ESPN Ranks Denzel Valentine As The Third-Best College Basketball Player
By: Evan Jankens
@kingofthekc
The leaves are turning and the temperature is dropping and that means it's time for college basketball.
Monday afternoon, the initial college basketball ranking came out and Michigan State came in ranked 13th.
Tuesday, ESPN put out their list of the top 100 players in college basketball and one Spartan was really high on the list.
Denzel Valentine cames in at No. 3.
Valentine didn't even make first- or second-team All-Big Ten last season, a state of affairs our esteemed panel of voters clearly regards as a shocking oversight. With his 42 percent 3-point shooting and an outstanding assist rate for a small forward, Valentine is one of the biggest reasons why Michigan State reached the Final Four for a seventh time under Tom Izzo last April.
This is a little shocking to me. No. 1 is freshman Ben Simmons from LSU and No. 2 is Kris Dunn, a junior guard from Providence.
Other local players on the list are Michigan's Caris Levert, who came in at 16 and Michigan State's Eron Harris at 54.