Among the college basketball programs it’s easy to argue that Michigan State has been one of the most successful since the turn of the century. The Spartans cut down the nets as champions in 2000 and have made several trips back to the Final Four since then. Tom Izzo has been outstanding in this more than three decades helming Michigan State basketball and the program has produced a multitude of highly-successful players.
We’ll be taking a few moments to speak on the four best players for Michigan State since that turn of the century, identifying the Mount Rushmore of Spartans hoops during that time. Despite the title, we actually won’t be focusing on things from the 1999-2000 season, meaning you won’t necessarily see the stars from that championship team. However, few can disagree with the talent and accomplishments of these unforgettable legends of East Lansing.
Draymond Green
Long before the NBA titles and extended relevance with the Golden State Warriors, Green spent four years with the Spartans and was part of two Final Four runs early in his collegiate career. He was mostly a bench piece in those underclassman seasons and deep postseason runs, but Green really turned into an elite player in his later seasons.
His game took a dramatic step forward in year three until everything clicked as senior. During that 2011-12 season, Green averaged 16.2 points and 10.6 rebounds per game, earning First Team All-American honors. He was named both Big Ten Player of the Year and Tournament MVP while also leading the league in rebounding while helming a run to the Sweet Sixteen during the 2012 NCAA Tournament.
Jason Richardson
The collegiate career for Richardson was just two seasons but he really left quite the impact in that brief time in East Lansing. Largely a bench player as a freshman, the former Top 20 recruit played a role on the 2000 national championship team before blossoming into a legitimate star in his sophomore season.
Richardson was a Second Team All-American and earned Big Ten honors while putting up 14.7 points and 5.9 rebounds per game in that second collegiate campaign. Not only was he playing a major role on a talented Michigan State team, but he helped lead the team back to the Final Four where they’d fall to Arizona. Had he not been drafted 5th overall a few months later, there’s no telling what else Richardson might have accomplished under Izzo’s leadership.
Denzel Valentine
Widely revered as one of the greatest players in program history, Valentine left everything on the court across four successful seasons in East Lansing. He arrived as a fringe Top 100 prospect in 2012 and left four years later as one of the career leaders in assists, rebounds, and many other metrics in Michigan State history. He helped the Spartans to a slew of success both in the regular season and postseason, returning to the Final Four as a junior.
His role dramatically increased as his career continuing, turning into a star on that Final Four team while making nearly 42% of his 3-pointers as a junior. Valentine’s senior year really sealed the deal on his legacy, as he averaged 19.2 points, 7.5 rebounds, and 7.8 assists per game. Valentine was Big Ten Player of the Year, leading the league in scoring and assists, and won several National Player of the Year awards as well. Despite the way that season ended against Middle Tennessee, he punctuated his importance to Spartans basketball.
Cassius Winston
When he arrived on campus in 2016, Winston was far from an unknown quantity as a Top 30 recruit out of nearby Detroit. By the time he’d leave during the early days of the pandemic, he was revered as one of the finest point guards in the history of Michigan State basketball. Winston started nearly every game of his final three seasons, becoming an elite scorer, ball handler, and leader for the Spartans.
He led the Big Ten in assists multiple times and was twice named an All-American. As a junior, Winston was the Big Ten Player of the Year while averaging 18.8 points and 7.5 assists per game before leading the Spartans to the 2019 Final Four, still the most recent of those runs from this program. His numbers as a senior were comparably excellent but the pandemic preventing us from seeing if Winston could lead Michigan State on another unforgettable run.
Add us as a preferred source on Google