Hey Joe: The unabridged Draymond Green scrapbook (2024)

The NBA Finals are finally here, which means peaking Draymond Fever, and it has meant extensive archive searches for someone who covered Green's entire career at Michigan State. Sunday's look back at key moments in Green's MSU journey got some positive response, but that was sized for print and but a fraction of all the interesting tidbits I found. So if you're trying to pass some time before Game 1, have plenty of it on your hands and forget as much stuff from just a few years ago as I do, take a look at these stories (and other items):

■ In fact, let's start with an email exchange I found while looking up Green stuff. I got this email on June 29, 2007 from Yahoo! Sports reporter (and MSU alum) Charles Robinson: "What's with the Draymond Green kid? Sounds like a lot of polarized opinions."

My (somewhat snarky, of course) response: "Well, if you were a reader of my blog, you'd know what kind of player he is. I saw him in the state title game and he was nice. If there's a comparison, think John "Hot Plate" Williams for the Bullets in the early 90s, except not nearly as fat. Some have mentioned Barkley as well, but he's nowhere near as explosive. He's like a chubby point forward, great hands and understanding, good shot, great handle for a PF, will take some time for him to defend at this level. A four-year guy who will be a nice mismatch on the offensive end as a junior and senior."

See, not bad? Luckily, there's no written record of all the times -- even during Green's senior season -- when I questioned, during debates on his pro future, how he would fit in defensively in the NBA. Oops! Moving on…

■ There is, unfortunately, written record of this blog post from the day Green committed:

The biggest news Thursday might have been the fact that the MSU coaching staff can spend the rest of the summer working on a 2009 class that has the potential to be the best in school history -- while most other schools are battling it out over 2008 prospects.

That's one of the major benefits of Saginaw's Draymond Green deciding on MSU. Make no mistake, though, Green can have significant value to the Spartans on the court. I just think it will take some time.

I saw Green in the Class A title game this year, and he wowed everyone with his variety of skills. He's a nice player, a 6-6 'tweener with great hands and instincts. His game has some flavor, some flash, and he has a personality to match. The fans will like him. Some day, if he gets his body toned and gains some explosion, he can be a very good Big Ten forward.

But don't be unrealistic. Green is joining a team that will be loaded with players in 2008. The frontcourt will have Roe, Gray, Suton, Herzog, Ibok and Raymar Morgan, assuming (and I do) that he's still around. Green could probably redshirt if he wanted to, but if that luxury doesn't sound enticing, he'll have to scrap for minutes.

Green's coach, Lou Dawkins, addressed that today and said (paraphrasing) that he had never seen Delvon Roe play, but that there was no reason Green should have to take a backseat to anyone, and that he'll have an immediate impact.

He should probably watch Roe play.

But hey, he's sticking up for his player, who scored 22.5 a game last season and led his team to a championship. That winning experience is always a nice asset for a player. And Green has a great chance to be Mr. Basketball in '08, with Flint guard Noopy Crater (Ohio State) the main competition.

And let's not forget how good the Saginaw-Flint area has been to MSU. It's never a bad thing to land another player from that region, to keep the pipeline fresh. And one more thing: MSU kept Green from Michigan, where he would have helped the Wolverines. This recruitment apparently got a bit snippy at the end, with future battles (DaShonte Riley) between these staffs directly ahead.

All in all, today was a productive day for MSU basketball. If Green puts in the work, I expect he'll have an important role for the 2009-10 Spartans.

■ Luckily, there's also record of this blog post from the night of MSU's 2008 win at IPFW (coached then by Dane Fife), the second game of Green's career. That's the night I really started to realize Green was special. I remember calling Barry Kiel, then assistant sports editor at the Lansing State Journal, and telling him Green would soon be taking someone's minutes.

Delvon Roe is at least the fourth-best player on this team, and he's far from full go. But the guy who surprised me tonight is Draymond Green. I swear, this was the best seven-minute, no-statistic performance I've ever seen. The guy knows where to go on defense and had a couple key deflections and took a charge in MSU's 13-0 run that clinched the game.

On the other end of the floor, he had some "hockey assists," getting the ball to the right spot, leading to the pass that got the basket. That may not sound like much, but Roe and Green are both natural basketball players. Heady. They get it.

Green essentially replaced Marquise Gray in the second half tonight. I don't know where this will go, it's too early to discount Gray or pencil Green into the rotation, but there's real competition here. And they can't all play.

Green was moved to the scout team this week. At first, he took it as a slight. But it got him more time to play. On Monday, he was out there swishing 23-footers, making point-guard passes. He quickly realized the benefit of wearing a white jersey in practice.

"I had to check my ego," he said. "I'm willing to give whatever and do whatever I need to do to get this team to the Final Four in Detroit."

■

Here's a feature on Green before MSU's 2009 Sweet 16 game against Kansas in Minneapolis, after his huge weekend in Indianapolis to help the Spartans get there:

INDIANAPOLIS – A lot of things could have prevented Draymond Green's freshman surge at Michigan State , such as Tubby Smith staying at Kentucky , Raymar Morgan staying healthy, or Green himself staying plump.

Smith left for Minnesota , so Green opted out of his verbal commitment and eventually picked MSU.

Morgan's midseason illness made it necessary for Green to play more minutes, and he capitalized on the opportunity.

About 36 pounds have departed Green's frame since his senior year at Saginaw High, and he's all over the floor – usually in just the right spot -- at 6-6, 234.

He has emerged as an essential component off the bench as Midwest Region No. 2 seed MSU (28-6) prepares to take on No. 3 seed Kansas (27-7) here tonight in the regional semifinals. He was a bit player at best when MSU beat Kansas 75-62 on Jan. 10 at Breslin Center.

"If you ask (Goran Suton), he's told me and would probably tell you that Draymond Green is one of smartest players he's ever played with," Izzo said of a senior who is known for his own basketball IQ. "I don't know if it's in (Green's) gene pool or if it's his high school coach. I can't take credit for it, he came here with a remarkable understanding of the game."

Green had 16 points in MSU's first-round win over Robert Morris, then had seven points and nine rebounds in 22 crucial minutes in a second-round win over Southern Cal .

As recently as the summer, Izzo expected that Green would redshirt this season. But he lost a lot of weight. And his hands, soft touch, rebounding strength and feel for the game are all too good to keep off the floor.

"For a freshman to be that smart is scary," Suton said.

Guidance from Saginaw High coach Lou Dawkins was a factor, Green said. So were the years of playing against grown men at the rec center across the street from his house.

TV helped, too.

"When I was young, I watched basketball. I was never a fan of cartoons," Green said. "Pro, college, high school, women's basketball, I watched it all."

He starred for Dawkins at Saginaw High, leading the way for two straight Class A state titles. He said MSU "was always my dream school" as a child, but Smith offered first while at Kentucky , and Green accepted.

Then Smith left for Minnesota , and Izzo called after Green dropped his commitment. Green briefly considered following Smith to Minnesota , but he ended up picking MSU over Michigan and Indiana .

An ankle injury suffered during his senior season contributed to Green swelling to about 270 pounds. There were outside concerns about his ability to do much early in his career in East Lansing .

Scratch that. Late in Sunday's win over the Trojans, senior guard Travis Walton convinced Izzo to keep Green in the game on defensive possessions. He was able to stay with USC's perimeter players and rip down some key rebounds.

MSU has never had a player quite like this. He has enough different skills to help MSU shrug off the fact that it lost 2009 forward prospect Jamil Wilson to Oregon .

And if he sculpts himself in the offseason as planned, he can become even more versatile.

He already knows what he's doing.

"If you're in the right spot at the right time," Izzo said, "your chances are much better."

■ This story from Dec. 29, 2009 is mostly not about Green, but it's a glimpse at some of the issues MSU had in the locker room before Green was able to take over completely as a senior:

EAST LANSING – Tom Izzo's decision to sit Kalin Lucas for Tuesday's practice was one he said he considered carefully for weeks. And it's one he thinks will ultimately help Lucas become a better player and leader.

"I really, really do," Izzo said late Tuesday night, hours after telling Lucas he needed to take a step back and "figure out if he wants to be the member of this team that does what we need him to do."

The list includes leading like a captain, becoming more involved with his teammates, working harder on his game and at film study, and blocking out distractions such as the pressure of a potential early jump to the NBA.

Izzo had not decided as of Tuesday night whether Lucas will play in No. 11 Michigan State's home game tonight against Texas-Arlington.

"I don't think right now his focus is on our team," Izzo said of Lucas, a junior guard who was Big Ten Player of the Year as a sophom*ore. "I think this is one of the things that happens often. People start focusing on things that are beyond here, and then you start listening to people and then you have problems, and I'm just trying to nip those in the bud."

