Byline: Neil Milbert
CHICAGO _ During the years Tom Izzo has coached at Michigan State and Bruce Weber has coached at Illinois, the common denominator has been the quality of their players.
Now the likes of Shannon Brown, Maurice Ager, Paul Davis and Alan Anderson are gone from East Lansing and Dee Brown, James Augustine, Deron Williams and Luther Head have left Champaign.
Yet going into Sunday's game in the Spartans' Breslin Center, there remains a common denominator. Now it's injuries to players who were supposed to play starring roles.
Four of the best players for the Illini (13-5, 1-3 in the Big Ten) _ forwards Brian Randle and Warren Carter and guards Jamar Smith and Chester Frazier _ have missed a combined total of 17 games. A fifth, guard Rich McBride, was suspended for the first four games.
Backup center Marcus Arnold broke his nose in Wednesday's victory over Iowa and freshman forward Rich Semrau, who played in five early games, is out for the season after surgery to remove an infection in his chest caused by a contusion.
While the Spartans (14-4, 1-2) have had only two players on the injured list_6-foot-7-inch swingman Raymar Morgan and guard Maurice Joseph_they hit where they could least afford them.
"We couldn't lose any perimeter players and I lost two of them for 35 and 29 days," Izzo said. "If Shannon Brown had stayed (instead of unexpectedly leaving for the NBA after his junior season), maybe I would have redshirted Isaiah Dahlman because he has to get stronger.
"All of a sudden Isaiah had to play 38 minutes a game. DeMarcus Ducre (a junior who walked on last season) was the only sub I had on the perimeter."
Morgan is back after missing seven games because of a stress fracture in his right shin and so is Joseph after missing four because of a stress reaction in his right foot. But neither is close to 100 percent and their practice time has been curtailed.
"You get caught between excuses and reality and the reality is we're not the NBA and Alan Iverson," Izzo said. "Practice is important at this level. Our equipment manager was doing some drills two weeks ago."
Up front there also is a void. Football star Matt Trannon, who started 10 games last season, decided to focus on preparing for the NFL draft and Delco Rowley chose to leave with a year of eligibility remaining after graduating in May.
Returning to his high school role that saw him average 33 points as a senior, junior guard Drew Neitzel has become the Spartans top scorer (17.9 points a game) after focusing on being their playmaker the past two seasons.
"Neitzel knows he's the go-to guy and he's looking to shoot coming off the screen instead of trying to make the next pass," Weber said.
"He has been able to transform himself from a deliverer to a scorer, but he still has almost five assists per game."
Despite the intense rivalry and recruiting tugs-of-war, the bond that was formed when Izzo and Weber were assistants at Michigan State and Purdue, respectively, remains strong.
"Bruce is one of my best friends in the profession," Izzo said. "He and I worked for Jud (Heathcote) and Gene (Keady), so there's an automatic bond.
"He already lost two great players in Augustine and Brown and now it has been one thing after another. The team he has had to put on the floor isn't the one that it could be. If everybody had stayed healthy this was a very good Illinois team.
"The average guy on the street sees somebody in a uniform and thinks everything is fine. I reiterate the theory of practice. Randle is a great player, but the first time I saw him look more like himself was the Iowa game and that was after quite a few games back.
"Bruce and I are on the same path. We've had some success (this season), but we're both trying to get back to where we think we could be."
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