Michigan State Basketball: Top 10 fan favorite players of Tom Izzo era

Undersized. Underdog. Under-respected.

Drew Neitzel was the perfect Tom Izzo-type player. He began his career quietly as a freshman, learning behind other guards and using that knowledge to excel as a sophomore through his senior campaign.

How did Neitzel become a fan favorite for the Spartans? After spending time as a solid role player in his first two seasons, he exploded as a junior to put the team on his back and lead them to an NCAA Tournament berth. No one expected that season’s team to make the tourney, but he did everything he could to get it to the Big Dance.

The biggest moment of that season was Neitzel engineering an upset in East Lansing over No. 1 Wisconsin in February which was enough to vault the team into a tourney lock. He went off in that game and that was the defining moment of his career.

Neitzel would go on to average 18.1 points and 4.3 assists while shooting 41 percent from deep as a junior before taking a slight step back as a senior on a much better team — he wasn’t needed to scored 18-20 points per game that season.

Michigan State fans loved Neitzel and have been hoping for another player like him, which they thought they’d found in the 2018 recruiting class.

For context, fans were hoping that Foster Loyer would have a little Neitzel in him — even a fraction of what Neitzel provided.