Successful summer

EAST LANSING - Tom Izzo is feeling good about things.

And if that sounds like a "no duh" assessment of a guy just months removed from what was in many ways the crowning weekend of his career, it's important to remember that Izzo didn't get there by smiling and patting backs and focusing on the bright side.

A lot of hard driving got Michigan State basketball to its current position - fresh off a national title game loss to North Carolina, its fifth Final Four in 11 years and a week of emotion and affirmation in Detroit.

The hard driving won't stop. Izzo isn't sure why MSU is considered a favorite to get back to the Final Four with such uncertainty at the center position. But he is sure that the players who will make up a loaded 2009-10 team are having one of the best summers in the program's history.

"I haven't really had a spring and summer that I felt was as productive," Izzo said, "or as focused, or had a number of guys improve like this."

That's why Izzo is feeling good, even though sophomore guard Korie Lucious may need more surgery on the foot he injured in the loss to UNC, and likely won't play again until close to the start of October practice.

The NCAA doesn't allow coaches to run practices in the summer, so players are in the hands of the strength staff, and on their own to play pickup ball. But Izzo gets reports from the players and from strength coach Mike Vorkapich, and he sees who is coming into Breslin to put up shots.

That extra summer work, Izzo has said for years, often makes a big difference during the following season. And the guys who are impressing the most are senior Raymar Morgan and juniors Kalin Lucas, Chris Allen and Durrell Summers.

Morgan is notable because he has been cited by Izzo in the past for not doing enough individual work. Allen and Summers are notable because they've been cited for lacking focus at times.

"I have complained some years that guys didn't do much, that Raymar didn't do much or (Goran) Suton didn't do much," Izzo said. "If you ask me now who hasn't done much, I'd say, 'Korie.' That's usually what happens when you get more than a few getting after it, everyone joins in. You can compare it to the (Mateen) Cleaves (national title) year a little bit as far as, I think this team is closer. I think this team learned from last year."

At a workout session Thursday at the weight room in MSU's football building, Lucas, Allen and Summers all looked significantly bigger and stronger.

"This summer, more than anything, Raymar and those three juniors are really getting serious," Vorkapich said. "Those juniors, from where they were to where they are now ... I told coach, now they're challenging each other and calling each other out on it."

Departed guard Travis Walton did the calling out and leading for the past three seasons, and Lucas, Morgan and sophomore Draymond Green have done the most to fill that void, Izzo said.

Lucas, the reigning Big Ten player of the year, has embraced the need to take over.

"This is my team now," Lucas said, "so I've got to make sure everybody's working hard. I haven't had to yell at anybody yet. We're on a mission. We want to get back to the Final Four and win it this time. Everybody's just grinding."

They must be. Because Izzo is darn near smiling.

"I've been really impressed with my guys, OK, and how many times do you hear me say that?" he said. "Our spring and summer has been phenomenal, on paper, on looking at progress, on them coming by. Them in here a lot, shooting.

"(On Thursday) I come in and Chris, Kalin and Durrell are up here ringing wet, telling me, 'I've got 500 shots in, I'm getting another thousand up tonight.' " I just can't be disappointed at all, and a lot of years I have been. A lot of years in Ray. Ray's had a phenomenal summer. What does that translate into? Only time will tell on that.

"It sounds like I've been impressed with everybody and I'm gonna get slapped right in the face, but I really have been."