When is the last time you saw a Michigan State basketball player smile during a game due to the sheer joy of playing?
It seems to me that, since the championship years, the pressure of playing at Michigan State has overshadowed the passion of playing for Michigan State.
Of course, getting excited about playing basketball isn’t going to fix a team’s ills.
Enthusiasm isn’t going to magically cure Morgan.
It can, however, build confidence, and that could be the difference between a four-point loss and a four-point win.
While sitting on the baseline during Sunday’s loss to Penn State, I watched Nittany Lions star guard Talor Battle step to the free throw line for two shots with 28 seconds left in a game his team led, 69-67.
He missed both, giving Michigan State — which trailed by 12 just a few minutes earlier — a chance to tie or take the lead. Battle, though, didn’t scowl or put his hands to his head in exasperation. He didn’t hang his head, he didn’t crumble.
Instead, he laughed.
That’s when you know the game is fun for a player — that a player is playing loose — when he can laugh off a costly mistake with the confidence that he and his team will overcome it. …