EAST LANSING -- Michigan State's three exhibition games didn't exactly go according to plan. Tom Izzo considers them a minor success, not for the play on the court, but for what he's learned now.

"Everybody uses an exhibition game differently," he said Thursday. "I use it the way I want to use it, and I got out of it what I wanted. I just didn't like some of the things I learned."

MSU is starting the season ranked sixth in the country. That's a label that the Spartans haven't entirely lived up to, though, losing to a Braylon Mullins-less No. 4 UConn squad at home and then losing at unranked Marquette.

Silver Linings of Exhibition Defeats

The great part about the losses to UConn and Marquette is that they aren't losses. Michigan State's record is 0-0, not 1-2. The Huskies and the Golden Eagles exposed some issues that the Spartans have. It's better to know this stuff now rather than later in November or further down the line.

These miniature exposés used to not happen out in public. Until recently, the only public exhibition games college basketball teams would have were against some nearby Division II school, which doesn't entirely push high-major programs to their limit.

The real, informative exhibition was usually behind closed doors in the past, often called "secret scrimmages." Only the scores and maybe notes on a player or two often leaked out from those games, let alone a full box score and/or film. It definitely wasn't enough to truly take away anything meaningful.

"Those two exhibition games (against Connecticut and Marquette) have been priceless for us," Izzo also said. "What's hard about the exhibition games when they're public and when the media is involved, compared to when they're private, is that everybody does it different, like I said. I did get out of it what I wanted."

The vibes would be different (and better) if the UConn and Marquette games had happened behind closed doors, like they probably would've in the past. Even though they happen publicly now, exhibitions are exhibitions.

Michigan State lost an exhibition to Grand Valley State and reached the Sweet Sixteen in 2007-08. Michigan lost to Cincinnati, a team that went on to miss the tourney, in a home exhibition last year, yet UM wound up winning the whole thing. The 0-16 Detroit Lions went 4-0 during the preseason in 2008. It's not to say the exhibitions are meaningless, but they aren't all that indicative of future success.

Early 'Disappointments'

Communication

As Izzo said, there are still things he learned that he didn't like. One major thing that has really seemed to irk him was a lack of communication on the defensive end. Too many guys are quiet right now, and that cannot be the case at a program that has generally been defense-first.

"Communication is really a problem," Izzo said. "This team, when you (the media) interview them, you better bring your full game. Some of you are going to flunk the test because you better be able to drag it out of them. I mean, I've never had so many quiet guys."

Fast Break

Michigan State also hasn't been good enough on the fast break. There's a high bar to clear in East Lansing for the fast break to really be considered acceptable at MSU, but the Spartans don't seem to be very close to it at the moment.

"We are not pushing the ball," Izzo said. "Some of that's on Jeremy (Fears Jr.). We are not running. Some of it's on the other guys, but what we haven't done, which I'm going to get out of them this week, is with everybody talking to them about everything, with all the different things they get, with the entitlement that happens, it's almost like I felt a little complacency in there right now that I'm going to be aware of, because we're not doing what our stamp is."

"Our stamp on this basketball world is our fast break. We defend, we rebound, we run. It's been the same mantra for all my years."

Thoughts on Bonke

The biggest surprise of last week's exhibitions was the lack of minutes for Anton Bonke. He was brought in to be Michigan State's starting center, but he never saw the court in the second half against either UConn or Marquette. Izzo says Bonke should get more minutes moving forward; they're just trying to figure out how to best utilize him right now.

"We're trying to figure out what ball screen coverages we want to use. 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."