Izzo and Lucas had multiple conversations Tuesday evening, after Izzo withheld Lucas from practice and then explained the decision in detail to local media. Hours later, he was somewhat taken aback by the attention the story had received.

"It's not small because I don't do this all the time," Izzo said, "but it's not nearly where it's been presented."

Izzo said he has withheld past players from practices, including Mateen Cleaves, Marcus Taylor and Alan Anderson. But all of those moves didn't come on open media days.

Lucas was not available for comment. His father, Kenneth, said: "Kalin does need to step up and get a little more mature and be able to handle things, and realize coach Izzo is in charge."

MSU's other captain, senior forward Raymar Morgan, said he hoped "this whole thing turns out to be a plus," and that he planned to discuss the situation with Izzo and Lucas.

"I'll call him," Morgan said of Lucas. "I'll talk to both of them. That time will come. They're both my guys."

Meanwhile, Izzo also announced Tuesday that sophom*ore forward Draymond Green and senior guard Isaiah Dahlman would become MSU's third and fourth captains. He said he hoped the move would "take some pressure off some guys," but that it should be perceived as a reward for Green's vocal nature and Dahlman's closeness with his teammates, not as a reflection on Lucas and Morgan.

Lucas leads MSU with 15.7 points and 4.3 assists per game. He had a rough night in last week's 79-68 loss at Texas, after which he said of unnamed teammates: "We need to just stop trying to talk back to (Izzo) and we need to listen to him. Coach knows how to win, he does know how to win and right now the team is kind of fighting him a little bit. We don't need to be doing that."

Of that comment, Izzo said Tuesday: "Did he say that in the mirror?"

Of the decision to relieve Lucas of a practice, Izzo said: "It's for his sake and our sake. Because I do expect a lot out of him and I do demand a lot out of him, and I do need a lot out of him. He has a responsibility and that's the only thing there is to it."

■

Has anyone mentioned how lucky Tom Izzo was to ultimately land Green? Well, yes, but it's reiterated in this Jan. 25, 2010 feature advancing an MSU game at Michigan. And the best part of this story are some of the comments from John Beilein and others outside the MSU program about Green:

EAST LANSING – The celebration was minimal on that hot day of June 28, 2007, when Draymond Green accepted a Michigan State scholarship that was only available because of the transfer of Maurice Joseph.

Green was a late addition. A complementary piece. In the eyes of many, a nice role player some day -- maybe, if he lost some weight.

The reaction from MSU fans may best be summed as: "At least we kept him from going to Michigan." It was nothing like the cyber-parade that greeted Delvon Roe's verbal commitment two months earlier.

How large does that day loom now?

"Lucky is probably a good word," MSU coach Tom Izzo acknowledged Monday, "especially the way it all happened."

Green is the all-purpose glue for a Michigan State team that stands at 17-3 overall, 7-0 in the Big Ten and No. 5 in the nation entering tonight's game at U-M. He is a rebounder, passer, defender, leader and versatile scorer – in other words, exactly what the struggling Wolverines (10-9, 3-4) need right now.

"I loved his versatility, I loved the way he could pass the ball," U-M coach John Beilein said Monday of his recruitment of Green. "You're seeing that right now. It's rare that you get kids with his size and strength that have such a soft feel for the game.

"He's got soft hands, great passing touch – just really a guy that if you play through him a lot, whether it's in the high post, low post, perimeter, he's very adept at making good passes. That's what we've always prided our past teams on, is having big guys who could really pass the ball and shoot."

The Spartans are indeed fortunate to have Green. Tom Izzo admitted Monday that he had his doubts, as did many, about how effective Green would be at this level of basketball.

"Yeah I was," Izzo said when asked if he was at one point a Green skeptic. "As a sophom*ore, I liked him more than other guys on that (Saginaw High) team that went Division I. And then you started questioning some things. He got that injured ankle and that hurt his weight and hurt everything.

"So yeah, I have no problem admitting that I questioned some of that too. And when I got him I didn't say, 'Oh boy, we're gonna be national champs with him.' But, boy, now I say, 'Man, am I glad we have him.'"

'GOT TO GET HIM'

Green has been an MSU fan for so long, he once said he remembers being "scared of Sparty." He came to Breslin often as a child to watch aunt Annette Babers play for the women's team.

He tried to commit to MSU as a sophom*ore, but he did not yet have a formal offer. When then-Kentucky coach Tubby Smith came through with an offer during Green's junior season, he jumped at it.

"Ever since I was a child, MSU was my dream school," Green told the State Journal in March of 2007. "Even this year I wanted to go there, but then Tubby Smith came and presented his program to me. I didn't have an offer from Michigan State and I can't just constantly wait, so I committed to him."

But Smith left Kentucky for Minnesota. Green considered following him there but instead reopened his recruitment.

Beilein and the Wolverines made a "huge push," Green said, along with Indiana and new coach Tom Crean.

MSU knew Joseph was considering a transfer because the 2007 class of Kalin Lucas, Chris Allen and Durrell Summers was on the way to take his minutes. MSU got serious about Green.

"Got to get him," assistant coach Mark Montgomery – Green's biggest proponent on the staff – said of the feeling at the time. "We always wanted him from the beginning, too. That's how recruiting happens sometimes. I wouldn't use the word lucky, but we're very fortunate to have him. I'd use that word."

Considering how crucial Green has become to the Spartans' offense, defense and locker room makeup, Izzo sometimes thinks about how crucial it was that things worked out just right.

"Yeah, I do think about that," Izzo said. "I don't tell him that, but I think about that."

CHANGING MINDS

Doubts trailed Green to MSU. Former Ann Arbor News columnist Jim Carty quoted some Division I coaches who believed he would never make an impact at this level.

Izzo figured Green would redshirt as a freshman. Fans weren't buzzing about a guy who looked like he would fit in on their softball teams.

But the 6-foot-6 Green dropped weight – about 35 pounds from his senior year high of 270 – and rose to prominence during MSU's run to the NCAA title game.

This season he is displaying all the skills and instincts that led Saginaw High to consecutive Class A state titles. And he's being recognized by just about everyone.

If Green were a movie, he'd be up for an Oscar.

Among the opposing coaches who gushed about him was Illinois' Bruce Weber after MSU's 73-63 win on Jan. 16.

"I think he might be the key to the team," Weber said. "He plays with emotion, he does all the little things, he plays his butt off, he understands the game and he's a big difference maker right now for them."

CBS and Big Ten Network announcer Gus Johnson has called Green "the Albert Einstein of basketball" and on Saturday said that Green is "my favorite kid in college basketball."

"I think he's just scratching the surface," Izzo said. "I think he's gonna have the leadership skills, he's gonna get himself in better shape, he's gonna improve his shooting even more. This kid has a chance to really grow because he wants to, he cares about people and he understands me and I understand him."

And he'll no doubt have a major impact on tonight's game. Just think how different it might be if Green were draped in maize and blue.

"It probably would be," Green said. "But who knows? Who cares? I don't really think about that anymore, I'm a Spartan."

■ Remember the Breslin slumber party before the 2010 win at Purdue that got MSU a share of the Big Ten? That was a classic Draymond move…

EAST LANSING – You've heard about Michigan State players practicing in helmets and shoulder pads. You've heard about Tom Izzo smashing a game tape to bits with a hammer.

You're about to hear a lot about a slumber party.

Izzo's Spartans, seeking more cohesion on and off the floor, spent the night Friday at Breslin Center. Players, coaches, managers, support staff. Some in lounge chairs, some on the floor – and Izzo and his son Steven in sleeping bags at center court of the main playing floor.

MSU traveled to Purdue the next day and scored a 53-44 win there Sunday to regain control of its destiny in the Big Ten race. The No. 11 Spartans (22-7 overall, 12-4 Big Ten) will have at least a share of the title by winning home games Thursday against Penn State and Sunday against Michigan.

Izzo is hoping he'll look back at the sleep-over – which was the idea of sophom*ore forward Draymond Green – as a turning point for a team with big plans in March.

"Some day when I write a book, this will be this team's mark on what happened and how they got to where they got," Izzo said Monday. "And if it's successful, those things become legendary, they become memory makers to the nth degree."

Sort of like MSU's first practice after a loss to Ohio State in 2000. Izzo put his players in football equipment and turned them loose in a call for toughness. A national title and endless rehashing of that practice followed.

Sort of like the aftermath of a crushing 2005 Big Ten Tournament loss to Iowa. Izzo bludgeoned the game tape. A Final Four run and everything but a scientific analysis of the hammer followed.

