Dynamic duo to square off
HOUSTON -- Everyone knows about the freshman guard who does everything.
It's Derrick Rose of Memphis, and the biggest question about his NBA future isn't whether he will go, but whether he will have an NCAA championship in tow when he does.
But there's another good one in this South regional. His name is Kalin Lucas, the penetrating point guard for Michigan State who will be trying to stop Rose -- or at least neutralize him -- when the fifth-seeded Spartans meet top-seeded Memphis today.
"He was noticeable. He was very noticeable," Rose said of his memories of Lucas from their meetings over the past few years in AAU games. "He didn't just pop into the limelight. He's been there."
The NCAA Tournament ramps things up a bit, however, and when Lucas scored 19 points in Michigan State's second-round victory over Pitt, this week's freshman-on-freshman guard matchup became an obvious story line.
Pretty much everyone knows Rose, who is projected as a No. 1, 2 or 3 pick if he bolts college for the NBA after this season, as expected.
Not as many know Lucas, and those who do don't seem to appreciate him all that much. He was steady this season, averaged 10 points and 4 assists, but was left off the Big Ten's list of all-conference newcomers.
"Miffed would be a wrong word," Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said of the snub. "I was disappointed that he wasn't, hoping that especially coaches would see what this kid has done for us, instead of maybe just choosing the guys with the highest scoring average or things like that."
Izzo recognizes, of course, that none of the newcomers named to that team are playing anymore. (OK, Ohio State's Kosta Koufos still is alive in the NIT.)
But Lucas is.
He combined with senior Drew Neitzel last week to score 21 of Michigan State's final 25 points to help the Spartans pull away from Pitt.
While Neitzel was jacking up 3s, Lucas was taking the ball to the rim, something he did with ease when he was in high school, an all-everything player in Michigan.
"Coming from high school, it was more getting into the lane and making a lot of layups and stuff like that," Lucas said. "In college you have to adjust to 7-footers and big guys in the lanes."
The adjustment wasn't automatic. After starting five games at the beginning of the season, Izzo saw his freshman struggling, saw a lineup that was too young, not able to live up to the high expectations that follow the Spartans around as vividly as memories of Magic Johnson and Mateen Cleaves.
The coach urged his freshman to watch more film, analyze the rights and wrongs of his game more. Lucas got the starting job back in February and now has his team in the regional semifinals for the seventh time in Izzo's 13 years.
Against Rose.
Izzo sees Memphis as a newer version of the Lakers when they had another famous Michigan State alum -- Magic Johnson.
"As good as I've seen," Izzo says of Rose. "And he, too, maybe doesn't get as much credit. He's not scoring 25 points a game, because he's playing in a system where his job is to deliver the ball some, score the ball some. He's got great versatility, and I think that's what makes him a special player."