Michigan State Basketball: Tom Izzo’s top recruiting victories
Back before recruiting rankings were much of a thing or even nearly as big as they are today, Kelvin Torbert reigned supreme.
OK, he may not have been the No. 1 player in the country, but he was named the 2001 Gatorade National Boys Basketball Player of the Year, Sporting News Player of the Year, first-team All-American, Parade All-American, McDonald’s All-American and Michigan Mr. Basketball. That’s quite the list of accomplishments and honors for the former elite prospect.
ESPN rankings even listed him as the seventh-best high school prospect in the nation in 2001 behind guys like Dajuan Wagner, Tyson Chandler, Kwame Brown and Eddy Curry. He was even ranked ahead of Ben Gordon, Josh Childress and David Lee.
The Flint-native had high expectations for his career and it seemed like Michigan State was always going to be the college of choice. The Spartans’ success from 1999-01 can be thanked for that and Izzo was a big reason he chose Michigan State.
Torbert passed up on the opportunity to head straight to the NBA and the 6-foot-4 all-everything shooting guard started 26 of 31 games as a freshman, averaging 8.2 points and 3.4 rebounds. He remained consistent throughout his four-year career, finishing with 9.3 points and 3.4 rebounds over his career.
Unfortunately, like most players in the 2001 class, Torbert never really lived up to the enormous hype and didn’t play NBA ball. He, too, was never really fully healthy at Michigan State and ended up playing overseas.
Next: 6. Branden Dawson