Your inbox approves Men's coaches poll Women's coaches poll Play to win 25K!
SPORTS
Denzel Valentine

How Michigan State’s Denzel Valentine willed himself into being a player of the year candidate

Nicole Auerbach
USA TODAY Sports

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Draymond Green is no recruiting analyst, but he had a feeling about this one.

Michigan State Spartans guard Denzel Valentine (45) brings the ball up court against the Purdue Boilermakers on Feb. 9.

The former Michigan State star knew that Gary Harris was considered the jewel of Michigan State’s 2012 class, a five-star guard who had been named the 2012 Indiana Gatorade Player of the Year. But Green had also noticed another player in the same class, a local kid named Denzel Valentine who played at Sexton High School right in Lansing.

“It’s funny — I used to go his high school games to check him out; it was right there,” Green told USA TODAY Sports. “I was thinking, Denzel is going to be that one. I knew Gary was going to be great, but I used to tell people: Watch out for Denzel in that class. He’s kind of a sleeper.”

NCAA tournament bracketology: Projecting the field of 68

Sleeper no more, Valentine is a bona-fide star and national player of the year contender for the ninth-ranked Spartans, who have won five of their past six games and are starting to look like Michigan State teams typically look in March.

IT'S BRACKET MADNESS: Enter USA TODAY's NCAA tournament bracket contest for a chance at $1 million prize.

This season, Valentine is averaging 19.5 points, 7.7 rebounds and 7.1 assists per game, despite missing four games due to a knee injury midseason. He’s improved in every single offensive statistical category in each of his four years here. Defensively, he’s a completely different player than when he got to East Lansing, having taken the time to study opponents and learn how to defend them better. The Spartans consider him their best defender, confident enough in him to put him on any guard in the country.

***

Considering he’s developed into one of college basketball’s top performers, it’s a little surprising to discover that Valentine was barely a top-100 recruit. “Low 80s, like 88,” he said. He chose Michigan State — his hometown school and father’s alma mater — over Michigan, Georgetown and Oakland University, which is about 90 minutes away and where his older brother, Drew, played.

Denzel Valentine gets helped up by teammate Matt Costello in MSU's victory against Maryland on Jan. 23.

Valentine grew up a Spartans fan, surrounded by his father’s own memorabilia and worshipping the members of the 2000 national championship team. He’s got photos with most of that team’s stars, photos his father, Carlton, made him and his brother take because they were sometimes too shy to ask for pictures or autographs themselves.

Michigan State wasn’t his first college offer; in fact, coach Tom Izzo told Valentine he wasn’t going to offer him because he wasn’t a finished product. He needed to shoot better.

“That was the best thing Coach could have told us,” Carlton Valentine said. “I remember him that day, after they told him that, he was like, ‘Dad, can we get to the gym?’ ” He estimated Denzel shot 1,000 jump shots that day.

A few weeks later, Izzo watched Valentine drain a handful of threes in the first half of a game at the Adidas Super 64 tournament in Las Vegas. The Michigan State offer came soon after.

***

Denzel Valentine has developed a close relationship with Michigan State coach Tom Izzo.

Valentine learned the sport — and how much work was required to be good and maybe great at it — from his father, who played at Michigan State in the 1980s and then professionally overseas. Carlton Valentine still wakes up between 5 and 6 every morning to work out; he taught his sons to never let anyone else outwork them. He also made sure they had good guard skills and did ball-handling drills growing up.

Drew Valentine, two years older than Denzel, spent two seasons as a graduate assistant at Michigan State, a critical cog in his brother’s growth during his college career; now Drew is an assistant coach at his alma mater, Oakland.

Denzel Valentine feels fortunate to have both perspectives in addition to Izzo’s; he says his dad gives him the old-school basketball point-of-view, and his brother the “new” school. But perhaps the most significant contribution to the success Valentine has had as a Spartan was Drew’s commitment to helping Valentine improve his shot and his range.

Denzel Valentine is one of the best passers in the country, averaging 7.1 assists a game to rank sixth nationally.

As a grad assistant, Drew was the one who primarily worked with Denzel in the gym whenever he wanted to work in the gym (which was often — perhaps the understatement of the year). The two worked on all aspects of shooting, from stationary drills that focused on form, arc and release to footwork and shots off the dribble. As a player at Oakland, Drew had roomed with Travis Bader, who owns the NCAA Division I record for career 3-pointers made and attempted. Drew incorporated drills he’d done with Bader into his workouts with Denzel.

Denzel Valentine’s 3-point shooting percentage has improved from 28.1% his freshman year to 37.7% as a sophomore to 41.6% as a junior and now 44.7% as a senior.

“These past couple years he's become really comfortable scoring,” Drew Valentine said. “He's always, because of the ball handling drills that my dad had us do growing up, been a really good ball handler. Becoming more comfortable with scoring is something that he's been really able to do the past couple years.”

***

Each offseason, Denzel Valentine has taken out a sheet of paper and written a prioritized list of goals.

The list was long after his freshman year, but it’s shrunk a bit each summer since as he’s focused on specific areas of improvement. His father thinks his son’s goal-setting — “really, expectation-setting,” Carlton Valentine said — has been vital to his growth.

This offseason, Valentine’s list included the following: Better at ball handling, increase 3-point shooting range, become a better defensive player and change his body. The last piece required a focus on nutrition and diet, cutting out late-night food and focusing on eating healthier alternatives throughout the day.

Spartans guard Denzel Valentine, middle, leads vocally and with his play on the court.

“He's got a sloppy body, and what I mean by that is he lifted, he worked out, but minimal changes,” Izzo said. “But this year, our nutritionist and strength coach talked him into really getting into the yoga, doing this, doing that. He is always trying to do whatever he can do to improve. (Draymond Green) talked about eating right. Well, what college guy really eats right, you know? And (Valentine) does now. He's just different. And even though he's not Adonis still, his body fat and all that stuff, he's a lot better put together.”

Green has served as an inspiration for Valentine for some time now. Green has excelled with the Golden State Warriors as a player who is undersized at the traditional forward position but helps the Warriors stretch the ball and excel with small ball.

Green and Valentine text each other frequently about basketball and leadership and whatever else crosses their minds; Green maintains a group chat with the entire current Spartan team, too.

Ranking the top 10 players in college basketball

“I have texted him saying this is really inspiring watching him play, because me and a guy like him, ‘He can't do this and he can't do that,’ ” Valentine said. “For him to be doing this, it gives me hope. Not that I was going to go out there and not play with confidence, because I'm always going to do that. It's just inspiring to see someone undersized and not have the best body type and doesn't necessarily do anything great on the floor, but does a lot everything. It's definitely inspiring watching him play and seeing him lead his team and the things he can do.

“I think he’s paving the way for me a little bit as far as the NBA saying, ‘Maybe he can't shoot the best or is not the highest jumper or anything, but he's a winner and he's tough. He's a great guy at the end of the day.’ ”

Asked to put on his scouting cap once more, this time in terms of Valentine’s NBA potential and their own parallels, the Green did not hesitate.

“He’s the guard version of me,” Green said. “Is he a 1 or 2? He’s a basketball player. Put him at the 1, 2 or 3, he’s going to get it done. He’s going to make plays, he’s going to score the basketball. He can defend. He works his ass off.”

***

Contributing: Sam Amick

COACHES POLL TOP 25 TEAMS

Featured Weekly Ad