Michigan State University Athletics
Sports Illustrated Names Valentine National Player Of The Year
3/16/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Michigan State senior guard Denzel Valentine has added a third National Player of the Year honor to his growing list of accolades as he was selected by Sports Illustrated, the magazine announced on Tuesday, March 15. Last week, Valentine was recognized by USA TODAY Sports and NBCSports.com. He is just the fourth Spartan to earn National Player of the Year honors, joining Scott Skiles (1986-Basketball Times), Shawn Respert (1995-Sporting News & NABC) and Draymond Green (2012-NABC).
"Being mentioned in the same class as some of the Spartan greats that have come before me is truly a blessing," said Valentine last week. "Being an All-American was one of my goals for the season, and through hard work, dedication and faith I was able to earn it. My teammates deserve just as much credit as I do though. Without their commitment of being the best they can be and having my back throughout all the ups and downs of the season, I wouldn't have been able to reach my individual goals."
The postseason honors are quickly accumulating for Valentine. In addition to his National Player of the Year honors, he's been named a First-Team All-American by Sporting News, USA TODAY Sports, Sports Illustrated and USBWA. He was voted Big Ten Player of the Year and was a unanimous First-Team All-Big Ten selection. He followed by leading MSU to a Big Ten Tournament championship and earning Most Outstanding Player honors. In addition, he was named the USBWA All-District V player of the Year.
Valentine is the seventh player to earn any type of All-America honors under head coach Tom Izzo, joining Mateen Cleaves, Morris Peterson, Charlie Bell, Jason Richardson, Drew Neitzel and Green, and the 23rd in program history.
Valentine is having a historic season, as he is on pace to become the first player to average 19 points, seven rebounds and seven assists since the NCAA first recognized the assist as an official stat in 1983-84. He currently leads the Big Ten in overall scoring (19.4 ppg) and assists (7.6 apg), looking to be the first Big Ten player to do that since Iowa's Andre Woolridge in 1997. He finished Big Ten play averaging 20.5 points and 7.8 assists, becoming just the fourth player to pace the conference in both categories in Big Ten games since 1975, joining Woolridge (1997), Michigan State's Marcus Taylor (2002) and Michigan's Trey Burke (2013). Valentine also leads the Big Ten in 3-point field goals made, both overall (3.4) and in conference games (3.8). He is the first Spartan to lead the conference in scoring in Big Ten games since Taylor in 2002, and just the ninth Spartan all-time to accomplish that feat.
Earlier this season, Valentine became just the fourth Spartan to record a triple-double when he totaled 29 points, 12 rebounds and 12 assists against Kansas and one of three Spartans with more than one when he followed nine days later with 29 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists against Boston College. His five games of 25 points, 10 assists and five rebounds are the most in the nation since 2010-11. In games which he has started, Valentine has either made or assisted on 50.7 percent of MSU's baskets.
He is the only Spartan to rank in the Michigan State Top 10 in both career assists (3rd, 627) and career rebounds (9th, 850). In addition he ranks 11th in career scoring (1,632), fourth in career 3-point field goals made (262), and fourth in career 3-point field-goal attempts (642). He also ranks tied for third in career games played (143).
