Michigan State basketball fans have been spoiled over the years. The Spartans have had some elite talent throughout the years under Tom Izzo, and that’s led to some special seasons.
Guys like Cassius Winston and Denzel Valentine became fan favorites in East Lansing along with Draymond Green and Xavier Tillman, among others. All four of those guys had some individual seasons that fans still talk about. Heck, Cassius had about three seasons that fans are still talking about.
All four of those guys have had some elite seasons, and they’re finally being recognized by a new set of data from college basketball analytics expert Evan Miyakawa.
In fact, Miyakawa ranked his top 30 individual seasons since 2010, and four different Spartans appeared on the list.
The top 30 individual seasons in college basketball since 2010, using Bayesian Performance Rating at https://t.co/cegyfz96ax. BPR quantifies per-possession value added through box stats and team impact metrics ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/XDs0pWscFs
— Evan Miyakawa (@EvanMiya) October 21, 2025
Valentine had the fifth-best individual season in the nation since 2010, Draymond was a little further behind at No. 17, Cassius came in at No. 25, and Tillman was right behind him at No. 26.
Four different Spartans were represented on an exclusive list that shows that Izzo knows how to identify and develop talent. The only player on that list that was ranked in the top 50 in his recruiting class before coming to Michigan State was Cassius. He was the No. 35 prospect in the 2016 class while Draymond, Tillman, and Denzel were all ranked outside of the top 100 nationally.
You know your coach is an elite talent developer when he has four representatives on the top 30 individual seasons list among plenty of five-star talent.
So whenever you hear that Izzo is a poor talent developer, all you need to do is present this list.