WARRIORS PRACTICE FACILITY, OAKLAND, CA — Both are power forwards on elite NBA basketball teams and both are molded from the same cloth: that of the Michigan State University Spartans.
Zach Randolph spent one year under head coach Tom Izzo at MSU, where he reached the Final Four of the NCAA Tournament, then made himself eligible for the NBA Draft, where he was selected 19th while his Spartan teammate Jason Richardson got picked 5th by the Golden State Warriors. Randolph is in his 14th year in the league.
Draymond Green arrived to Lansing, MI, seven years later and reached the Final Four in his freshman year, then the Sweet Sixteen in his senior year.
The bond is tight. The intensity of play is high. Witness from the Warriors-Grizzlies matchup earlier this season:
Green then blocked Randolph twice in a row under the basket, yelling, “Get that $h!t outta here!” twice in succession, but “Z-Bo” persevered and got the third putback to go.
Green can’t be more excited about tonight’s head-to-head duel. Yesterday after Warriors practice, we asked him if he looked forward to facing a fellow Michigan State alum.
“Always, always. They’re older brothers to me and a couple young brothers now in the league, too, but anytime you can go up against some of our guys from Michigan State, it’s always special because when you’re out there, you want to kill him,” said the eager Green. “You want to do everything in your power to outplay them, but at the end of the day, it’s all love.
“It’s all love,” Green repeated. “It’s all respect and it’s great to be out there, together on the court and playing against each other.”
Michigan State, a No. 7 seed this year, also is playing tonight against Oklahoma University, seeded 3rd. The game will tipoff approximately at 9:00PM Memphis time, which will overlap slightly with tonight’s 7:00PM local tipoff between the Warriors and Grizzlies.
“It’ll be even more special,” Green said, “because the Spartan Dawgs play right after!”
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
