Our friends over at Michigan Prep Stars posted another video package this time of Denzel Valentine on the floor of his future home the Breslin Center. These clips come from the 75-60 win that gave Valentine's Lansing Sexton team a Class B State Championship by defeating Muskegon Heights on Saturday. His now famous dunk shows up at about 1:15.
With all the postseason success of future Spartans, Denzel Valentine made it the furthest and was the sole state champion (Brandan Kearney was a runner-up). Denzel again showed that he is a major contributor who effects the game in numerous ways beyond points scored. Responding to the notion that Denzel isn't a basket-stuffer, teammate Tyrin Wade had this to say in the State News.
"Denzel is a great player, " Wade said. "He gets criticized on his game, but people don’t understand what Denzel is. He’s very unselfish, he leads his team in assists and rebounds, and he doesn’t credit for the little things he does on the defensive end."
That shouldn't eclipse the fact that he did score 17 in the state title game with his long-distance shot falling.
Michigan high school basketball fans are very excited about what Denzel is going to do at the next level and the video from Michigan Prep Stars displays why. Valentine does a great job of producing for himself while making plays and passes to get teammates involved. He looks like the type of player who will be able to step up and score or create opportunities for others depending on what MSU needs. Like Travis Trice, Valentine is another coach's son with good decision-making and basketball knowledge. MSU supporters should be excited by a player some are calling "Day Day on the wing."
Bonus link: if you didn't catch it, here's a Prep Sports Insider segment from a few weeks ago featuring DV talking with Steve Bell and Sam Hosey as Sexton prepared for their state title run. LifeInLansing.com is producing a lot of quality Spartan basketball content and it's great to hear Denzel's insight about the past few years of his basketball life.