This Year We've Seen TEBOWmania, LINsanity and Now Draymond Green takes Center Stage Here in Phoenix

Phoenix, Arizona US Airways Arena NCAA Round Three As I jumped into the taxi here in Phoenix to cover the Spartans, the first words out of the cab divers

Phoenix, Arizona

US Airways Arena

NCAA Round Three

As I jumped into the taxi here in Phoenix to cover the Spartans, the first words out of the cab divers mouth were not, “Where to?” He saw the Spartan Nation logo on my shirt and said, “You like Draymond Green?” I chuckled as we entered into a conversation that lasted the entire length of my cab ride.

When I checked into the hotel three strangers wanted to ask me about the man we call 'Day-Day'. One lady said to me, “I had never heard of him until the tournament and now everyone talks about him.”

Last night while I was at dinner with former Spartan/Arizona Cardinal/NY Jet, Left Tackle Pete Clifford.  Our waitress took one look at my shirt and said, “I would love the Suns (Phoenix NBA team) to get Draymond Green.”

You have heard about Tebowmani and Linsanity, but the presence of Green is taking off. There are a lot of reasons, none of which is bigger than the fact he is a great basketball player. People see him doing everything on the court and nothing wrong off of it.

Yesterday in the Louisville locker room they mirrored the general public. They were all talking about Draymond Green.

Sophomore center Gorgui Dieng said, “Michigan State is a great team. Draymond Green is a top three player in the country. We’re going to try to find a game plan to step them. We’re going to try and match up with them and play.”

Cardinals freshman forward Chane Behanan further elaborated, “They are looking for me to limit (Green’s) touches, limit him on the offensive glass, defensive glass.” Rick Pitino the head coach even brought on the praise, “I’m not sure what his position is. If they need somebody to run a pick-and-roll, if they need a post up, post up. If they need a guy to take a bounce, he does that. He’s about the most complete player in college basketball in terms of all phases of the game.”

Make no mistake that the Spartans love the attention that Draymond is getting. He isn’t seeking it out. It is coming to him. The media throng was quick to interrogate the Spartans about their leader.

Fellow captain Austin Thornton said, “Draymond is a special player. And he's one of the main reasons why we've had the year that we've had. He's done a lot of things for this team and there's no doubt about it coming into the year he could have been a lot more selfish and could have understood that he had the opportunity to put up some big-time numbers. But he did a great job all year long of really involving everyone, both on the inside and the outside.

He's a special player, and he's our guy. He's our go-to guy. Anytime you have a guy that's as unselfish as he is, it rubs off on the rest of the guys on our team. If our star can be that unselfish and help this team, the rest of us can do the same. I've been glad to be able to play with him. It's been fun.”

Even Draymond Green wasn’t immune from talking about himself and his versatility. Not because he wanted to, but because he has become the focal point. He tried to give the respect other places rather than taking it himself.

He said of his versatility that, “I think it first started with my elementary school coach, which is my uncle. I was always bigger than everyone. He had me play point guard. And he always used to tell me, I asked him, Why do I have to play point guard, I'm bigger than everybody, I can score. He told me, Some day you're going to stop growing, and we don't know how tall you're going to be, so you always need to have guard skills. I really didn't understand it then. But as I kept growing I understood it more and more.

And I think it started there. All through high school, my high school coach did a great job of it. Then when I got to Michigan State, as a role player my freshman year, I didn't get to show much of it. Coach Stevens told me to make sure you keep on working on those skills. I always kept working on them.

Then he started working on some skills with me, whether it was changing my jump shot, who had a big, large, impact on me, the way I shoot it, getting the ball away from my body and helping me out with my jump shot. And then he kept telling me, Keep working on your ball handling. He showed me a few post moves. And the different things he did with me helped my versatility.

And then Coach Izzo, putting the finishing touches on everything, allowing me to do it and still stay within the system. A lot of times when players show versatility and do different things, they're probably getting out of the system. I think Coach ii has done a great job of keeping everything in the system and just so I'd know how to do it without necessarily throwing everything else off.”

It didn’t end there. The media compared him to Mateen Cleaves and Danny Manning. How does he balance his game with everyone else? Green said, “One thing I've always been about was sharing the ball. I get off more by getting assists than I do scoring a basket. And that's just the way I've always been, not only in basketball, but in life. Just helping others out, giving something to someone else instead of me having it.

I think that carries over to the basketball court. And just being compared to those guys mean a lot. I think the credit that I've gotten this year, of course, some of it is deserved, but I've had a lot of help from these guys, especially Austin.

Like I always say, we complement each other so well in the leadership role to the point where Austin is the type of guy who will talk and say what's needed. But he's not going to ramble off all day every day. And I will talk all day every day. So we complement.

Sometimes it's like the good cop/bad cop deal, where I may see somebody doing something and I may get on them. And it may feel more like a coach. And Austin will come behind me, and say, Keith, it's okay, do this, do that. And cover up for something I may have messed up.

I think with the help of these guys, it hasn't been completely everything about what I've done. Because without the guys up here and the rest of the guys in the locker room, I couldn't have done all the things I've done. One of the most important things that's been special about us has been winning. Without these guys I can't win games by myself.

I think that's been a key thing that I think the most important thing that I've done with the help of Austin is making sure that the team stays together, sticks together, through no matter what the situation is. If you want to give credit, I think that's what should be given credit to is helping guys to stick together, because I think that's the most important thing with any team.”

So the hype is over for now. No more press conferences, but if the #1 seed MSU Spartans win tonight, as I expect, the lights get brighter and the attention gets stronger on Draymond Green. You couldn’t ask for it to rest on a better young man.

He will deflect it, he will use it to motivate his teammates and get them some attention, but in the end one story sums up the attention Draymond has to endure.

Yesterday after practice a young man with a Marquette shirt and a Marquette basketball got the Spartan senior’s attention. As Green stopped to give him an autograph he told Green, “You’re my favorite player.”

He may love Marquette, but out of Saginaw, the youngster noticed a star with a big heart and a love for the game. Young man, you couldn’t have picked a better role model. Last week legendary coach Rick Majerus said, “Draymond Green is a great player because of one word, unselfish. He is absolutely an unselfish player.”

Marquette fans, hostesses, taxi drivers, legendary coaches, opposing players, fans and media have taken attention. You have heard about and seen Tebowmania, Linsanity and now the hurricane of Draymond Green. Someone much smarter then me will come up with a better name for it, but as the Spartans march to the Final Four, each step will get bigger and brighter.