher match-up for opponents. Suton, Lucas, Summers and Neitzel all have scoring ability. If Gray could become more consistent, MSU’s “bigs” would be virtually unstoppable. A healthy Chris Allen could make our guard play lethal.

I am hopeful that Drew shakes off his jump-shooting drought here shortly. When Drew is hoisting three pointers effectively, MSU becomes rather indefensible. I am confident that Drew will get back on track here shortly as long as he doesn’t try too hard. Sometimes the hardest thing about the game of basketball is letting the game come to you. Teams are blanketing our preseason All-American making MSU’s other players have to beat them. This is going to pay dividends come NCAA tournament time.

Morgan has taken this as a challenge. He seems to have made Tom’s rebounding drill into an art form. He is quickly becoming one of the very best offensive rebounders we have ever had. His 31 points against a determined Golden Gopher team saved the Spartans last night. Raymar was not going to be denied his coming out party at the Breslin Center. Next up, the Boilermakers.