Miles Bridges takes Manhattan: MSU star reason for sky-high expectations
NEW YORK — Miles Bridges walked out the door near the corner of Seventh Avenue and 32nd Street and looked up in the hustle and bustle of Thursday afternoon traffic. He’d been there before, at this legendary mecca, but his gaze turned into a giant smile.
He froze on the sidewalk, staring at his own image splashed on a banner atop the entrance to Madison Square Garden. The Michigan State star, looking a little star-struck himself, took a picture.
The kid from Flint, a basketball skyscraper in the heart of Manhattan. And he’s not even in the NBA yet.
“It’s crazy, man,” Bridges said with a chuckle.
That’s because he bypassed the pros to return to college for his sophomore season. And Bridges’ decision sent expectations through the roof for his Spartans, who were picked second in the USA Today preseason college basketball poll revealed Thursday.
“They seem to be handling it well, but the heat hasn’t started yet, you know?” MSU coach Tom Izzo said during Big Ten media day inside Madison Square Garden. “(Friday) is Midnight Madness, and all the people will start adoring them, and everybody tells them how good they are. And I gotta pull a Nick Saban and tell them how bad they are.”
There also are immense pressures for Bridges, who was named the Big Ten’s Preseason Player of the Year and a unanimous choice for the All-Big Ten team. He was joined on that squad by fellow MSU sophomore forward Nick Ward.
Michigan’s Moritz Wagner, Maryland’s Justin Jackson, Minnesota’s Amir Coffey and Nate Mason, Northwestern’s Bryant McIntosh and Scottie Lindsey, Purdue’s Vincent Edwards and Wisconsin’s Ethan Happ also were named to the preseason conference squad.
“I try not to let it get to me, I’m just trying to focus on winning,” Bridges said. “One game at a time, starting with Ferris State. I want to count on my teammates to get me going this year. Even when we go through trials and tribulations, I know my teammates are gonna have my back.”
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The Spartans will hold their annual Midnight Madness on Friday, open the exhibition season on Oct. 26 and begin the regular season Nov. 10 against North Florida.
A year ago, there were plenty of those ups and downs for MSU, which went 20-15 team and got ousted by Kansas in the second round of the NCAA tournament.
Bridges was named Big Ten Freshman of the Year and second-team All-Big Ten after leading the Spartans with 16.9 points and 8.3 rebounds a game. The 6-foot-7 forward did that despite missing seven games with a foot injury in December.
He opted in April to return for a second year, dissenting from his mother Cynthia to make his own decision. He had one major goal.
“We knew coming into this year that we were gonna have national championship expectations. Either way, if we talked about it or not. We might as well speak it into existence,” Bridges said, adding that it’s tough to avoid using those words.
“Especially when people ask me about my goals. I mean, of course I want to win a national championship. When they ask me what are my goals for the season, I’m gonna say, ‘National championship.’ ”
Izzo grinned when someone asked if he expected Bridges to be a one-and-done player when he recruited him. “Yeah,” he said, “yeah, I did.” And it wasn’t lost on Izzo that Bridges’ decision paralleled the one the greatest player in program history, Magic Johnson, made to return for his sophomore season in 1978-79.
“He did it and he researched it,” Izzo said of Bridges. “I told him to call all of our guys, from Magic to the guys that are in there — Draymond (Green), Gary (Harris). But I also told him to call his buddies from other schools that left, because it would be prejudiced if he just called the Michigan State guys.
“Of course, nobody told him he should stay. But they did tell him to enjoy where you’re at, because when you move to that (NBA) level, it’s a job.”
With Bridges back, MSU returns 78% of its scoring and 81% of its rebounding from last season. And it gets back big men Gavin Schilling and Ben Carter from injury, while also adding another potential NBA draft lottery pick in forward Jaren Jackson Jr.
Along with the USA Today ranking, most preseason polls have the Spartans picked in the top 5, including some No. 1 rankings.
“You can’t change the goal. You can never change the goal until you achieve it,” MSU point guard Tum Tum Nairn said. “That’s always been the goal, but we don’t talk about it every single day. We just know that our goal is the win the national championship, set that goal, now let’s appreciate that goal.
“We can’t play for a national championship tomorrow, we can’t do it next week, we can’t even do it three months from now. So you have to appreciate every single step — all the games, all the practices you have — to add up to that.”
Nairn spent Wednesday night taking a sightseeing boat tour around the Hudson River with his teammate, Izzo and other top Big Ten players and coaches. Nairn and Bridges stared out at the bridges connecting the five boroughs of New York, the Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty and all of the Big Apple landmarks.
Bridges told Nairn last year before anyone else — “A long time ago. I can’t remember exactly when,” Nairn said — he planned to return to MSU for a second year. The senior also has seen his fellow captain rounding into a more complete player and better leader this fall.
“He’s still the same humble kid that came to us as a freshman,” Nairn said. “Definitely more mature. And he was really mature last year, but he’s even more mature this year. I think he’s gotten a lot better in basketball — putting the ball on the floor, shooting it even, making plays for other people.
“I think that’s why he’s preseason player of the year.”
Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @chrissolari.