Michigan State has a 6-foot-11 freshman forward named Jaren Jackson who can put the ball on the floor or shoot threes off the catch or the dribble.
And he may not even be the most tantalizing draft prospect on the team.
That honor could go to 6-foot-7 sophomore small forward Miles Bridges, who decided to forego the NBA draft a year ago for one more year in East Lansing.
Then you also have 6-foot-5 shooting guard Joshua Langford, a former 5-star prospect who can take over a game from anywhere on the court.
All three players are potential lottery selections down the road, and yet in Sunday night’s 80-64 win by Ohio State over MSU, each of those three players had to step to the side of the road to make room for Ohio State fourth-year junior forward Keita Bates-Diop.
Against a team of future NBA players, the best player on the court all game long was Bates-Diop, and not for one minute was any of it a fluke.
Bates-Diop scored a career-high 32 points on 12-of-21 shooting, and he shared his scoring outburst with any Spartan defender who wanted to partake. There were times when both Bridges and Jackson were victimized by KBD. Bridges tried not to get too close, so Bates-Diop simply shot over him. Jackson, meanwhile, would try to defend out on the perimeter, but that went no better.
Coming in, Bates-Diop knew he would have to set the tone early, and not only did he set it, he put it in stone.
“I think we all knew it, coming in against the No. 1 team in the country, we had to play well all of us together,” he said. “I think we all did it for the full 40, but I think I was just aggressive early on and I think that just carried on and my teammates found me in the right places and I just completed it.”
“Diop was really, really good,” Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo said after the game.
Not that he was surprised.
“I think being healthy — you know I recruited Diop. I liked him as a freshman, I really did. I think he’s improved his game,” Izzo said. “I think what I like about his game is his mid-range game is the best part of his game, and not many guys are like that. He’s very patient in there.
“We didn’t go a great job on him. We gave him a couple that were just wide open. We were helping on people. I was impressed, yeah. I thought he did a great job. He’s made himself a better player, but I think two-thirds of that is he’s 100% healthy, which he hasn’t been that often, especially all of last year.”
It is very early — the Big Ten season is just four games old — but Keita Bates-Diop is already making a strong case for Big Ten Player of the Year. He is averaging 20 points per game, which leads the conference. His 8.8 rebounds per game are good for third.
You won’t see his name littered among the NBA Mock Drafts like you will Miles Bridges and Jaren Jackson, but that might start to change here eventually. KBD is averaging 23.5 points per game in B1G play, and also added 26 points on 10-of-17 shooting in a loss to No. 5 North Carolina this season.
Early in the year, Bates-Diop was simply bigger and badder than everybody else. Now, he is playing against players of his own caliber, and yet is looking even better.
If this continues, there may be an NBA decision ahead this year for KBD, which isn’t lost on Chris Holtmann.
“It’s funny, those thoughts go through all of our minds, right? I think we’ve been having those thoughts for a little while,” he said. “I think he and his family want to put that right out, they want to put that to the side and not worry about it right now.
“You get into this business for kids to reach their dreams. You really do. So if that happens and he’s got an opportunity like that, I’m going to be so happy for him and his family. There’s so much left to be played. There’s a lot left for us to prove. He’s just gotta be Keita, and whatever comes out of that, comes out of that. But certainly that’s a more and more real possibility. If that were to happen, we’d be really happy, but we’ve got so much left to learn when it comes to that situation.”
[Keita Bates-Diop photo courtesy ohiostatebuckeyes.com]
Matta had a way of recruiting talent and KBD was a steal out of my living area, central IL. Sadly, OSU players the past few years did not improve or thrive. However, KBD is a Sr. and his potential is now being coached and trained and he looks like a go to super star and he was just that to first of all keep us in the game during MSU’s quick start, to give us a lead late in the 2nd and to keep a healthy lead like in the last 8 minutes. We can lament that MSU did not shoot the ball well, especially behind the arc, it’s hard to do when someone’s always in your face. Izzo’s temper tantrum and brown nosing the refs didn’t work in Columbus.
I’m sure Holtmann has told him to SHOOT THE BALL! He’s never had a great motor but this team ain’t winning without him being the star and I have no doubt that message has been relayed to him.
MSU had a bad night shooting the ball. Their offense looked like crap but they missed a lot of open shots. Bucks defense was intense. It was a very impressive win over a better team.
I’m not at all sure MSU was the better team . . it certainly wasn’t yesterday. The Bucks are very thin, especially in the post, and yet the Spartans couldn’t play with them yesterday. KBD was certainly the best and most complete player yesterday. I think it may be because the Spartans AND IZZO have been reading too many of their own clippings. P.S. I love to see Izzo cry. Seeing both Izzo and Kryzewski cry and pout really made my weekend. P.S. My granddaughter is the team mascot for the Wolfpack.