NCAA Basketball: Seniors who never got their moment in NCAA Tournament
By Bryan Mauro
Cassius Winston and Kyle Ahrens – Michigan State Spartans
The Spartans entered the year as the preseason number one pick, and trendy pick by many to win the National Championship. Michigan State struggled at the beginning of the season and was losing games they normally would have won. Then in true Michigan State fashion, they righted the ship and were playing their best basketball heading into the Big Ten tournament. They were the favorite of many to win the auto-bid in the league and go into the NCAA tournament as one of the favorites to win the National Championship.
Two seniors for Tom Izzo, Cassius Winton and Kyle Ahrens saw their careers cut short before their final chance at making a run to the National Championship. Winston had one of the best careers of any college basketball player in recent memory. He was in the mix for the National Player of the year and the Big Ten player of the year. Winston had a decorated career and arguably was the best to wear a Spartan uniform since Mateen Cleaves. The only thing he didn’t have was a National Championship.
Winston had many huge moments in a Spartan uniform but without his senior year run to the title, his career never seemed finished. Winston is going to be playing basketball professionally for a number of years, so he is going to get many more chances for his championship, but fans would have loved to have seen him end his career on a high note.
Ahrens has not had nearly the career that Winston has had but he was a four-year player and was known more for his shooting. Something tells me that Ahrens would have hit a huge shot in the NCAA tournament to propel the Spartans to a close victory in one of the later games in the tournament. Ahrens should still be recognized as a program guy and one who responsible for a lot of wins in a Spartan uniform. One of the wildcards for the Spartans is Josh Langford.
Langford has been hurt for the better part of the last two seasons. The guard can use his redshirt year if he wishes to and return for one more run at a National Title. The Spartans are going to have to wait a while to find another player that did as much for the program as Winston. Even though he is gone East Lansing will never forget him.