Big tests in front of MSU's basketball team

EAST LANSING - Garrick Sherman and Derrick Nix (combined height: 13 feet, 6 inches) live together in a tiny Michigan State dorm room and exist together in a figurative fish bowl.

The No. 2 basketball team in the nation needs some reliable play at the center position, especially in a nonleague stretch against massive opponents that begins with Gonzaga's visit to Breslin Center tonight.

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Sherman and Nix have emerged as the top candidates to provide it - even though they're true freshmen who would be redshirt candidates in a lot of other years at MSU.

"They're coming, they're coming," Tom Izzo said of the 6-foot-10 Sherman and the 6-8 Nix. "I'm not disappointed yet. We'll see as we face better people."

That starts now. Gonzaga features 7-0, 247-pound center Robert Sacre - who Izzo calls a "monster" - and his 7-4, 273-pound backup, Will Foster.

On Nov. 28 in Atlantic City, MSU will take on Florida, one of the tallest teams in college basketball with seven players at 6-8 or taller and just two under 6-5.

On Dec. 1, it will be North Carolina and its waves of terrific big men - Deon Thompson, Ed Davis, Tyler Zeller, freshman John Henson. On Dec. 22, it will be Texas and its human eclipse of a center, 6-10, 290-pound Dexter Pittman.

As strong as the Big Ten should be this year, it won't offer up the kind of post challenges that the Spartans will see in the next month.

"It's a bad year to have this kind of schedule. But on the other side, they're going to learn under fire," Izzo said. "And it might be to get their butts kicked a couple times, but usually those things make you better in the long run, and I hope that's what this does for us."

Nix and Sherman have surpassed fourth-year junior Tom Herzog, whose 7-foot frame likely will be needed for help in some or all of these games.

They're trying to replace departed seniors Goran Suton, Marquise Gray and Idong Ibok, all of whom had the luxury of redshirting as freshmen in 2004-05.

Izzo said Nix and Sherman are "way ahead" of those three at this young stage of their careers, but then, there's no alternative.

Sherman has earned a starting spot because of his tendency to pick things up quickly on the defensive end.

Nix came off the bench in MSU's season-opening blowout of Florida Gulf Coast and had 11 points and 14 rebounds, becoming the second player in MSU history to debut with a double-double.

"They both have heart," Kalin Lucas said. "They're both not scared."

And they're both admittedly scrambling to keep up with the offensive playbook, defensive principles, film study, schoolwork and large amount of attention that comes with playing at MSU.

"We can't really help each other out," Sherman said, "because neither of us have any idea of what we're doing at times."

Izzo, meanwhile, is still learning about his freshmen. Nix has been tough to read.

"I don't know when I get on him if he's going to devour me or if he's hearing what I have to say," Izzo said. "And yet I'm starting to learn him a little bit, learn what buttons to push."

Izzo and Nix have had some long talks recently, with Izzo asking Nix to give him 30 days to listen to Izzo's advice and see where it takes him. Today is the sixth day.

"As far as basketball, as far as life, I'm a self-motivated person," said Nix, who has lost about 40 pounds since the summer to get to 280. "I've never looked to nobody for help, and it's always worked out pretty well.

"But I'm giving coach a chance. We finally have a relationship. It took a long time for us to figure each other out."

The time is here for everyone else to find out just how ready Nix and Sherman are. So far, they have not conducted themselves like freshmen - even in that little dorm room.

“Surprisingly,” Sherman said, “we keep it pretty clean.”