If these Spartans end up making a run, you'll know the color of each player's sleeping bag by April. The difference in this move is that it was initiated by a player.

Izzo met with his four captains on Friday afternoon, watching some film clips that illustrated this team's defensive deficiencies. Green said: "Coach, we've got to do something off the wall."

Green thought it would be fun for everyone to spend the night at Breslin. Kalin Lucas loved the idea and Isaiah Dahlman started plotting Xbox, checkers and ping pong competitions. Everyone showed up later that night, pizza was ordered, fun was had and Izzo said he finally got to sleep on the Breslin hardwood around 3 a.m.

"Was it good for us from a back standpoint? Probably not," Izzo said. "Was it good for us from a rest standpoint? Probably not. Was it good for us from a togetherness standpoint? One of the great team-building events. And the best part is, it goes back to my original saying that I've believed in my whole career here. It was a player decision.

"It was a player-coached decision. It was fun. It was high school-ish, and that's good. I think too many times in college right now we want to make everything pro-ish. I like going the other way a little bit. I thought it was a phenomenal idea."

■

Two things that should always be remembered: One, Green has dedicated his career to Dorian Dawkins, as expressed in this story before the 2010 postseason. Two, Dorian Dawkins.

EAST LANSING – Sometimes his picture will flash across Draymond Green's laptop screen, and Green will stop and stare at it and shake his head and ask the same question he's been asking since June 13.

"Is this real?"

Sometimes Lou Dawkins will be coaching his Saginaw High boys basketball team, and he'll see him in that Trojans uniform, laughing and shooting and dominating games like everyone knew he would.

"Every time we play, really," Dawkins said. "I see him, I visualize him, running up and down that court."

Dorian Dawkins died at the age of 14, shortly after midnight on June 13 at Sparrow Hospital, hours after his heart stopped on a basketball court at Michigan State, two days after Ohio State coach Thad Matta gave him the first-class tour of Columbus.

He was going to be the next big thing.

Instead he is a smiling memory, a source of inspiration for a family and community with devastation yet to overcome in the wake of his unimaginable departure.

And as Green leads Michigan State into the postseason tonight in the Big Ten Tournament in Indianapolis, it should be clear what's behind every charge taken and rebound ripped.

"He knows what he's playing for," Lou said of Green. "Not just for himself or the Spartans. He's playing for Dorian."

***********

High school teams from all over the Midwest participate each June in the Tom Izzo Spartan Shoot Out, a tournament at various courts around campus.

After Saginaw High's first two games on June 12 – including one against Lansing Eastern and top prospect Cha Cha Tucker – Green scolded the rest of the Trojans for standing around and watching Dorian do everything.

Lou was not there. He and his wife, Latricia, had a wedding rehearsal back in Saginaw.

Green went home after a long day of helping out at the tournament. Saginaw started its third game, against Rockford, at 7 p.m. at MSU's Intramural West building.

Dorian was at the foul line. His older brother Christian, a senior, was standing behind him near midcourt. Dorian turned to Christian.

"I'm really tired," Dorian said, then fell to the ground.

"Quit screwing around!" Christian barked, assuming his brother's fun-loving side was on display. Christian moved closer and saw that Dorian was twitching.

Cramps, he thought. He ran to get some water. He came back. Dorian's eyes were closed and the twitching had become shaking.

Christian rode in the ambulance with Dorian, who was revived on the way to Sparrow Hospital and rushed to the care of doctors. Christian thought his brother was suffering seizures.

Green raced to the hospital. Lou took off from Saginaw and got there around 10. Tom Izzo and his assistant coaches were part of a large and growing crowd in the lobby.

At one point, Christian came to the lobby and gave an update.

"They said his heart keeps stopping," he told the crowd.

Stunned, Green called his mother, Mary Babers. He told her to start praying for Dorian's life.

They knew it was over when they heard Lou's voice from behind the doors, screaming Dorian's name. Lou stumbled into Green's arms.

"I held him as tight as I could," Green said

The doctor broke down two days later, after performing the autopsy. He told Lou through sobs that they should have been able to save Dorian's life.

Acute myocardial ischemia is the scientific name of Dorian's killer. It caused multiple heart attacks that he could not survive.

It was the result of a defect in which two arteries that should have been each side of his heart were both on the left side.

A normal physical exam would not detect such an issue, and there was never any reason for Dorian – who also ran track and cross country -- to have a more extensive exam.

Such a condition is found in about one in 100,000 people, said Lansing cardiologist Dr. Aajay Shah.

"Dying from this condition is extremely, extremely rare," Shah said.

But around age 14 or 15, as muscle mass starts to increase, "the heart muscle starts demanding more oxygen," Shah said. And Dorian was on his third game of the day.

"It's mind-boggling to me," Lou said, "that of all the people in the world, it would be my son."

********

This has been an adversity-filled season for the Spartans, but Green has emerged as the team's steadiest player and most vocal leader. He was one of the best sixth men in the nation for a team that ended up with a share of the Big Ten title.

Yet his thoughts have been in Saginaw. He slaps the tattoo on his left arm – a cross with the names of Dorian and his late grandfather, Ben Babers – each game after the national anthem.

He goes home whenever possible. To speak with the team. To take Lou out for lunch. To be there in some way.

He was there Wednesday night, when Saginaw's season ended with a regional semifinals loss to rival Saginaw Arthur Hill.

"Day-Day has been a rock for all of us," Christian said, referring to Green's nickname.

"One thing I told myself is, 'After the funeral, a lot of people are gonna disappear, like everything's fine,'" Green said. "I told myself I'd never leave coach Dawkins and never forget about it.

"Some days are brighter than others, but they're never gonna be as bright as they were. Not when you're missing a piece of your heart."

Green and the Dawkins family became close long before Saginaw High's consecutive state titles of 2007 and 2008. Lou started coaching Green in AAU ball eight years ago.

Around the same time, Green's parents, Mary and Raymond Green, were going through a divorce.

Lou, who played college ball for Tubby Smith at Tulsa, knew he had something special in Green, a big forward with the skills of a point guard. He also knew the 12-year-old Green needed help to cope with the crisis at home.

It wasn't long before Draymond was just like another of his children, joining Mario, Christian, Dorian and Hailee.

"All kids want their parents to be together forever, but sometimes families run into situations and that can't happen," said Lou. "It was hard for Draymond to understand that. I was his coach first, but I was a surrogate dad and a friend secondly. I'm still there for him and I will be there until the day I die."

*******

Back in that first year of AAU ball with Lou, Dorian was a first-grader playing on the fourth-grade team. Green remembers watching him come off the bench for the first time, drill a 3-pointer, get a steal and drain another triple in a matter of seconds.

By the time Dorian departed as the "valedictorian" of his elementary school, people around Saginaw had an idea he was destined for greatness on the basketball court. And Saginaw has had its share of great players.

"He was better than all of them," Lou said. "There will never be a player here in 20 years with the talent he had."

Dorian was already ranked the top player in the state for the class of 2013, already being wooed by programs everywhere. His ability as an eighth-grader to run a team "like a veteran player" was "striking," said recruiting analyst Stephen Bell.

"He was the next one," Mary Babers said. "Everybody was waiting on Dorian."

Dorian and Lou took the visit to Ohio State and might have taken more, but there was little doubt about where Dorian would play his college ball. It was just a few years ago that a wide-eyed Dorian came into the MSU locker room to get his poster signed by the likes of Kelvin Torbert and Alan Anderson.

"He would have been a Spartan," Lou said.

Now he is the name on a foundation run by Christian, which has already raised more than $10,000 for heart research and scholarship money for inner-city athletes in the state.

They were waiting on Dorian Styles Dawkins to make a difference for people with basketball. He's doing it with his life instead.

■

Some say the traditional game story is obsolete, but I'm glad we still have them around so we can remember stuff that happened. For example, a second straight NCAA tournament weekend that hinged largely on a Green pass:

ST. LOUIS – Before Kalin Lucas' teammates lifted him to the rim for the last snip of the net, before the Spartans circled the perimeter of the Edward Jones Dome to slap hands with the fans in the stands, Raymar Morgan raised his arms and screamed with unusual volume and emotion:

"We're gonna get there every year!"

He was talking about the Final Four, and sometimes it seems that way.

Thanks to Morgan's winning free throw with 1.8 seconds left Sunday against Tennessee, Michigan State is returning to college basketball's crowning weekend – for the second straight season and the sixth out of 12 under Tom Izzo.

