Three Reasons Why Michigan State Will Win it All
- Mar 17, 2016
- 3 min read
Michigan State's Matt Costello, left, and Denzel Valentine celebrate following an NCAA college basketball game against Maryland, Saturday, Jan. 23, 2016, in East Lansing, Mich. Michigan State won 74-65. (AP Photo/Al Goldis)
Michigan State is a very good basketball team. They are such a good basketball team that they may have a shot a the National Championship. Here are three reasons why I believe that they are primed for a run at the National Championship:
Izzo is a Top-Notch Coach
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In his 21 years of coaching Michigan State, Tom Izzo has made the NCAA tournament in 19 seasons, where he holds a 46-17 record. He has also reached 7 Final Fours and won 1 National Championship in 2000. In the regular season, Izzo holds a 524-204 record and a .720 Win Percentage. Izzo also holds 7 regular season Big Ten titles and 4 Big Ten tournament titles.
As a coach, he demands the absolute best from his players. Guys that aren't the most sought after players go to Michigan State and they turn into well-rounded players. Izzo can also out-coach the best coaches. You see him accomplish it every season and postseason. He brings a hard hat and lunch pail mentality to coaching and his players follow suit.
The 3 Seniors
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Denzel Valentine has been absolutely the epitome of consistency throughout his career at Michigan State. He has constantly gotten better each season and his play is now a far cry from what it was during his freshman year. This season, Valentine has averaged 19.4 points per game along with 7.6 assist per.
"Coach, I'm at the game. They're retiring Chauncey's jersey and [Rip] Hamilton is talking about them winning championships, and Chauncey's legacy. This is amazing to me. I want a legacy at MSU. I want to win. I want whenever we are in a tough game, it gets tough, I got to think of this stuff. . . . I got to start realizing what championships and legacies are all about."
"In his mind," Izzo says, "he's playing for Magic Johnson, who did it. He's playing for his father. He's playing for Draymond, who spends all this time with him. I haven't had a ton of them [who] want to win for me and us, Michigan State. That's hard to find. I mean, I think that's really, really hard to find. That's what makes him special to me. He's obsessed with it."
Matt Costello averages 10.4 points per game and 8.2 rebounds. Solid right? Yes. However, what you won't see on the stat sheet is Costello's hustle. He is a pest on defense, he's gritty (where else have we heard that word) and he is a coach's dream. His improvement has been well-documented and his determination is unrivaled.
"I was watching him work," senior guard Bryn Forbes told Jeff Seidel of the Detroit Free Press after a regular season game against Maryland. "He was getting every big rebound, block, diving on the floor, doing everything."
Bryn Forbes has been awesome offensively. He averaged 14.4 points per game, but that's not the most important aspect of his game right now. It is his defense, which he stepped up after the game against Ohio State.
“Yeah, when my shot wasn’t falling, that’s something I had to focus on because I know the first game of the tournament I struggled a little bit on the defensive end,” Forbes said of his play against Ohio State in Friday’s quarterfinal. “I know since then I had to really lock in on that part of my game if the shots weren’t going to fall.”
He has played very good defense against the Maryland Terrapins in the semifinals and the Purdue Boilmakers in the finals of the Big Ten tournament. He made a couple key stops and with these three seniors, anything is possible.
The Grit, The Determination, They've Been There
Steve Dykes/Getty Images It's Denzel Valentine, Travis Trice and Branden Dawson's turn to lead the way for Michigan State.
The Spartans are the toughest team in the country. They would grab a bull by the horns and proceed to slam it. They averaged 41.9 rebounds per game, which ranks 6th in the nation and 5.15 blocks per game (24th in the country). Michigan State players fight for basketballs, hit guys in the jaw and take hits. They've made many runs previously in Izzo's coaching career and they will make another one this tournament.
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