Hello and welcome to the official start of the SpartansWire Favorite Spartans of all Time Tournament. Sure, that’s a terrible name, but at this point, who cares? It’s a pandemic outside. Fictional bracket names don’t matter right now.
Today I’m going to lay out the Magic Johnson region, which is highlighted by overall number one seed–you guessed it–Magic Johnson. Players will be pitted against each other and the winner will be decided exclusively by fan vote.
Here’s the full region for a quick refresher.
As with every region, there are a number of big names in the bracket without much separating the top seeds from the lower seeds.
Let’s get to the matchups!
1. Magic Johnson vs. 16. Jehuu Caulcrick
Magic Johnson really needs no introduction or explanation. Probably the most famous Spartan of all time, Earvin “Magic” Johnson put Michigan State basketball (and college basketball) on the map in 1979 when his Spartans defeated Larry Bird’s Indiana State Sycamores in the highest-rated basketball game in history. Since then Magic has gone on to do a million different things with loads of success. He’s a national champion, five-time NBA champion, three-time NBA MVP, 12-time NBA All Star, successful businessman and all around basketball icon.
He takes on Jehuu Caulcrick, a top ten running back in MSU football history. Caulcrick was a fan favorite during his time at MSU and scored 21 touchdowns as a senior in 2007, which was a school record. Caulcrick never had gaudy rushing yards, but was a tough runner that MSU fans certainly connected with. He also helped usher in the Mark Dantonio era on a positive note–helping the Spartans to seven wins in 2007.
2. Drew Neitzel vs. 15. Travis Trice
Drew Neitzel is one of the most popular Spartans ever. He was a freshman on the 2005 team that got back to the Final Four for the first time since 2001 and did it in a role he probably wasn’t quite ready for yet. As we know, it can be hard for freshman to get on the floor with Tom Izzo. Neitzel eventually became a two-time captain and helped usher in the next great era of Michigan State basketball. He exemplified being a Spartan Dawg. He was smaller than everyone else, but made huge impacts with his lethal shot. Perhaps most importantly, he ran the show for pretty much four years. There are only a handful of Tom Izzo point guards that can say that.
He take son Travis Trice. Trice was a lower usage player his first two years, and many fans would probably have classified him as frustrating during that time. He was a rotation guy going into his junior year on the loaded 2014 team, but due to injuries was thrust into a much larger role. That paved the way for his 2015 senior season when Trice earned his spot in this bracket. All of his numbers, both counting and advanced, spiked his senior year as he led Michigan State back to the Final Four. His run through MSU’s region that year was something special, scoring 23, 24, and 17 points in three consecutive games to help win the region.
3. Javon Ringer vs. 14. Morten Andersen
Javon Ringer might be MSU fans’ favorite running back ever. Like point guard in basketball, running backs hold a special place in the hearts of MSU fans. Ringers stats are gaudy and ridiculous. He is all over the MSU record books and he’d be atop them if Lorenzo White didn’t exist. Ringer was the workhorse of the foundational years of the Mark Dantonio era. The successes of the mid-2010s are built on the work Ringer did at MSU. His 22-touchdown senior season is the stuff of legend. And the way Ringer played drew fans to him. He was a worker. A horse. Whatever other cliche you want to toss out there. That was him.
Morten Andersen is the second best kicker in the history of football. I think that’s a pretty fair assessment. He’s a hall of famer both at Michigan State and in the NFL. It’s hard for kickers to really be fan favorites due to the nature of their jobs, but Andersen did it. He kicked a 63-yard field goal against Ohio State, a Big Ten record. Also, “The Great Dane” is a phenomenal nickname.
4. Denzel Valentine vs. 13. Gary Harris
Denzel Valentine’s career was really special. He came to MSU as a raw but talented freshman and eventually became a national player of the year. He took a giant leap during his junior season and never looked back. He was the engine of one of the best Michigan State teams ever in 2016, despite what happened in the tournament. His legacy takes a knock for Middle Tennessee State, but Valentine is easily one of the best MSU basketball players of the last 20 years.
Gary Harris could have ended up much higher on this list, but he was far too talented. MSU fans were lucky to get to watch Harris play for two seasons in the Green and White before turning pro. Harris was just a joy to watch play basketball. His shooting stroke was as pure as they come, he had a flair for the dramatic when getting to the rim and he was a dog on defense. We all loved watching Gary Harris play, he just didn’t stick around long enough to truly become a Spartan legend.
