The Spartans started the season unranked, and were predicted to finish in the middle of the pack in the Big Ten. They silenced all of their critics by finishing the season with a Big Ten Championship, a top 5 ranking in the country, and an overall 24-7 record.
Michigan State had a young, and unproven team coming into the season, and if they were going to get anywhere this season they were going to do it on the shoulders of Draymond Green.
Draymond Green averaged 16.2 PPG, 10.3 RPG, and 3.5 APG in 31 games for Michigan State this season. Green also posted 17 double-doubles this season, which is the most in the Big Ten.
Green has become the 6th Spartan in Michigan State history to win the prized award, last since Kalin Lucas in 2009
Aside from the winning the prized Big Ten Player of the Year award, Draymond Green was also named to the First-Team All Big Ten and the Big Ten All-Defensive Team.
Tom Izzo earned his 3rd Big Ten coaching honor by being named the 2012 Big Ten Coach of the Year. Izzo won his 400th with a win over Minnesota this year.
Also, Izzo grabbed his 7th Big Ten Championship as the head coach of the Spartans, and took his unranked team at the beginning of the season all the way to #5 in the nation by the end of the season.
While Michigan State was not able to win the Big Ten outright with a win yesterday against the Buckeyes, the Spartans accomplished a lot of things as a team, and individually, that many programs can only dream about.
Draymond Green and Tom Izzo were not the only Spartans to earn Big Ten awards this season, as sophomore point guard Keith Appling was named to Third-Team All Big Ten, and freshman Branden Dawson was named the coach’s Big Ten All-Freshman Team. Also, senior Austin Thornton won a Big Ten sportsmanship award.
Michigan State will head to Indianapolis this weekend for the Big Ten Tournament, and continue their quest for a National Championship.
Written by Robert White via FeedCrossing
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