"Sunday morning wake-up call"

The Michigan and Michigan State men's basketball teams really aren't that different. They have similar talent and similar records.

Yet one of them will end up in the NCAA tournament and the other will be left out for the ninth consecutive year. Here's why.

The point guard position. Drew Neitzel showed last night why he's arguably the best point guard in the Big Ten. With Michigan State trailing by 20 points at halftime at No. 5 Ohio State, Neitzel almost single-handedly brought the Spartans back, as they came within four missed jumpers in the last two minutes of sneaking out of Columbus with a win. Neitzel played all 40 minutes, scoring 29 points and dishing out three assists.

While Neitzel needed to score last night to keep his team in the game, that doesn't mean he's not a true point guard. He's very efficient at running Tom Izzo's offense, making sure the floor is spaced and everyone is in position to run whatever play has been called. Without Neitzel, there's no way MSU would even be worth of NCAA tournament consideration.

Michigan, on the other hand, lacks a true point guard. Sometimes I feel bad for Dion Harris because he's playing out of position. He's a shooting guard. He's a great pure shooter, especially when he's catching and shooting, but when he's playing the point, he's always dribbling, and he's not as good of a shooter off the dribble. Yesterday, sans backup point guard Jerret Smith, Harris struggled, shooting just 3-for-9 for 12 points.

Smith isn't much better at running the point. He's extremely inconsistent, averaging just three assists per game to 1.9 turnovers, and he shoots just 36 percent from the field, so defenses don't have to worry much about leaving him open. Smith also struggles to get into the lane, where he could create for his teammates. Instead he's relegated to the perimeter.

Michigan State's offensive sets appear much more fluent and better executed than Michigan's. The point guards are a big reason for this.

The other main reason is the coaching of each team.

I don't know what Michigan coach Tommy Amaker tells his players in practice, but one thing he definitely needs to preach loudly is SPACING. The Wolverines always appear bunched up on one side of the court on offense, making things that much easier for the defense guarding them. This rests on Amaker and his point guard. He needs to let his players know how important spacing is to being successful offensively.

The Spartans usually have perfect spacing on offense, which is a direct result of Izzo's system. In the finals minutes against Ohio State last night, the Spartans could get almost any open outside shot they wanted (they just didn't make them). By spacing the floor and setting solid screens, Michigan State's offense didn't need a superstar to split two defenders and make an acrobatic shot. The average players - besides Neitzel - that Izzo had on the floor were good enough to beat a much more talented Ohio State team.

A lot of that had to do with coaching.

Finally, Izzo's Spartans expect to win every game while Amaker's Wolverines try not to lose, but appear relegated to the fact that when they play a good team on the road, they're going to fall. The Spartans could have easily called it a night at halftime Saturday, but Izzo most likely sent a message to his team at halftime that motivated them to almost pull off the improbable in the second half.

In the final minutes, with the Buckeyes' lead getting smaller and smaller, Izzo was far from satisfied. He yanked at his tie and yelled at the refs until the final whistle. I can guarantee you there was no talk of a moral victory after the game.

Meanwhile, Amaker was about as stoic as a statue as he watched his team battle back from a 20-point deficit to get within eight points in the Wolverines' 76-61 loss to Indiana. I know it's just his persona, but when Brent Petway rejected a Mike White layup attempt with just over 3 minutes left and no jump ball was called, allowing White to pick up the ball, lay it in and get fouled by Courtney Sims (his fifth foul of the game), Amaker should have been irate. It was an awful no-call. There comes a time when a coach has to let the officials know that he's not going to let them get away with miserable calls or no-calls like that.

I didn't see any reaction from Amaker. Even though that play, which gave Indiana an 11-point lead instead of Michigan getting the ball on the alternating possession down just eight, basically decided the game.

I know Amaker cared about the game, but it didn't seem like he was working as hard as Izzo to make his players believe they could win.

Which is too bad, because this may be the first year since the late 1990s that Michigan has at least as much talent as Michigan State, if not more. Too bad the results won't prove it.