No program has more Final Fours in that time. North Carolina, Duke and UCLA are the only others to do six in 12 years. And the 70-69 victory -- Izzo's sixth in seven Elite Eight opportunities -- was start-to-finish drama much like the 2000 win over Iowa State and the 2005 win over Kentucky.

"These just stay with you forever," Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl said after Vols guard Scotty Hopson missed the potential go-ahead free throw with 11.2 seconds left, setting up an MSU rush down the floor that ended with Morgan at the foul line.

The Spartans (28-8) will play in Saturday's national semifinals, at 6:07 p.m. Saturday at Lucas Oil Stadium against Indianapolis-based Butler. Duke and West Virginia will meet in the other semifinal at about 8:37 p.m., with the winners playing a week from today for the national title.

"There's nothing greater than going to a Final Four that I know of," Izzo said, "except maybe winning it."

Izzo and the Spartans won it all 10 years ago in Indianapolis and lost in the championship game a year ago to North Carolina in Detroit. It has been their yearlong goal to get back and win it this time, and that seemed about as likely at times this season as a Final Four on Jupiter.

Even now, the Spartans are short-handed and hobbling, missing star Lucas (ruptured left Achilles' tendon) and requiring play through pain from Delvon Roe (torn meniscus in right knee) and Chris Allen (torn ligament in right foot).

Yet they continue to advance through an upset-jumbled tournament field. The three favorites entering the tournament – Kansas, Kentucky and Syracuse – are all out, and MSU and Butler are a pair of No. 5 seeds that will battle for a spot in the title game.

The Spartans got here with a narrow victory over New Mexico State in the first round, a buzzer-beating 3-pointer from Korie Lucious to beat Maryland in the second round, a grinding win over Kansas killer Northern Iowa in the Sweet Sixteen on Friday, and then Sunday's survival of talented No. 6 seed Tennessee.

Durrell Summers led the Spartans with 21 points, earning himself Midwest Regional Most Outstanding Player honors in the process. Summers hit 8 of 10, shots and 4 of 6 from 3-point range, including a deep swish with 2:47 left to give MSU a 69-66 lead.

That basket gave MSU the edge in a game that went back and forth from the start, but it would be the Spartans' last. The teams traded stops, then Morgan (13 points, 10 rebounds) rebounded a Summers miss and got it to Lucious, who was fouled with 28.9 seconds left.

Lucious missed the front end of the one-and-one opportunity. He was admittedly tired on a day that saw him hounded in 35 minutes by Tennessee's rotating pair of point guards.

"They wore me down," he said.

Green, who had 13 points and was named to the All-Region team, then fouled Hopson on a jump shot with 11.2 seconds left. Hopson made the first free throw to tie it, and MSU called a timeout.

Lucas consoled a teary-eyed Lucious on the bench and told him to move past the miss. Lucious then went to the line and said to Hopson: "I need this one."

"And he missed," Lucious said. "Thank God."

Summers tapped the miss to Lucious, who raced the ball toward the basket. Green was calling for the ball – the reverse of the situation a week ago when Green hit Lucious for the game winner against Maryland.

Lucious passed to Green. Tennessee's Wayne Chism had lost track of Morgan, and Green zipped a pass to him. Two Vols crowded him, with J.P Prince picking up the foul with 1.8 seconds left.

"He was smart enough to know to pump fake and go up," Green said of Morgan, "and they darn near killed him."

That's not quite how Tennessee saw it.

"I don't know if I got the benefit of the doubt today," said Prince, who blocked Ohio State star Evan Turner's final shot in Friday's win over OSU. "I just think at the end of the game, you let the players win the game. … But it's unfortunate he called it."

Morgan calmly stepped to the line.

"Take my time, take a deep breath, knock it down," he said, and that's what he did.

Izzo then instructed Morgan to miss the next free throw on purpose because Tennessee likely would have had to make a 3-pointer to win anyway. The Vols rebounded, called timeout with 1.6 showing and got the ball to Prince, but his halfcourt heave in front of Allen was way short.

And the resulting scene was way familiar.

■ So now it's the end of Green's sophom*ore season, it's MSU vs. Butler in the Final Four, and it's time for yet another Green feature. He's got two more seasons of college left and funny childhood stories are being tapped:

INDIANAPOLIS – Draymond Green was 4 years old, riding bikes on a summer day through Saginaw with his brother, when they stopped at a convenience store on Fourth Street.

Green – keep in mind, he was 4 – grabbed a juice and some chips and started to walk out. The storekeeper stopped him and asked just what he thought he was doing.

The response, as legend has it: "Don't you know who I am? I'm Draymond Green!"

"The man in the store was laughing so hard," said Mary Babers, Green's mother and narrator of the legend, "he let him keep the chips and juice."

Outspoken, forceful and entertaining. That's Green now, a sophom*ore co-captain who has helped push Michigan State to the Final Four and a Saturday national semifinals matchup here with Butler – while charming the sweater vests off the national media at every turn.

That was Green then, a kid who always knew he was special, even if others didn't yet.

"Basically," Babers said, "he always wanted to be that guy."

It got him in trouble then. In school, Green said he was "always saying whatever came to my mind" and paying for it at times. On that summer day, grandfather Ben Babers picked up Green and his brother Torian and drove them home for a good scolding.

It gets him in trouble now. A sophom*ore with an emerging game, Green has the vocal approach of a veteran star. All of his teammates haven't taken it well at all times – including one who punched him in a February practice.

But in the end, Green has won them over, too.

"Guys see that he wants to win," junior guard Chris Allen said of Green, whose nickname is "Day-Day". "So for him to say something to somebody, it's not 'He's an underclassman, this, this.' He wants to win, that's why he's saying that. It's not, 'Well, he's a young guy, we don't have to listen to him.' … If guys know where you're coming from, it's a whole different situation."

MR. PERSONALITY

Green loves the media. The media love him back. ESPN's Pat Forde last week called him "the smartest player in college basketball," and his speech to the team after last season's national title game loss to North Carolina is on every reporter's "to write" list in Indianapolis.

Green is not merely taking part in these NCAA Tournament press conferences, he is holding court at them.

Joking with Tom Izzo. Making fun of himself. And when a reporter asked last weekend in St. Louis if the loss of Kalin Lucas to an Achilles' tendon may be helping MSU, Green politely scolded him for such a thought.

"No disrespect to you," Green said to the reporter, "but it kind of makes it sound as if Kalin was messing that chemistry up. We were building that chemistry with Kalin."

Cameras for the MSU-produced show "Spartan Basketball: All Access" captured Green yelling and hugging wildly in the locker room after MSU's dramatic second-round win over Maryland.

A reporter heard him giggling Sunday as he told Durrell Summers and Korie Lucious about how he finally ordered an especially talkative Tennessee player to shut up.

"You have to have fun," Green said. "I was always taught life is too short to be depressed and boring."

Izzo called Green "a hambone."

"He is enjoying it," Izzo said. "I think it matters to him. I think he cares about the image of the university, the program. I think he wants to be a spokesman. How can you not like a kid that does that? And he's pretty honest, too. Sometimes too damn honest. I think he gets some of that from me."

WHAT THEY NEED TO HEAR

Green led a third-grade basketball team to a championship as a first grader. He led a fifth-grade team to a championship as a third grader.

His voice was omnipresent through two Class A titles with Saginaw High, sometimes misunderstood, always loud.

"Draymond was always the one," Babers said. "Some people took his aggressiveness as an attitude problem. But it wasn't an attitude problem, it's just that all he wants to do is win."

His teammates know that. Still, the voice can grate.

And that's not unlike MSU's last vocal leader, Travis Walton, who is a student assistant now and a leadership adviser of sorts to Green.

"He gets like Travis sometimes. It's like, 'All right Day-Day, that's enough,'" Allen said.

"Of course," Green said when asked if his words annoy at times. "Guys are gonna get mad at you if you're doing something they don't want to do or they don't like, of course. It happens a lot."

Such as the day before MSU's Feb. 21 home loss to Ohio State, when Green chided freshman center Derrick Nix for a mistake in practice. Nix threw a punch.

A brief altercation and quick resolution ensued.

"If I was a freshman in his position, I think I probably would have done the same thing," said Green, who wore a bandage on his face during the OSU game. "Sometimes it can get overwhelming as a freshman."

Said Nix: "That was a one-time thing that'll never happen again. Not as long as I'm here. It was just the heat of the moment. Day-Day, I look up to Day-Day and he's pretty much helped me with everything."

It probably goes without saying that that the green-and-white team will be Green's team when he's a junior and a senior.

"That's something that you dream of as a kid," he said, "so there's no reason to shy away or run from it now."

Some might say it's his team now. That was a question posed this week to Green. He gave a wry smile and a perfect answer, as he tends to do.

