How the Michigan State Spartans did in the Big Ten Tournament last week really has nothing to do with how they’ll perform in the real tournament this week and beyond. Their B1G Tourney performances aren’t close to being predictive gauges at all.
Tom Izzo has made seven Final Fours, and only two of those were preceded by Big Ten tournament championships (1999, 2000). In 2001, they captured a top seed and reached the Final Four with the Jason Richardson-Zach Randolph team, but in the Big Ten Tournament, they got bounced very early on by lowly Penn State.
Penn State! It wasn’t until a decade later that Michigan State even reached the tournament championship game again.
Meanwhile, back at the big boy table, Final Four runs were accomplished four times the decade spanning 2001-2011. Last year’s MSU basketball team made a very surprising run to the Final Four, after losing in the Big Ten Tournament championship game.
So then, what is a predictive gauge for Michigan State? How about Matt Costello, who’s a really underrated key contributor. You already know Denzel Valentine, the alpha dog. He’s a leading candidate to win all the national player of the year awards. Second banana is Bryn Forbes, who is quite possibly the college basketball equivalent of a splash brother.
Forbes is beyond deadly from beyond the arc, and given that he’s been off the past couple of games, you know he’s due for a big shooting/scoring outburst soon.
Then you have Costello.
“The play of Denzel Valentine is unbelievable. His ability to shoot the ball, pass the ball, and don’t forget the play of Tom Costello,” said ESPN Analyst Dick Vitale.
“You don’t hear about it much nationally, I don’t see the papers in Detroit and that area that much, but Costello has been tremendous on the inside.”
Costello will be even more effective this NCAA Tournament if State can get Deyonta Davis going, and living up to his tremendous, blue-chip potential. You would have a really effective interior if you can get both of these key pieces going at the same time.
MSU is a trendy pick to win it all this year, and a big part of that is due to the idea that they’ll be extra motivated by the NCAA snubbing them on the #1 seed line.
“As far as a one seed, man, that was out of our control,” said Matt Costello.
“We took care of what we could take care of, and we know we got some goals ahead of us. So let’s enjoy this win for a little bit, but we got some work to do.”
There’s a reason everybody seems to be picking Michigan State to reach the Final Four at worst, and win it all at best. They’re like the Jedis of college hoops, they can bring balance to the force.
Said Costello following the Spartans win in the Big Ten Tournament title game.
“We talk about legacy all the time. Put your footprint in the sand. We’ve done it a couple times this year with some records we’ve broken. But right now we’re just trying to win another championship. Again, happy we won today but we got bigger fish to fry.”
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, partnered with FOX Sports Engage Network. and News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, currently contributes regularly to the Chicago Tribune’s RedEye publication and Bold Global.
He also consistently appears on numerous talk shows all across the country. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram