Costello Looks Like Impact Freshman

It'll be interesting to see the battle between him and 3rd year player, Alex Gauna for either the the starting PF spot or one of the backup big man roles off the bench. Obviously they can both be in the rotation, one at the 4 and one at the 5 but only one of them is going to get the call more often guy when the game gets tight and the rotation gets clamped down to just 8 or so guys. Payne and Nix are both going to get a lot of minutes. Probably in the range of 26 minutes each. That only leaves 28 minutes at the 4 and 5 spots to be divided between Gauna, Costello, Dawson and Co. I'm guessing that Dawson is going to get between 7 and 10 minutes a game at the 4 spot (particularly since we're so loaded in the backcourt already).

So with 18-20 minutes to divide between Gauna and Costello, if one of them seperates themself from the other, that person has a good chance to eat up the majority of those minutes.

Fair breakdown here, I think a lot of people haven't quite figured out yet that Dawson will likely play a lot of minutes at the four. He has enough size and gives the Spartans a lot of options with the lineup. Never can be too sure with freshmen but Costello definitely has a ton of potential. The first few nonconference games will be big for he and Gauna in establishing their roles.

I have only seem him play once but from that I would say that he is not a very timid player and I don't expect him to get frustrated by freshman mistakes as some do. He's just gonna keep on pushing. With Costello breathing down his neck we will quickly see if Gauna is ready for the competition. I think Costello may already be the best ball handler among our big men.

No chance Nix and Payne both play those levels of minutes. Besides just the question of their stamina, in the Izzo era, only Paul Davis averaged more than 26 minutes a game at the 5 spot, and that was in 05/06, which was one of the least deep teams Izzo has ever had. Suton only averaged 25 min/game in 08/09.

This is another 10 deep team from Izzo. Typically in those kind of years, only the top player on the team gets 30 min/game, and only 1-2 other guys get 25 min/game. Last year Green got 33, Appling 31, Wood 27, and nobody else more than 21. In 09, Lucas got 32, Walton 28, and nobody else more than 25.

I expect our top guard (likely Appling) to get 30 minutes. Dawson, if healthy to get 25 and would be shocked if anybody else got more than 22 per game.

Hell, Teddy Valentine ( no relation to Carlton) and Uncle Eddie Hightower dont know what constitutes a foul from one game to the next

FIFY

Saw Matt several times up close at the state finals. For putting on the weight noted he still looked very trim. If needed I think his frame could still support a much more bulk, if that is the direction he wants to go.

Nice research.

Payne's conditioning alone will probably hold him from major minutes...he has bulked up some, we'll see how much endurance work he has done.

Depth on this team will be amazing, although experience pretty low off the bench. Can't wait for the season to start. If Nix/Appling/Dawson can provide leadership we have a nice team.

I watched Costello play once this last year against Frankenmuth at Frankenmuth. He did not have that great of a game but he did have a lot of blocks (albeit against 6' and shorter people mainly ).

I wonder if Byrd will continue to see some reps at the 4, or if he'll stay exclusively at the 3?

I was surprised by his meager point total (for him anyways) against Frankenmuth when I checked the box score after the game, but he still stuffed the stat sheet anyways. What many dont realize is that he was basically the entire team. The talent level for a Class A school was pretty weak, if you took Costello off that team they would struggle to beat class B and C schools. In fact, they lost to Class C Saginaw Nouvel.

Once he figures out the college game and gets comfortable with his teammates I think he will really shine.

You just touched on the question I wanted to ask: Is Costello a guy that has the potential to be a leading rebounder on this team (not necessarily in his freshman season)? "Tenacity on the boards" is certainly what I like to hear. But does he have the smarts/instincts when it comes to being in the right spot? Rebounding is so important when it comes to MSU basketball, and I really hope Costello brings that to the table.