"It's a Michigan State team now."

■ And now for a tweet from 2010. Green's tweets about LeBron James from around that time have been a big thing. Here's one from Green on a different topic that I think is rather telling:

"Everybody who smoke weed is #stupid... #random I got love for some ppl that do tho cuz they still my ppl's"

■ The low point of Green's career at MSU? My guess would be one (or both) of the two losses to Michigan his junior season. Here's the gamer from the second one, with so much I completely forgot. You too?

ANN ARBOR – As a basketball rivalry, MSU-Michigan has lacked competitiveness for more than a decade, and it has been short on the bitterness that often accompanies in-state scuffles.

Both returned this season, in a big way. The Wolverines' 70-63 win over the Spartans on Saturday at Crisler Arena made that clear enough.

For the first time since 1997, Tom Izzo's second season as MSU's head coach, the Wolverines have swept the Spartans in two games. That also happens to be the last season MSU had to play in the NIT instead of the NCAA Tournament -- and that's a looming possibility after MSU finishes the regular season 17-13 overall and 9-9 in the Big Ten.

Much of the talk after Saturday's game, though, centered around an exchange between MSU senior guard Kalin Lucas and U-M sophom*ore guard Darius Morris. They woofed at each other after Morris converted a layup with four seconds left, and after the clock ran out, Lucas tossed the ball in Morris' direction.

The talking continued, with both players restrained by teammates, during the handshake line.

"I'm not for that, so I'll straighten that out," Izzo said of Lucas throwing the ball. "But at the same time, going for a layup with three seconds left, (Morris) talked a lot of stuff all game including at our place. Maybe he deserved it."

Izzo then pounded his fist on the podium in the interview room as he said: "So let's get the rivalry REALLY GOING."

It's going, all right. U-M won for just the fifth time in the past 23 meetings, but this win might propel the Wolverines (18-12, 9-9) to a surprise NCAA bid of their own.

After stunning MSU 61-57 at Breslin Center on Jan. 27, U-M jumped to a 15-3 lead Saturday and never trailed. The Spartans got within two points after a second-half comeback from 13 down, but the Wolverines would not let them come all the way back.

"They played better than us, they deserved to win," said Izzo, who is now 18-10 all-time against U-M. "It feels like you're playing catch-up the whole game, we did play catch-up the whole game, and we just didn't catch them."

MSU, Michigan and Illinois finish in a tie for fourth place, and tiebreakers mean U-M and Illinois will meet in the 4-5 game of the Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals, Friday in Indianapolis.

MSU will have to play on the first day of the league tournament for the third time since the tournament began in 1998.

If Penn State wins today at Minnesota to create a four-way tie for fourth, MSU will be the No. 7 seed and play No. 10 seed Iowa on Thursday. If Penn State loses, MSU will be the No. 6 seed and play No. 11 seed Indiana on Thursday.

A loss to Iowa or Indiana might be the blow that ends MSU's 13-year NCAA Tournament streak.

"I'm gonna take it either way," Izzo said. "I'm gonna do what we can do to win, and there will be no politicking or begging, I can promise you that."

Freshman guard Tim Hardaway Jr. scored all 20 of his points in the second half to lead U-M, with freshman forward Evan Smotrycz coming off the bench for 14, Morris chipping in 13 and freshman center Jordan Morgan scoring 10 – including a key dunk after two Lucas foul shots cut the lead to 56-54 with 5:48 left.

"Next thing you know they're up seven, eight points again," Lucas said. "I think it really boils down to the beginning of the game."

Lucas scored 23 of his 25 points in the second half, rising to No. 5 on MSU's all-time scoring list in the process. Durrell Summers had 13 points – after eight straight games in single digits – and a career-high 13 rebounds, helping MSU win 46-30 on the boards.

Keith Appling scored 10, all in the first half, and Draymond Green struggled through a 3-of-14, seven-point day. Included were a few missed layups, and Green took the blame for the loss three days after spraining his left ankle in a win over Iowa.

"It's all right," Green said of the ankle. "Good enough to not miss layups."

Afterward, it was a chippy scene, and this rivalry has not seen many of those since the 1990s. Morris later said Lucas threw the ball at him, but Lucas said: "I didn't throw it AT HIM at him. But you know, we just got into it a little bit, man it's basketball. I mean things are gonna happen like that. Guys are gonna get into it."

Morris was asked why Lucas responded the way he did.

"Probably just collective frustration throughout the game," he said.

■ Chippy, chippy, chippy. Is there some kind of rule that Doug Gottlieb must anger everyone in the sports world? Here's a blurb from before MSU's 2011 NCAA game against UCLA.

Izzo has been frustrated with comments from ESPN analyst Doug Gottlieb before, and he had some words about Gottlieb on Monday after Gottlieb said MSU has become "Kalin Lucas and a bunch of other dudes."

"I don't want to rip him," Izzo said of Gottlieb, "but it is amazing, when you've been a player, you should have a better understanding of what goes on. … And so, I respect most analysts, but I think the ones I respect most are the ones that really understand and dig in, and understand the situations. If you don't get phone calls from somebody and they don't know what the hell's going on in your program, then I would consider them an average analyst."

Asked about Gottlieb's comments, Draymond Green said: "That guy's funny. He's hilarious. But I've played in more Final Fours than him, so that don't bother me."

■ And right after that loss to UCLA, it was time for Green and Izzo to look forward to a 2011-12 season swimming with uncertainty.

TAMPA, Fla. – Since Tom Izzo began his program-altering run 14 years ago, Michigan State has entered most seasons high in the rankings, favored in the Big Ten and determined to prove people right.

A couple seasons (2001-02 and 2006-07) clearly fell in the "rebuilding" category and ended with late pushes into the NCAA Tournament and first-weekend dismissals.

The 2011-12 Spartans may be the most difficult of the bunch to assess – coming right after the most difficult of the bunch to understand. They will have much more talent and experience than typical rebuilding teams and will compete in a Big Ten that loses several veteran stars.

Yet after a disappointing 19-15 season, and with the program's all-time No. 5 scorer (Kalin Lucas) and No. 22 scorer (Durrell Summers) departing, MSU figures to start with greatly reduced expectations.

From others, anyway.

"I think we're gonna be great," said Draymond Green, who will take full ownership of the locker room as a senior and third-year captain. "We have a lot coming back, but I want to take pride in making sure we don't have another year like this. I think we're gonna be great.

"It's gonna be a different experience (as a senior). I'm not sure how it's gonna feel because I haven't been through it yet, but I'm ready for the challenge. Ready to get this thing back on track."

Izzo promised as much after Thursday's season-ending NCAA loss to UCLA, which ended the most turbulent season – by far – of his tenure.

"I just want to let you know that right now, everybody's back," Izzo said of his underclassmen. "Right now, everybody's on a one-year scholarship. Right now, I hope (athletic director Mark) Hollis puts me on a one-year contract. Because we're gonna get after it a little bit. … You can't have things go the way they went this year and snap your fingers and everything (changes). Or Izzo wave his wand. There's no wand. The wand is work."

BIG HOPES

MSU needs a lot of work from its young trio of centers – Derrick Nix, Adreian Payne and Garrick Sherman – all of whom said after the UCLA loss that they'll be back for next season.

"Yeah," Nix said, "if I can't go to the league (the NBA) this year."

The thing is, some, including former MSU and NBA star Steve Smith, believe Nix could be an NBA player some day. If he can get his 6-foot-9 body into top condition and keep it there.

Nix was down around 270 in the fall, but he left the team briefly in November and spent most of the season at 290 and above. That led to sporadic minutes all season – and just five of them against UCLA and its 6-10, 310-pound freshman standout, Joshua Smith.

"What Derrick has to do, to be honest with you, is decide whether basketball is gonna be a priority," Izzo said. "And lose, maintain the weight he loses. And I'm telling you, he could be every bit as good a player as (Josh) Smith or a lot of other guys. There's gonna be a lot of figuring out whether that's what he wants. I know what I want. But he's got to figure out what he wants. And when you go through that a couple times during the year – lose, gain, lose, gain – you lose confidence in him."

Nix vowed after the game to change his body in the offseason, and Payne said he will focus on gaining strength. He was not able to lift entering his freshman season because of shoulder surgery.

Izzo said Payne "will be a lot better next year" and Green said Payne "is gonna be somebody to be reckoned with."

With Green and Delvon Roe as seniors, and redshirt freshman big man Alex Gauna (Eaton Rapids) available, MSU's frontcourt looks deep and capable.

LITTLE EXPERIENCE

The backcourt will be the question.

