Grinz On Green: Spartans Turn Focus To Postseason

March 6, 2016

By Steve Grinczel, MSUSpartans.com Online Columnist

From a player worthy of national player of the year honors to prominence in nearly every statistical category, and from off-the-court success to a rabidly devoted fan base, only the lack of a championship prevents Michigan State's senior class from saying: "We have it all."

With Saturday's always-emotional Senior Day festivities out of the way and the Big Ten regular season emphatically concluded with a 91-76 thrashing of Ohio State, Denzel Valentine & Co. will do everything in its power to rectify that shortcoming over the course of the next month.

After making another case for why he's arguably the best player in the country by having a hand in 56 points against the Buckeyes, Valentine echoed Mateen Cleaves' promise of delivering a national championship on his MSU Senior Day, 16 years and one day earlier.

Unlike Cleaves, Valentine didn't get a chance to address the Breslin Center crowd, because Coach Tom Izzo did all the talking this time around with almost all of the 14,797 who attended the game sticking around to pay homage to Valentine, Matt Costello, Bryn Forbes and Colby Wollenman, who kissed the center of the court in according with Spartan senior farewell tradition.

However, in response to a reporter's question referring to Cleaves, Valentine went on the record with his unvarnished aspirations afterward while holding court in front of his locker.

"Maybe I can say that now," he said. "National championship guaranteed."

Yeah?

"Yeah," said Valentine, who scored 27 points and distributed 13 assists, including three for 3-point baskets. "I mean, we have the team to do it and the only thing that's going to stop us is us, so we're going to do our part."

Coming from another player on another team, Valentine's proclamation might have gone down as a delusional boast propped up with unjustified confidence.

But as the nation's No. 2-ranked team -- and the nation's best second-place conference team in spite of ceding the Big Ten title to Indiana, which lost to the Spartans by 19 points -- MSU has already beaten the current No. 1 team, Kansas, and has no glaring weaknesses.

Going into his 19th NCAA Tournament, even Izzo had to admit that of all his Spartan teams, this one's chances of winning it all ranks with those of the 2000 club, which fulfilled Cleaves' prophesy by capturing Michigan State's second national championship; the 2001 team, which fell in the national semifinals; and the 2014 squad that bowed out against a stacked deck in the Elite Eight.

"The real, real mission now is somebody stole our Big Ten championship from us," Izzo said while closing his Senior Day remarks from the court. "Or better yet, we didn't quite do enough to win it â€" in fairness.

"But you guys here have stuck with us all year. I mean, there was that game against Nebraska when you tried to will us to win the game and we didn't do our job, but you did yours. So I want to thank you and I want to tell you this, in the 21 years I've been the head coach, we've gone to seven Final Fours but three of (my teams) I thought had a legitimate chance to win going (into the tournament).

"I'm putting my neck on the line â€" this is the fourth where we have a legitimate chance to win."

Costello tried to temper Valentine and Izzo's exuberance with the voice of reason, which is interesting given some of his celebratory demonstrations shown on his highlight video.

"You can't be guaranteeing anything," said the notoriously emotional Costello, who teared up at various times all day. "But we've got a really good shot and I'm happy I'm on this team. Everybody thinks sadness is why I'm crying and stuff, but it's happiness, it's joy. This is fun for me and I just have to let it all out."

About 30 minutes after the deafening applause died down, Izzo gave more reasons for why Michigan State may be the team to beat, without actually coming out and saying so, starting with the senior class which just led the Spartans to a school-record-tying 26th regular-season victory (against five losses).

The ultra-versatile Valentine remains on course to become the first college player to average 19 points, seven rebounds and seven assists since the NCAA made assists an official statistic in 1983-84.

Costello, who scored MSU's first basket against Ohio State on an assist from Wollenman, finished with 15 points and 11 rebounds and is just the second Spartan to go through Big Ten play averaging a double-double, joining Draymond Green (2012).

Forbes, who Izzo called the "premier" 3-point shooter in the nation, rallied for 10 second-half points to end his final home appearance with 14 and Wollenman continued to be his inspirational self before heading off to medical school after playing in the Big Ten and NCAA tourneys.

With all due respect to his previous senior classes, Izzo put this one at the top of his list.

"If I look at all the aspects of it, what they did on the court, in the classroom, in the community, this team has to rank (No.) 1," Izzo said. "All four guys are graduating â€" it's not even an issue."

Then came the qualifier.

"There are so many way to look at it," Izzo continued. "I guess one way to look at it, you know, we'll see in the next three to four weeks how good they are."

It's hard to argue against the Spartans from a statistical standpoint.

"The numbers are ridiculous," Izzo said. "I'm the farthest thing from an analytics guy there is. I'm a big fan of your heart, not your numbers. But… I keep looking at the Big Ten stats and I said this is a joke. We're either one or two in everything, just about."

"We've earned the right to be in the conversation."

And then, there's Valentine, the unquestioned catalyst of a team Izzo said proved its chops against top-notch non-conference competition and then dominated Big Ten opposition after suffering an early hiccup when Valentine was recovering from arthroscopic knee surgery.

"He's the best all-around player in the country, hands-down," said Forbes. "He can do everything on the court from leading to whatever. Then there's Colby â€" a great student, great player; Matt â€" a great student, great player, great person; and Zel â€" the same thing.

"You don't get that usually on one team. I'm just lucky to be here when it's happening."

Valentine's chief competition for player of the year honors is Oklahoma's Buddy Hield, who scored 46 points in a 109-106 triple-overtime loss to Kansas. Izzo pointed out that Valentine scored 29 points and had 12 rebounds and 12 assists in a win against the Jayhawks, and didn't need 15 extra minutes to do it.

"I love another candidate or two out there, but I prejudicially say that (Valentine's) the player of the year," Izzo said.

Valentine wouldn't disagree. He believes he's done enough to be deserving of such accolades, while intent on doing even more with no fear of the weighty expectations he has placed on the Spartans' shoulders.

"There's no pressure to me," Valentine said. "We think we can win the championship and so does coach. It is what it is.

"You've got to live up to it."

If you truly want to have it all.