You attract more flies with honey than vinegar, which is a horrible cliché but also happens to be true, and Izzo has attracted plenty of flies in his tenure at Michigan State. You can question whether that should be true or not -- some fans tend to think reporters are whining when they complain about coaches who thrive on psychological press conference power plays, and maybe those fans have a point -- but like it or not, it is true.

All of which was a wordy way to preface this: You can probably expect some folks to claim Izzo is being "brave" by dismissing Lucious at this point in the season. Some will argue that he's "taking a stand" and "setting an example" and "sacrificing wins for the good of his program." All of which is probably correct. But it's also correct to say that this Michigan State team -- a team with enough talent to make it to the Final Four without its best player eight months ago -- has been a disappointing mess from the moment it took the floor in November.

Does anyone think Izzo has had a good season? Are the Spartans improving in any tangible way? Why can't this team get control of its destructive addiction to turnovers? Why haven't Summers and Delvon Roe developed into consistent players? Why hasn't Izzo told Lucas to stop shooting so many inefficient long-range 2s? And -- most importantly -- why has the past year been a non-stop rush of personnel issues and off-court drama? If I'm a Spartans fan, I may think Izzo is a god, but I'm still asking those questions. Among many others.

Fortunately for those fans, believe it or not, there is some good news here. For one, Michigan State still has the majority of its Big Ten schedule left to play, and we know anything about Michigan State under Tom Izzo -- and in particular this group of players -- it's that it's never too late to figure things out just in time for a surprising tournament run. First rule of college basketball punditry: Discount the Spartans at your own risk.

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