This guy is quickly becoming one of my favorites. I posted an article a week ago on Michigan State guard Travis Walton. Walton is an all-glue guy member and is what every coach dreams of out of a player. I found this article from the Grand Rapids Press after Michigan State defeated Purdue on Sunday:EAST LANSING -- With its first Big Ten championship since 2001 already secured, a true sense of urgency wasn't necessary Sunday by Michigan State in its regular-season finale against Purdue:
The Spartans were the top seed in this week's Big Ten tournament even before beating the cold-shooting Boilermakers, 62-51.
Unless they do a complete flop in Indianapolis, they will be no worse than a No. 2 seed in the NCAA tournament.
But simply going through the motions Sunday wasn't captain Travis Walton's style. Never has been. No matter the circumstances, which is why Walton offered some terse, fire-up-the-troops comments at halftime.
"Trav brought it all (today), and it was the players' commitment at halftime that was bigger than any speech I gave," MSU coach Tom Izzo said. "That was all because of Trav and his speech.
"I always say a player-coach team is a lot better than a coach-coach team. Walton is the only guy I know who cannot score a lot of points and be a difference maker in a game. He was a difference maker in our locker room this time."
For lack of a better description, Walton has become Tom Izzo Jr. during his four years in East Lansing. When he speaks, which is rare in public, he commands complete attention from his teammates. When he plays his patented lockdown defense, the other Spartans pick up their defense.
Walton helped MSU force the Boilermakers into 6-for-32 field-goal shooting in the final 20 minutes for a miserable 18.8-percentage.
"Sometimes, when the coaches are getting on everybody, Trav will say the same thing to us. But it's how he relays it," sophomore guard Durrell Summers said. "That's the sign of a true, legitimate team leader.
"We were sluggish in the first half. That's when Travis said 'enough was enough' at halftime. That's when he reminded us that we're all hungry for more. That we have bigger goals ahead of us."
Walton scored just two points against Purdue. But it's all the little things he did -- three steals, three rebounds and two assists -- that to add to his leadership qualities and defensive skills, that make him a complete package.
It is his dedication to winning, which is a similar trait that made Mateen Cleaves special as a Spartan.
"You need somebody that puts winning above everything, and is tough enough to deal with it," Izzo said. "And you need a coach on the floor. That's all Trav."
At halftime, Walton told his teammates their first-half play was unacceptable.
"I just talked about how they were outscrapping us a little bit," Walton said. "It looked like the same thing down there I wasn't going to have that happen at home, and especially on our senior day," Walton said of MSU's 72-54 loss at Purdue on Feb. 17.
"Nobody wanted this final regular-season win as badly as me. Not even our other three seniors. For us to win the championship by four games was even bigger than three games. To tie the school record for most Big Ten wins (15) was too important to me. But we have more to get done."