Korie Lucious was supposed to be MSU's starting point guard as a senior, but he was dismissed by Izzo in January and has transferred to Iowa State to join previously dismissed MSU guard Chris Allen.

That means Keith Appling will play a lot more point guard as a sophom*ore, and incoming freshman point guard Travis Trice may have a prominent role immediately.

"Keith has had a great finish for a freshman year," Izzo said after Appling finished a full season of good defense with more offense late. "I mean, he did some checking down the stretch (against UCLA), he's gonna be, I think, a real good player next year."

Austin Thornton will be back as a fifth-year senior guard, and 6-7 shooter Russell Byrd will make his anticipated debut after two foot surgeries required a redshirt in 2010-11.

Incoming freshman wings Branden Dawson, Brandan Kearney and Dwaun Anderson will compete for playing time right away.

It adds up to a 2011-12 MSU team with a lot of pieces, potential – and uncertainty.

"It won't be the first time ever coach Izzo has had a young backcourt, so he'll figure out how to work through it," Green said. "And we'll figure out how to work through it. But I think Keith will be great for us. And he'll be able to help pull those guys along with the experience he got this year."

■ In the 2011 offseason, Green appeared on a Lansing TV show called "Spartan Fastbreak" (hosted by Sam Hosey Jr.) and let loose with some emotional comments confirming that the U-M losses were his toughest moments as a junior.

"I have to go with the loss to Michigan because that's gonna stick with me forever right here (pointing to heart). Like, it hurts so bad, I didn't know the feeling because I'd never lost to them prior to this year. And then to lose twice, it still bothers me. Because it's Michigan and I hate, just, it makes them feel like they're better than us. After them not winning at the Breslin for like 13 years, however long it was. And now they feel like this is their state. And this is Michigan State's state. We own this state, it's our state. And it gives them the hope and a crazy reason to think this is their state. And I completely disagree with that 100 percent."

■ The Carrier Classic on the USS Carl Vinson was an incredible scene. And it told us a few things about Green and his final MSU team.

CORONADO, Calif. – Draymond Green began and ended Friday night with thoughtful gestures.

He switched from his usual No. 23 jersey to a No. 10 for one game to honor his friend and former teammate Delvon Roe. Then he rounded up Michigan State and North Carolina players after that game so they could all give their special camouflage jerseys to veterans in attendance on the USS Carl Vinson.

In between, Green had an up-and-down night – 13 points and a career-high 18 rebounds while shooting 6 of 19 and committing five turnovers – in MSU's 67-55 loss to No. 1 North Carolina. The rest of the young Spartans were up and down with him, but the senior forward liked the overall feeling he got from the performance.

"We've got some fight in us. And with some fight we've got some talent," Green said. "We'll be fine. I love my team."

■ For about 12 hours as January of 2012 turned to February, Green's left knee was a big story…

EAST LANSING – When Mary Babers got to the MSU Clinical Center from Saginaw about 10:15 Wednesday morning, her son had already heard the news.

It was the best news possible, really – a left knee sprain for Draymond Green. Nothing torn. Hours after the MSU senior forward hurt the knee late in Tuesday's 42-41 loss at Illinois and couldn't put weight on it afterward.

Moments after an MRI, a doctor informed Green and his girlfriend of the good news. Moments after that, Babers arrived and Green delivered it to her with some hugs and prayers.

"It was emotional," Babers said. "He's just so happy, so grateful and thankful."

MSU lists Green as "day to day," with the Spartans' next game set for Sunday at Breslin Center against rival Michigan. Babers said her son is off the crutches he used Tuesday night and has a chance to play.

"It's a possibility," she said. "He's able to put some pressure on it. But it's just that he has some swelling. It's all about how fast his body heals."

Green hurt the knee with about four minutes left in Tuesday's game, on an awkward step while playing defense. He spent a few moments on the floor in pain, then received treatment on the bench from Dr. Jeff Kovan and trainer Quinton Sawyer.

It had already been a rough night for Green. He was dealing with the flu, which kept him out of Monday's practice.

He picked up his second foul in the first half on a charging call. When Green reacted angrily to Jim Burr's call, Burr gave him a technical foul, which counts as another personal foul.

Green got his fourth foul early in the second half. He came back and scored all of his season-low five points late in the second half, helping MSU turn a six-point deficit into a lead.

Then he got hurt and the No. 9 Spartans (17-5 overall, 6-3 Big Ten) couldn't hold the lead, scoring one basket in the final five minutes. That sets up a huge game against U-M to stay relevant in the Big Ten race.

If Green can't play Sunday, MSU coach Tom Izzo could move freshman Branden Dawson to power forward and add a guard to the starting lineup, possibly senior Austin Thornton. That would match up with Michigan's small lineup of four guards and one big man.

Dawson was MSU's best player Tuesday, scoring a team-high 12 points with a career-high 13 rebounds.

■ And the game story from one of Green's best moments at MSU…

EAST LANSING – Draymond Green had one of those "remember when" kind of performances Sunday at Breslin Center.

As in: "Remember when Draymond Green played on a sprained knee and was the best player on the floor anyway and had as many rebounds as Michigan's entire team got?"

Or something like that. The specifics will depend on who's doing the reminiscing.

For Michigan State coach Tom Izzo, it'll probably be how Green stopped the bleeding – short-lived though intense as it was – in a rivalry that matters now more than it has in years.

"Draymond has experienced success and he's experienced failure," Izzo said after Green led MSU to a 64-54 win over U-M to halt a three-game losing streak in the series. "It kind of reminded me of Travis Walton when we hadn't gone to the Final Four (until his senior season in 2009). Draymond didn't want to go out losing four in a row. And they deserved to beat us the other three, so hopefully we switched the trend and it will start going the other way again."

Green led MSU with 14 points and 16 rebounds, matching U-M's team total – and becoming just the fourth player to equal or exceed an opponent's rebound total in a Big Ten game since 1996-97, according to STATS, LLC.

"That's a pretty cool stat," he said with a wide smile afterward.

And a pretty huge win. It brings No. 9 MSU (18-5 overall, 7-3 Big Ten) into sole possession of second place in the league standings, a game behind 8-2 Ohio State with the Spartans due to visit OSU on Saturday.

But this, of course, was "way more about the rivalry," Izzo said.

No. 23 U-M (17-7, 7-4) had won three straight over MSU since an 18-3 run for Izzo and the Spartans from 1998 to 2010. That started with a program-boosting win at Breslin last season and ended with a 60-59 decision on Jan. 17 in Ann Arbor.

Green missed the potential winning shot in that game, then guaranteed to a few reporters afterward that the Spartans would win the rematch.

"It's a bold statement to make," Green said, "but I knew I had to get my guys going and they did a great job to back me up and not make me look like a fool – out here guaranteeing wins or saying other stuff and not coming out and backing it up."

MSU won Sunday with a defensive plan that kept U-M freshman point guard Trey Burke (11 points, 4 of 11 shooting, four assists, four turnovers) out of the lane and gave U-M top scorer Tim Hardaway Jr. (1 of 10, four points) few good looks.

The Spartans got 10 points, good quarterbacking and great defense on Burke from Keith Appling, with 10 points from surging freshman Branden Dawson, nine points from Brandon Wood in his first game off the bench, and the 40-16 rebounding rout.

Derrick Nix and Adreian Payne helped cut off Burke's penetration and joined Green in making MSU's offense 40 minutes of interior pounding.

"They just smashed it inside and said, 'Hey stop this,'" U-M coach John Beilein said, "and we couldn't do that today."

The catalyst there and the story of the day was Green, because of what he said, what he did and how questionable he seemed just five days earlier, when he injured his knee late in a 42-41 loss at Illinois.

"He was tremendous," Beilein said of Green, who improved to 4-3 against U-M with his best scoring game against the Wolverines – after averaging 6.3 points in the previous four meetings.

"I guess he answered a lot of questions today," Appling said.

"He got a shot without getting a shot, you know?" Izzo said. "That's what adrenaline does for you."

Green couldn't put weight on the knee after the Illinois game, then was overcome with grateful emotion the next morning when an MRI revealed nothing torn.

After Friday's practice, he promised to play a full game, expressed his "hate" for U-M, invited the Wolverines to "come at me," and said he had Michigan's defense figured out.

He backed up the talk and said his knee felt "phenomenal" afterward.

But when Green reminisces about Sunday, he may remember it most for what he believes it means about the rivalry he cherishes.

"The world," he said, "is back into place."

