Michigan State's preseason exhibition games have really provided more questions than answers.

The sixth-ranked Spartans are now just two days away from their official season opener against Quinnipiac, out of the Metro Conference. Monday will be the first-ever meeting between MSU and the Bobcats.

Exhibitions against UConn and Marquette can be interesting, but those games don't count. This one does. Hopefully, Michigan State can offer real answers to the questions posed below.

Who Will Emerge at Center?

The frontcourt, and more specifically center, seems to be MSU's weak spot right now. That area didn't look particularly promising in any of the Spartans' three exhibition games, and Michigan State will need to figure that out if it wants to become the national title-contending team it has expressed confidence it can be.

The first smaller question is simply about who will be MSU's starting center. Anton Bonke started in the Spartans' first two exhibitions against Incarnate Word and UConn, but then things turned over to Jesse McCulloch against Marquette.

Bonke's lack of involvement has been particularly unusual. He was brought to Michigan State from the transfer portal to be the team's presumed starter, but he played just nine combined minutes in the team's two exhibitions against the Huskies and Golden Eagles. The real concern is that Tom Izzo hasn't inserted Bonke into those two exhibitions at all during the second half.

"We're trying to figure out what ball screen coverages we want to use," Izzo said. "You know, one of our jobs is putting people in a position where they can be successful...We have not gotten the ball in the post enough, because he can score down there, which we will do better. We have not done a good enough job demanding to him on what he's got to do on some of these different coverages because ball screens, Marquette ran, you know, 20 per possession."

Ethan Taylor is also a major part of the equation. He's played relatively well so far and feels like a player who will get better and better as his freshman year goes on. Taylor has the physical tools to be an elite center already; he'll just need live reps to figure things out.

Who Will Be Fears' Robin in Backcourt?

One thing Michigan State seriously lacked last year was a secondary creator in the backcourt. Kur Teng was the Spartans' second-leading guard last season after Jeremy Fears Jr., who really had to carry MSU for long stretches on occasion.

The good part is that it feels like a matter of who, not if, help arrives this year. Michigan State might start both freshman Jasiah Jervis and sophomore Jordan Scott on Monday. That's what it did in last Sunday's exhibition at Marquette, and that was one of the lineups that really seemed to work.

Jervis and Scott are two serious "breakout" candidates for the Spartans this year. Scott probably isn't on a lot of NBA mock drafts right now, but it's in the opinion of this writer that it won't be long into the year before he is. It might be a similar story with Jervis, who has been lights-out from distance thus far and is the crafty, bucket-getting two-guard Michigan State needed last season.

The Fears-Jervis-Scott trio may be the best part of this MSU team. Guard play so often makes the difference in the depths of conference play and in March. Michigan State's guards, all three of whom seem to have NBA futures, may be as good as anybody's this year.

Just How Many Players Play?

Another known strength of this year's team is its depth. Michigan State is carrying 12 scholarship players this season. All 12 of them have at least a shot at making it into the team's regular playing group, but at least a few of them probably will end up receiving fewer minutes than they'd get at a lot of other schools.

Julius Avent is probably the first player on the rotation "bubble." He got a DNP in the team's UConn exhibition, though Izzo was able to get him some minutes during the Marquette game. Avent has an interesting skill set as a larger wing, but there are probably just too many other options at the three and the four to play Avent much.

Eleven seems like the number MSU will most likely start with. That will be difficult for Izzo to manage the whole way, and there will probably come a point when he'll need to trim another player or two. The discussion will have to happen again in late February or March. Still, for now, Michigan State playing at least 10 players feels like a certainty.