When MSU basketball was at it's best under Stans we had a very blue collar attitude. Everyone played hard on defense and we had enough offensive talent to score just enough depsite our pathetic excuse for an offense.
While you had a Robert Jackson here or there, most of the players bought into their roles and you didn't hear a bunch of grumbling. At some point Stans seemed to start shooting for players that brought a little more offense to the table hoping he could teach them defense (Reg Delk, Rhodes, Sharpe, Ravern, Kodi).
And whilewe did have more offensive talent, we also inherited the prima donna attitude most "offense first" players bring with them. During this phase it's been made abundantly clear that Stans does not have the ability to control or earn the respect of this kind ofplayer. Soyou continue to have the transfers and the rumors of transfers and the clearunhappiness of mostof the guys you see on the bench. That leakes over to other guys. I'm convinced thatone of the reasons Ben H transferred was simply b/c he hated being aroundmost of the other guys on the team (that among other things). Part of me believes Osby falls into this too - he just wasn't happy with the situation and as his quotes today suggest he didn't feel he was given a chance to do what he thought he did best.
It appears Stans has adjusted his recruiting though. Both Bryant and Steele have both been lauded for their defense but can also score some. Deville from the times I've watched doesn't seem to carry a big "me-first" attitude despite being a top recruit. Adams seemed to be pretty level headed and that's still a big loss.
So I'm hoping Stans has learned what he CAN'T do and that's control a certain type of player and realized that those guys are destroying his program from theinside. Thus he's adjusted and is spending more time on recruiting a majority of players that fit his mindset of defense and effort first.
Crossing myfingers anyway.
While you had a Robert Jackson here or there, most of the players bought into their roles and you didn't hear a bunch of grumbling. At some point Stans seemed to start shooting for players that brought a little more offense to the table hoping he could teach them defense (Reg Delk, Rhodes, Sharpe, Ravern, Kodi).
And whilewe did have more offensive talent, we also inherited the prima donna attitude most "offense first" players bring with them. During this phase it's been made abundantly clear that Stans does not have the ability to control or earn the respect of this kind ofplayer. Soyou continue to have the transfers and the rumors of transfers and the clearunhappiness of mostof the guys you see on the bench. That leakes over to other guys. I'm convinced thatone of the reasons Ben H transferred was simply b/c he hated being aroundmost of the other guys on the team (that among other things). Part of me believes Osby falls into this too - he just wasn't happy with the situation and as his quotes today suggest he didn't feel he was given a chance to do what he thought he did best.
It appears Stans has adjusted his recruiting though. Both Bryant and Steele have both been lauded for their defense but can also score some. Deville from the times I've watched doesn't seem to carry a big "me-first" attitude despite being a top recruit. Adams seemed to be pretty level headed and that's still a big loss.
So I'm hoping Stans has learned what he CAN'T do and that's control a certain type of player and realized that those guys are destroying his program from theinside. Thus he's adjusted and is spending more time on recruiting a majority of players that fit his mindset of defense and effort first.
Crossing myfingers anyway.