■ Perhaps the best illustration of what Green did as a senior off the court came before MSU's upset at Ohio State, a win that essentially allowed him to snatch Big Ten Player of the Year from the hands of Jared Sullinger. Here's a snippet of that gamer:

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Michigan State played great defense. Hit big shots. Grabbed important rebounds. Stunned Ohio State.

But after his team's 58-48 win here Saturday to pull into a first-place tie with the Buckeyes and snap OSU's 39-game winning streak at Value City Arena, Tom Izzo talked most passionately about what happened before the game.

"Draymond Green took care of the hotel and the airplane, and the walk-through this morning was the best walk-through I've had since the Louisville game in Indianapolis," Izzo said of a 2009 Elite Eight win over Louisville that ranks among his greatest. "And it was just a focused walk-through. And coaches say those kind of things and they don't come up on the stat sheet. Nobody understands them. That's what leadership, that's what togetherness, that's what it's all about. That's what matters.

"So I've got a lot of things we're decent at. I've got one thing we're great at. And that probably helped us win this game today."

■ So now it's senior day, MSU hosting Ohio State with a chance to win the outright Big Ten title. Time for a Green feature? No – the feature well is pretty dry. Time for a column on Green instead.

EAST LANSING – You really have to search anymore to find something different to say about Draymond Green.

Leader, winner, star, next coming of Magic and Cleaves, "perfect Spartan" – from Tom Izzo to Dick Vitale to message board poster St8Rulz, Green as a senior has been the most universally celebrated Michigan State basketball player since one Mateen Cleaves was a senior 12 years ago.

Green is going to win Big Ten Player of the Year, regardless of whether he leads the Spartans past Ohio State for the outright league title today at Breslin Center. He's going to see his No. 23 jersey hanging in the Breslin rafters some day. He's going to be a first team All-American and he's a solid No. 3 behind Kentucky's Anthony Davis and Kansas' Thomas Robinson for the national player of the year awards.

Really, you can make a pretty strong case for Green to win that, too.

"If you look at what he does for this team, he's my national guy," the slightly-biased-but not-misguided Izzo said. "Because he doesn't have some of the people around him that some of these other guys do. And he's made other people better, a la the Magics and the Cleaveses. That's what he's done here. He's made other people better and that's the ultimate compliment to a basketball player."

Now here's a compliment to a person: Green's legacy at Michigan State can be summed in three words – unselfishness, respect and class.

A THROWBACK

Let's hit them one by one. Unfortunately, Green's unselfishness stands out as extraordinary in this era of monstrous salaries, ridiculous ticket prices, corporate naming rights and … well, a whole bunch of me, me, me.

Green isn't just saying he loves Michigan State, the guy goes to field hockey games and to see MSU recruits who won't arrive until after he's gone.

He makes fans think back to the days when college athletics were less business and more "Boola boola."

That's not to say he's completely selfless, nor that he should he be. Green wants to be MSU's all-time leading rebounder, wants to win these individual awards, and even admitted Thursday that it got to him for a few days.

"It was kind of weighing down on me," he said, "because now you're worrying about so many things."

We want athletes to think only of the team, to ignore statistics and mock drafts, but would we do the same in their position? Everyone wants good grades, awards, rewards, status.

That Green wants it for others as well is what has helped him turn this MSU team into perhaps the least selfish of Izzo's 17.

Green's respect for those past teams and for the guys who played on them probably endears him to Izzo as much as anything. It's another dated concept: Knowing your history and appreciating those who preceded you.

If you don't think that's important, you haven't been paying attention to what Izzo has tried to do at MSU. To him, era-bridging relationships help sustain tradition.

"Draymond has helped me do something that I think is very important. You often talk about players getting their mojo back, I think the program needed to get its mojo back a little bit," Izzo said. "And I think Draymond, his love for the university, his respect for everybody who played here has really helped bring that back."

REFUSING THE BAIT

Eye rolling toward the old school is one of the things that frustrated Izzo most about some of his key players in recent seasons. And that brings me to what has impressed me most about Green.

It takes class to do things such as calling and consoling Robbie Hummel when he blew his knee, but Green's character is most apparent in what he never said – a negative word in public about a teammate.

Green had a lot of chances last season to take shots and never did. And believe me, we gave him opportunities. He'd get into it with teammates, but he always kept it between them.

That's neither easy nor common.

"He wasn't a guy that would rat on anybody … but he wasn't a guy that would back down from a fight, either, and that's what I loved about him," Izzo said.

Green is playing right now like an NBA first-round draft pick, his skill and swagger at all-time highs.

His individual season has been as pleasantly surprising as Michigan State's season – Green went from solid freshman to very good sophom*ore and junior, but honestly, who saw this coming? – and if he manages to get MSU to the Final Four in New Orleans, we may have to mine the Upper Peninsula for new adjectives.

Soon he'll be one thing above all others at Michigan State, no matter how many McDonald's All-Americans Izzo can bring to town. Missed.

■ Oh, and Green was funny too. The aftermath of that senior day, with the Spartans blowing a big lead, sharing the title with OSU and U-M, and looking at a postseason without Branden Dawson, was a prime example.

EAST LANSING – Tom Izzo figured it would happen at some point. Michigan State would lose on a senior day and the Spartans would have to grit their teeth through a post-game ceremony.

That's just what happened Sunday at Breslin Center. The Spartans and their fans, still stunned by a 72-70 loss to Ohio State, then spent about 45 more minutes together as the seniors took the floor with their families, speeches were given and MSU raised its Big Ten championship banner.

"There's no question there were a lot of fake smiles, half smiles on our part," said senior guard Austin Thornton, who was honored along with Draymond Green, Delvon Roe, Brandon Wood and Anthony Ianni – in the first senior day loss since Izzo switched from a pre-game ceremony to a post-game ceremony in 2009.

"It happens at Duke, it can happen at Michigan State probably," Izzo said of a senior day loss, which also happened to Big Ten co-champs Ohio State and Michigan this season. "But I still thought the 40 minutes they had with our fans was better than the 30 seconds they get the other way."

Green, more than anyone else, made sure of that.

Clearly dejected as he came to the floor, he stayed on the microphone for several minutes after the other seniors spoke briefly. He made jokes, he thanked everyone from the fans to the team managers to the media, and he seemed to lighten the atmosphere.

Green dogged Izzo for not wanting to offer him a scholarship at first, and he later said people have asked him of Izzo: "How can you be afraid of a midget?"

"They just don't know the power their midget comes with," Green said to laughter as the video board at Breslin showed Izzo stifling a laugh.

"It took some of the frustration away," Green said of the speech. "When you get to talking, you just keep rattling on and going on, you get to putting everything in perspective. And we've accomplished some great things.

"And that's what that speech made me realize, that this day isn't all about today. This day is about some things that have occurred over four and five years."

The 2012 Big Ten title is the third for Green and Thornton, and they'll soon pursue their third Final Four (Green told the crowd he expects to be playing for another month).

Meanwhile, Izzo called some former Spartans to the floor during the ceremony – Johnny Green, a star of MSU's first Final Four team in 1957; Greg Kelser, who helped lead MSU to the 1979 national title; and Mateen Cleaves, who did the same in 2000.

Izzo said to Cleaves: "Welcome our seniors into the Big Dog table, because they've earned their keep."

Thornton got to share the ceremony with his 5-year-old son, Carson, who was an MSU ball boy for the day. And Roe was on the bench for the first time this season after retiring in October because of chronic knee issues.

Roe called the chance to return "one of the greatest moments of my life" but also found it difficult at times.

"I wish I could have pulled a Brett Favre," he said, "and say I'm un-retired and go out there and play."

Like many in the building, Roe also felt the impact of Green's speech and appreciated it.

"It was long," Roe said with a smile. "It was what you expect from Day-Day. He's a talker and he's a guy who's always gonna brighten up a room no matter what the situation is, and he did that."

■ Here's how things looked for Green before the draft:

Whenever it happens, wherever he goes, Draymond Green will find fulfillment in many ways tonight when his name is called during the NBA draft.

It's the aspiration of a lifetime, of course, but this is also about the pride of Green's hometown of Saginaw. And the needs of his beloved Michigan State men's basketball program.

And, not to be overlooked, the hopes of guys just like him.

"One of the most important things about this is the story behind it," Green said of his gradual development from modestly evaluated recruit to expected first-round pick. "Nowadays it seems impossible to get drafted after four years (of college). That's what some people think. This shows guys it is possible."

Green is projected by most analysts to go late in the first round tonight, after he spent the past several weeks flying around the country to work out for 12 teams – including a second workout Tuesday with the Indiana Pacers, a possible landing spot at pick No. 26.

Green will watch the draft with family and close friends tonight at Saginaw's Dow Event Center, hoping for a first-round reward but fully aware that the expectations of agents and analysts don't always materialize.

