Denzel Valentine and the towel method star on 'GameDay'

EAST LANSING – It was Michigan State basketball’s fourth time hosting ESPN’s “GameDay” and eight appearance overall, both tops in the Big Ten and trailing only Duke and Kansas on both counts, so Tom Izzo took a reduced role and deferred to his star player this time around.

The live audience at Breslin Center for today’s 11 a.m. broadcast got to see an on-court interview with MSU senior guard Denzel Valentine, while the hour-long program aired a taped interview with Izzo outside the MSU locker room.

And the No. 11 Spartans (16-4, 3-4 Big Ten), losers of three straight games entering tonight's showdown with No. 7 Maryland (16-2, 7-1) that lured “GameDay” to town, still got respect. Analysts Seth Greenberg and Jay Williams both picked MSU to win, and in a “draft” of the best teams in the sport, MSU went ninth.

Davis, Greenberg, Williams and Jay Bilas took part in the draft, with each taking four teams for a competition in which conference championships and NCAA wins will yield points. The draft, in order, went: North Carolina, Oklahoma, Iowa, Maryland, Kansas, Villanova, Texas A&M, Louisville, MSU, Purdue, Duke, West Virginia, Xavier, USC, Baylor, Oregon.

Izzo reiterated he needs his team to get smarter on the court, and he called Maryland “the king” of the Big Ten in terms of talent and performance.

Valentine got big cheers from MSU fans and demonstrated the towel drill MSU has used in practice this week to cut down on hand checking and fouling. Greenberg asked him if the “freedom of movement” officiating emphasis in college basketball makes MSU players “afraid to defend like Spartans defend.”

“Yeah, it’s been pretty tough,” Valentine said. “It’s been pretty difficult, but we can’t complain or pout about it, we’ve got to find ways to win games.”

The crowd had plenty of signs, of course, including the prediction of an NIT championship game between Duke and Kentucky, and this about Maryland’s star point guard: “Melo Trimble irons his jeans.”