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One thing you can count on with the Detroit Lions is that they are never, ever boring. Follow the latest news including injuries, roster moves and more here daily from Oakland Press beat writer Paula Pasche. Plus you'll find regular commentary about the team.

3/24/2008

Kalin Lucas and the new Fab 5

If you missed my story on Kalin Lucas in today's Oakland Press, I thought, in the context of how well he played in Saturday's 65-54 win over Pittsburgh, it was important to note that he is one of only five true freshman starters left in the NCAA tournament. There's also Memphis' Derrick Rose, who Lucas will match up against Friday in Houston, and UCLA's Kevin Love, two potential lottery picks, plus Villanova's Corey Stokes and D.J. Magley of Western Kentucky.

Of those five, Rose, Lucas and Love are the only ones who average more than 10 points or 19 minutes a night. Love (17.3 ppg) is one of four Naismith Award finalists (along with Memphis' Chris Douglas-Roberts, North Carolina's Tyler Hansbrough and Kansas State's Michael Beasley) and Rose had as much hype as anyone entering the year, while Lucas has stayed mostly under the national radar (though not NBA scouts') until now. He had seven assists in MSU's first-round win over Temple, and scored 19 points (14 in the paint) against Pitt. His ability to break down defenses is Chris Paul-esque.

"I think how he was brought up, how he was coached and his own competitive instincts and nature are what's kind of separating him as truly one of the better freshmen," MSU coach Tom Izzo said. "I know there's a lot of good ones out there, but I keep telling him a lot of those great ones, they're home. And this is his time."

2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Are you worried that the second of your final four teams will bite the dust after Friday? MSU looks good!

10:07 AM 
Blogger Paula Pasche said...

At the risk of spoiling my prediction blog that should be up this afternoon, I don't see Michigan State winning tonight. It's not out of the question, by any means, I just believe Memphis is too athletic, too wounded right now — yesterday they played the no-one-believes-in-us card constantly — and at the end of the day has the two best players on the floor in Derrick Rose and Chris Douglas-Roberts. You're right though, MSU has played exceptionally well the first two rounds, and Lucas is a big reason why.

12:27 PM 

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