5. Jeremy Langford vs. 12. Keith Appling
DANGFORD. That was perhaps the most commonly tweeted word on MSU Twitter during the 2013 and 2014 seasons. Jeremy Langford came out of absolutely nowhere to wrangle the starting running back job and sprint away with it. He scored 40 rushing touchdowns in his two years as the guy and has a couple of runs that will live on in MSU lore due to their championship nature. He was the ultimate closer, putting away Ohio State and Stanford with nail-in-the-coffin runs to seal huge victories.
Keith Appling might have been frustrating at times, but a lot of MSU fans look back on him fondly (as a player). A weird wrist injury crumbled Appling’s ability to shoot and threw this weird haze over his career. If you forget, he came into MSU as an absolutely lethal knock-down shooter and two years later wouldn’t shoot the ball. But he overcame that and put together a number of huge moments. The Champions Classic against Kansas during his junior season is one to remember.
6. Greg Jones vs. 11. Ryan Miller
Greg Jones is one of the best linebackers to ever play at Michigan State. He was the first in a long line of stud middle linebackers during the Mark Dantonio era at Michigan State. He’s another name that really helped Michigan State transition from fledging program under John L. Smith to one on these rise. It’s not a coincidence a lot of football players from 2007-2010 are going to be in this bracket. Even 10+ years later, MSU fans greatly appreciate their impacts. Jones was a three-time All-Big Ten player and two-time All-American. I could look up his stats, but let’s just say he had a billion tackles and call it good.
Ryan Miller. Oh Ryan Miller. Hockey needed some representation in this bracket and Miller is one of two hockey players to make the bracket. Probably the best MSU player ever(?) Miller won the Hobey Baker (hockey’s Heisman) in 2001 and set an NCAA record with 26 career shutouts. He was the CCHA goalie of the year three times and won the league MVP twice. He then went on to have a prolific professional career and became an American hero during the 2010 Olympics where he won tournament MVP while leading the USA to the silver medal.
7. Eric Snow vs. 10. Shannon Brown
One half of the fire and ice backcourt, Eric Snow was a defensive stalwart for Michigan State in the mid-90s. Everyone loves a guy who can go get a bucket, but Michigan State basketball fans have an extra appreciation for somebody who can absolutely lock guys down. And that’s what Eric Snow did. He was Michigan State’s second ever Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year, winning for the 1994-95 season. And together with Shawn Respect (Fire) from one of if not the best backcourt duos in the country. At a time when the Jud Heathcote era was ending and there wasn’t success after success to beam at on the court, Snow gave MSU fans someone to love.
Shannon Brown. Bunnies. As I’m writing this, Shannon Brown should be higher on the list. I don’t know if that’s my fault for seeding him here, or your fault for not mentioning him enough during nominations. But he should be higher. He was a lockdown defender and a good all around player. He was a key part of a Final Four team. And he has some of the most ridiculous highlight plays in MSU basketball history. His 2005 dunk against Penn State is routinely mentioned as one of the best Spartan dunks ever. Maybe he just kind of got lost in the shuffle? He was a bit more of a role player on that 2005 team I guess. (The memory of members of that team is kind of collectively weighed down because they were so balanced). I don’t know what the cause is. But I love Shannon Brown and his straight back cornrows and he should be a better seed.
8. Steve Smith vs. 9. Julian Peterson
You know what? I take back everything I just said about Shannon Brown. The seeding is fine. When Steve Smith is an 8 and Julian Peterson is a 9, that just means the depth in this tournament is ridiculous and some people are going to be seeded way lower than they should be. We’ve got a damn American athletic hero in Ryan Miller seeded 11th!
Steve Smith–one of the greats . . . Prolific scorer . . . Former all-time leading scorer at MSU . . . Fourth all time in scoring in Big Ten history . . . Just a flat walking bucket . . . but his teams didn’t have enough success is the knock. He got to the Sweet 16 once and made the tournament only twice. That certainly wasn’t his fault, but it hampers the legacy and how he is remembered.
As for Peterson; MSU only got half of his career! He played ball at community college before transferring to MSU for his junior and senior years. He had 25 sacks and 48 tackles for a loss in just 23 games. His numbers are gaudy and absurd. The football team was really good his senior year, but they hadn’t been too good in a while and Tom Izzo was cooking up the first of three straight Final Fours on the basketball side, so Peterson’s accomplishments probably got a little overshadowed. That dude could flat out play though.
