Denzel Valentine's Shooting Propels The Spartans
By Chris Morgan
Name: Denzel Valentine
University: Michigan State University
Year: Junior
Height: 6'5''
Weight: 220
Hometown:Lansing, MI
Position: G
The Michigan State Spartans may be the only team from the state of Michigan to make it into the NCAA Men's College Basketball Tournament. However, even they are having a somewhat disappointing year, at least by their lofty standards. They are middle of the pack in the Big Ten Conference, and are likely to receive a middling seed in March Madness as well. Barring a run deep into the Big Ten tourney, it seems unlikely they finish with higher than, say, a six or seven seed.
That being said, it would be a mistake to overlook or count out Tom Izzo and his Spartans. If anybody is going to help lead Michigan State to an upset, or two, it is likely to be Denzel Valentine, who has been arguable their best player so far this season. Valentine is second on the team in rebounds and assists, with 6.1 and 4.1 per game respectively, and he leads the team in points with 14.7. The guard has been a jack of all trades, and has really helped push this offense forward. In addition to scoring almost 15 points a game, he is doing it efficiently. He has a .445 field goal percentage, makes 83.6% of his free throws, and is shooting at a 42.9% clip from behind the three-point line. He can shoot, there is no doubt about that, and clearly he can rebound well for a guard.
Valentine is a local product from Lansing, and he presumably is enjoying the process of leading what is more or less his hometown team. He has certainly taken on a much bigger role than he has ever had before with this team. As a freshman, he played sparingly, and not all that well, before improving a bit as a sophomore. However, this has really been a breakout year for him. While his rebound and assist numbers are roughly the same, he has jumped from averaging eight points per game to what he is doing now.
The secret? Shooting much better. His field goal percentage, and three-point percentage, are both much approved. That goes double for his free throw rate. Before this year, he was converting about two-thirds of his free throws, which is not good. Obviously, he has changed something, and he's also shooting a ton more three-pointers. He's taking just over six per game, and he is making 2.6 of them per game. That's a great way to increase your scoring.
While not all the scoring impetus is on Valentine with this team, it is where he can help the most. If he has a game in during March Madness where he just starts raining threes, which is a realistic prospect, the Spartans could easily see themselves making a nice run, although this time they will be a bit of a Cinderella. Valentine will likely be back next year, too, but how much more can he improve upon what he's already doing?
Chris Morgan has been a diehard Detroit Lions fan through the good (Barry Sanders) and the bad (Matt Millen) and that love has led him to take jobs writing about sports, including as a fantasy sports "expert." His work can be found on Examiner.com. .