Paper Spartan

Picture day at preschool for my 1- and 3-year-old kids, dirty dishes at home and a story that's due are keeping me in Ann Arbor longer than I was hoping -- leaving me with 70 minutes to drive 65 miles to the Michigan State campus.

I figure I'll have perhaps 10 minutes to stretch and shoot before spending an afternoon masquerading as a basketball player under the tutelage of Spartans coach Tom Izzo.

Nope.

The highway is jammed with traffic just before the exit that spills onto campus, forcing me to make a detour. I get to the Breslin Center parking lot as quickly as I possible, but went 0-for-3 on trying to find the right place to be.

Finally, I step into the basketball office.

"Tom told me to make fun of you when you got here," secretary Beth Marinez says with a smile.

I quietly slip into the back of the team's video room, where looming images of Magic Johnson, Steve Smith and Eric Snow are on the right wall and Jason Richardson, Morris Peterson and Mateen Cleaves are on the left.

"When do we eat?" a TV anchor asks, playing off the perception media members' first priority around sporting events is the free meal.

Izzo replies that everyone will be fed as he stands in the dark room, explaining the drills that 21 of us are about to run -- in theory. Like John Madden working the telestrator, Izzo's fingers touch a video board to show where to set screens, make passes and shots.

"The play only works if you make the shot," Izzo deadpans. "This is going to be interesting."

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FO' SHIZZLE MY DRIZZLE, IZZO

One play ends with Richardson dunking.

"Jason Richardson? We don't have one," Izzo says.

That becomes crystal clear soon after the group of writers and broadcasters step onto one of two full courts Michigan State has in its spectacular practice facility.

After 10 minutes of stretching, leaving me wishing I got there earlier to limber up, we're broken up into two groups.

We work on dribbling, passing, shooting and defending in a myriad of drills that the Spartans have been doing since Izzo took control of the program in 1995.

Dribbling two balls at the same time isn't too tough, but alternating the dribbles (having one ball on your hand and the other on the court) while walking took some of the Al Bundyesqe confidence out of me.

I like to think I'm a decent player -- albeit in poor shape -- but quickly felt clueless trying to alternate my dribbles.

"C'mon Larry!" Izzo screams.

In one drill, we run from the baseline to the free-throw line to deny a pass to an active Spartan and sprint back toward the basket to at least deflect the ball.

Tom Herzog, a 7-foot center, is letting me easily execute the drill, so I playfully let him have it.

"Give me a look, Tom!" I shout with a grin.

"Sorry," Herzog replies sheepishly.

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NNNNOONAN!

Izzo gathers us near one basket, asking for five volunteers.

"OK, you each get to take two free throws," Izzo says. "When we do it, my guys have to make nine of 10 to win at Illinois. For you guys, we'll make it six. But everybody here is going to try to make you miss."

With Izzo screaming at me and players waving their arms as if they were in a student section, I calmly make both of my free throws to help our group make the six we need.

In another drill, four groups of five players race against each other to make 10 shots from the elbow. The winners sit, and the losers do push-ups.

Once, my group sat. Once, we did five push-ups.

Thankfully, breaks are a part of the practice session -- giving us time to catch our breath, and me time to wipe the beads of sweat off my bald/shaven head.

Michigan State's players, including star guard Drew Neitzel, play the role of managers, walking around with trays of water and a blue-colored sports drink.

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SHIRTS VS., UH, SHIRTS. DEFINITELY SHIRTS.

Finally, it's time to scrimmage and the scribes are taking on the broadcasters.

We lead 4-0 after 10 minutes, leading to a quip.

"Hey Tom, and people think the Michigan-Wisconsin games are low scoring," a reporter says to Izzo.

Thanks to some cheating, the broadcasters get back into the game only to have their comeback hopes end by a 3-pointer from the corner that made a 5-foot-10, 215-pound writer very happy.

"Nice shot, Larry," assistant coach Dwayne Stephens Stephens says. "But don't quit your day job."

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Watch a video of the practice here: http://asap.ap.org/data/interactives/_sports/izzo/

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asap contributor Larry Lage is a sportswriter in AP's Detroit bureau who is rumored to have played the role of Sparty, the Michigan State mascot, in bygone college days.

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