At this point, he's just happy the questions, answers, drills and cramped commercial flights are finished and the professional career can begin.

"It's been fun, I'm definitely thankful for it and taking it all in," Green said of the draft process. "But at the same time I'm ready for it to be over. One thing you always want to avoid in life is uncertainty. Well, that's pretty much what this whole process is."

If the 6-foot-7 Green goes in the first 30 picks, it would give Tom Izzo's program a first-round selection for the first time since 2006, when Shannon Brown and Maurice Ager both went late in the first.

And it would make Green one of a handful, at most, of college seniors to share that honor tonight. Most of the top prospects are younger now. By comparison, the 1992 draft of 27 choices included 23 college seniors and four juniors.

"I think this can definitely help the (MSU) program out," Green said. "It'll show guys this route can get you to that point. Staying in college and playing in a program like Michigan State, if you work hard you can get there."

Some of tonight's headliners are "one and done" college players who had to wait a year after high school to enter the draft, as required by the NBA since 2006. Kentucky's Anthony Davis is expected to go No. 1 overall to New Orleans, and teammate Michael Kidd-Gilchrist could go next to Charlotte.

When Green was finished with his freshman season at MSU, he was a promising, slightly pudgy reserve who had just chipped in on a run to the NCAA title game in Detroit. There were no NBA expectations, in the immediate or distant future.

Green was a key player on a Final Four team as a sophom*ore, but he said he would have replied with a "no way" back then, had someone presented today's scenario to him.

A year ago, Green started to believe he could become "draftable." His offseason work led to a senior season that saw him become MSU's fourth consensus first team All-American while winning NABC National Player of the Year, Big Ten Player of the Year and Big Ten Jesse Owens Male Athlete of the Year.

Green became MSU's all-time leading rebounder, guiding the Spartans to a share of the Big Ten title, the Big Ten Tournament title, an NCAA No. 1 seed and the Sweet Sixteen. And his pro stock moved steadily upward.

ESPN's Chad Ford, who projects Green to go No. 26 to the Pacers, wrote that he is "a smart, tough player who can come in and fill a need immediately for Indiana."

"I expect him to go first round," said Mateen Cleaves, an MSU national champion and first-round pick in 2000 who now serves as an NBA analyst for Fox Sports Detroit. "That's what I'm looking at. He's proven that he can play the game. A lot of people want to say he lacks size and he's not athletic and he's not quick, but he makes up for it with his know-how. He knows how to play the game. When you're 6-7 and you lead the Big Ten in rebounds, that says enough right there."

There are doubters who consider Green a "tweener" – not quite big enough to play power forward in the league and not quite quick enough to play small forward.

"I'm not feeling (Green). I think he's an average athlete," an unnamed NBA scout told Sports Illusrated's Seth Davis this week. "He has a high IQ and he's coachable, so he'll survive (in the league) for a while. He has versatility, can really handle the ball, and his shot's not broken."

Izzo, of course, believes Green "can play at that level" and "will earn his keep," and that the intangibles that made him a three-time captain at MSU will benefit him in the NBA.

That's not your typical draft story anymore, and that's just fine with Green.

"There are different ways to get there," he said. "I'm proud that I was able to do it this way."

■

Here's Chris Solari's story from NBA 2012 draft night in Saginaw, with more foreshadowing comments:

SAGINAW -- Draymond Green's long journey to the NBA finally is a reality.

And like every step of his basketball life, the Michigan State star will attempt to disprove his doubters.

Green's dream came true Thursday night when he was selected by the Golden State Warriors, albeit with the 35th pick in the second round of the NBA draft. Many draft analysts had projected the 6-foot-7 forward to be a late first-round selection.

"It wouldn't be right for me to go in the first round. That just doesn't go along with my story," said Green, who was the NABC National Player of the Year and a first-team All-American as a senior at MSU this winter. "I've had to grind and work for everything I've got, and this is another opportunity for me to keep grinding and working."

Green is the first MSU player taken in the NBA draft since Goran Suton went in the second round to Utah in 2009. The Spartans haven't had a first-round pick since Shannon Brown and Maurice Ager both went in the 2006 draft.

MSU coach Tom Izzo, one of those in attendance at Dow Event Center in Green's hometown, said he expects there will be a few NBA general managers who will regret passing on Green.

"I have my own opinion on this, and I really do believe that…," Izzo said. "But it really doesn't matter where you're drafted, it matters what you end up with. He wasn't a McDonald's All-American – all is he is the player of the year in the Big Ten and has as many triple-doubles as two of the greatest players that ever played the game.

"People just need to appreciate him like I do, and I'm gonna miss him."

ESPN's Jay BIlas said Green's ability to play inside or outside and his knowledge of the game will be his best assets as a pro.

"You put him down in the post, he's an excellent passer down there. He's a pick-and-pop big ..." Bilas said on his network's telecast. "I thought he was a late first-round talent, but this late in the second round he's a real value."

*And finally, another column looking ahead to Green's NBA career. Not a great fit, eh? Tough to get playing time, eh? Franchise with no direction, eh? Sometimes I wish we didn't have to write this stuff down…

Here's a little bit of advice for colleagues in the Bay Area who report on the Golden State Warriors: Talk to Draymond Green.

Those of us who cover the Michigan State Spartans will probably suffer withdrawal symptoms for at least a year after he kept us flush in quotes for four.

It'll be worth your time to seek him out, because he always has something interesting to say. Keep that in mind even if he isn't playing much right away – which is quite possible even though he's joining a team that went 23-43 last season.

At first glance, Golden State doesn't look like a great fit for Green. That doesn't mean he can't make it work, that doesn't mean he can't help the Warriors, but this is going to be tougher than some might think.

Strangely enough, he'd probably have a better chance of a solid role with either of the two teams that just played in the NBA Finals, Miami and Oklahoma City. Both picked late in the first round – where most of the experts projected Green to be chosen, by a good team that could have used his versatile skills off the bench.

That would have been perfect for Green, the first MSU player to be drafted since Goran Suton went to Utah in the second round in 2009.

"Later in the first round will benefit Day-Day there because he'll go to a team that, if they're picking late, they're a good team and a winner," former Spartan and first-round pick Mateen Cleaves said of Green before the draft. "Then you go into a good system and you're around good players, and I think he'll benefit – especially with his skill set – from being on the floor with other good players."

Instead, he's going to a franchise with no discernible identity or direction, but with a glut of players blocking his path to playing time.

OK, so maybe it isn't fair to say Golden State has no direction. That may have changed in March when the Warriors traded for center Andrew Bogut.

Bogut joins power forward David Lee in a pretty strong starting frontcourt, with Steph Curry and Klay Thompson at the guards. Golden State got North Carolina's Harrison Barnes with the No. 7 overall pick Thursday, so there's your starting small forward.

Golden State also drafted Vanderbilt center Festus Ezeli with the last pick of the first round. Jeremy Tyler is already on the roster, giving the team four "true bigs" at those spots.

And then the Warriors have 6-9 Dorell Wright, 6-6 Brandon Rush and 6-9 Dominic McGuire as combo forwards, now competing with Green at both forward spots.

McGuire is an unrestricted free agent and Rush is a restricted free agent, so maybe this picture will clear up a bit before the summer ends. Golden State must have drafted Green for a reason and certainly seemed happy about it.

Jerry West, an advisor to the Warriors, said they were "shocked" when Green was still there at No. 35. Of course, they could have taken him at 30 but went big with Ezeli instead.

It's going to be an interesting first season for Green in the NBA, and it may not be especially fulfilling. The same can be said of Green's football mirror image, Kirk Cousins, who got stuck behind Robert Griffin III with the Washington Redskins.

Neither starts in an ideal situation. Both must persevere and improve those situations. Both have the tools to do so.

Green's vocal nature should make him popular with the quote seekers right away. Perhaps it will eventually distinguish him from some of the veterans contesting him for minutes.

"I'll tell you one thing, I'm not gonna worry about getting feedback about why I was a second-rounder instead of a first-rounder," Green said when asked of his disappointment on a teleconference moments after he was picked. "I want to make the best out of my situation. I'm the 35^th pick from Golden State and that's what it is. I'm gonna go in and make the best of it and just go in and get ready to win some games.

"We are in the Western Conference so it's always tough, but I think we have guys and Golden State is putting the pieces (in place). It's gonna be great. We have Andrew Bogut, Steph Curry, all those guys who are proven in the league."

Contact Joe Rexrode: jrexrode@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @joerexrode. Check out his MSU blog at freep.com/heyjoe.