Chris Crosses The Line

After helping lead Michigan State to consecutive Final Fours, Chris Allen will take his game somewhere else after being dismissed from Spartans. (Photo courtesy of Sports Illustrated)

Michigan State's quartet of guards has shrunk to a trio in the wake of coach Tom Izzo's announcement that Chris Allen, whose outside shot helped guide the Spartans to back-to-back Final Fours, would not be returning to East Lansing for the 2010-11 season.

A junior who forged his way into Sparty's rotation following the 2009 graduations of Goran Suton and Travis Walton, Allen became the sixth man for Izzo early in his career before eventually taking Walton's spot at shooting guard in the starting lineup last year, where he was embroiled in a conflict with Izzo late in the season; one that saw him miss considerable playing time in the Big Ten tournament as well as the Spartans' run to the national semifinals.

Allen will have to sit out a year under NCAA transfer rules, and is in the process of finding a new home after becoming the first player to be dismissed from the team since Izzo took over the head coaching position in 1995. His spot in the lineup will likely be filled by junior Korie Lucious, but incoming freshman Keith Appling has been rumored to see his fair share of minutes as well for a team that is already expected in some circles to make a strong bid to capture its first national championship since 2000.