Hard to dislike?? There might not be a CBB player I’ve disliked more than Valentine.
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Izzo is a cult leader. I don’t think it is a coincidence that there is a strong tendency for Izzo’s players to possess deep insecurity which is covered up by false bravado. Generally speaking, they are very bad sportsmen and all of the extracurricular antics are ugly, in my opinion. To his credit, over the course of his career, Valentine seems to be rising above a lot of the Izzo-fostered non-sense. Over time Valentine, has become more business-like. Plus, he is averaging a triple double for his first two games and is doing it in a fun to watch way. Part of me just feels sorry for him, for falling into the Izzo cult trap in the first place. The more I hate Izzo, the more I have compassion for his players.
There needs to be a distinction. It’s very hard to dislike him as a player. I’d take him on Michigan any day. But I think he’s very easy to dislike as a personality. Pretty obnoxious, to be honest.
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Yeah I don’t get how people can say it’s tough to dislike him. Dude talks shit constantly and clearly thinks that he’s a tough guy. And his face is just annoying to look at.
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If every team going into their game against MSU knows how dependent they are on Valentine, why can’t they put the focus on stopping him and making someone else create plays? Force the ball out of his hands and then deny.
I don’t really like any non-Michigan Big Ten players but I respect Valentine’s skill – having watched Valentine a bit at the Pan Am games I came to appreciate his game outside the MSU context. Frankly, just about any cocky Wisconsin buzz-cut bothers me a lot more, especially the way they protest every call (and get away with it) – I know some Michigan fans “admire” Bo Ryan’s system but I hate the way they play and the constant deference from referees and commentators. In terms of MSU players, Costello bothers me way more because he exemplifies the worst excesses of Izzo’s physical “style.” The fact that he doesn’t foul out every game suggests a major conspiracy is afoot.
@umhoops Should be interesting to see Indiana square off against Creighton tonight. Quick question for the crowd: should we hope for every Big Ten team to win as much as possible in the non-conference from an RPI/SOS standpoint? I find it really hard to cheer for IU, UW, OSU or State. I guess I could cheer for the others, though.
His face always reminded me of this…
Indiana is going to be very good. Hoosiers don’t play a lot of defense, but Thomas Bryant will be a huge boost in the middle and Yogi Ferrell might be one of the only two or three players in play for Big Ten Player of the Year right now.
Then add in guys like JBJ, Troy Williams… pretty loaded roster.
In your opinion who is in play for B1G POY? Imo you have Trimble, Valentine, Ferrell and maybe Hayes? I guess if you include Hayes you could include Levert not sure if either of those two can put it all together for that kind of season.
Those are the three IMO… at least at this stage. LeVert or Hayes could certainly have a shot, but I wouldn’t call them favorites right now.
Funny that there’s a post here about Valentine being likable despite being a Spartan, and over at mgoblog there a post about most dislikable B1G players. Last I saw, he was winning hands down. Anyone who finds him endearing hasn’t been watching him jawbone our players the last few years. Dude can play, but not an appealing person to me.
Since there seems to be a pile-on on this specific statement, let the record show that I was just agreeing with GTF. I tend to blame Izzo for the generally unsportsmanlike character of MSU basketball.
Yep. False-father-figure Izzo fosters poor sportsmanship…i respect Valentine even more if he can rise above the culture Izzo has created because that is not an easy thing to do. I have seen signs of Valentine maturing…I will say I enjoy the hell out of the gif but I don’t think it reflects well on Michigan fans to make fun of a kids looks. Come on.
Well that seems awfully hypocritical.
It seems more honest than anything. Acknowledging that something is funny even though juvenile but knowing that is inappropriate and that we, as michigan fans, should be holding ourselves to a higher standard.
The gif does not make reference to Valentine’s face. It makes reference to his attempt to alpha dog our players and soon after losing to Michigan in glorious fashion. I think it is a beautiful life lesson.
All I have to say about that program is that Izzo is damn lucky those rape allegations came about 5 years ago. That shit wouldn’t fly in 2015. With the climate surrounding that type of stuff today media would be all over that police report. Valentine, Costello, Forbes, etc. are annoying on the court, but there’s nothing (to my knowledge) to indicate they are true scumbags.
Man, Wisconsin got trampled by Oklahoma today. They shot 7 for 33 from three. I know Oklahoma is really good but this this year’s UW is not looking like a tournament team.
The Freep helped cover it up. Among the information in that ongoing lawsuit between ESPN and msu, the Feds declared that incident was completely mishandled. The Freep was well aware of the whole thing and did absolutely nothing.
This is the same media outlet that had the capabilities of posting an arrest video of Minick as well.
Meanwhile, there has been numerous msu DUIs, and ZERO arrest videos posted.