"Don't be surprised by Neitzel"

He doesn't exactly look the part. Skinny. Bald white head. Short – at least for his main hobby- at just 6 feet. Not your typical star. But does it matter?

This past Tuesday basketball fans all over the country - from the Smokies in West Virginia to the canyons of Utah - who turned on ESPN around 8:40 p.m. EST probably saw some "kid" they'd never seen before drain 3-pointer after... 3-pointer against one of the best defensive teams in the country They probably asked themselves, Who is this kid? Where he'd come from.

Well, folks, let me tell you. Drew Neitzel, Michigan State's point guard/shooting guard/top scorer/second-best assist-giver, comes from Grand Rapids, where he attended Wyoming Park High School. And anyone who saw Neitzel play in the state semifinals his senior year is not at all surprised he's finally blowing up. What they're miffed by is why he's taken so long. But take it easy, guys, he was playing behind guys such as Shannon Brown and Maurice Ager - who play in a league called the NBA now. I think they were pretty good.

In that semifinal game, Neitzel led his grossly undermanned team against a stalwart Detroit Renaissance team that featured Malik Hairston and Joe Crawford - two guys people knew would be big-time players in college; that is, even the people who didn't attend that game. Neitzel played the grittiest game of his life. Ok, maybe not THE grittiest - because, I'm sure, he's had some fierce driveway games against his dad/brother/cousin/best friend etc. - but he was basically unstoppable. The problem was his teammates froze in front of the capacity crowd at the Breslin Center. They dropped his dimes as if they only accepted quarters. They suffered defensive lapses. All Neitzel needed was a little help from them. He got none. He finished with 30-something points and a couple pockets full of assists.

But lost. Hairston and Crawford went on to win the state title. Hairston's now at Oregon. Crawford's the leading scorer at Kentucky. Both - surprise, surprise - have better supporting players around them than Neitzel has this year. Yet - no surprise - Neitzel has taken over the steering wheel for the Spartans and has them headed to another NCAA tournament.

By the end of the first quarter of that semifinal, I knew that State had landed another gem. Forget the questions about his height or strength. In college basketball, at least, heart and work ethic will get you very far. Neitzel displayed both of those against Renaissance. As soon as, according to MHSAA rules, he was allowed to begin warmups, Neitzel was on the hardwood practicing his dribbling. He'd do the same move over, and over, and over again. Until you couldn't differentiate Take 1 from Take 4. Now that, A.I., is practice. Then, despite his teammates' choke job, Neitzel didn't lose his cool or bitch out his boys. Instead he stayed focused and gave the huge crowd a show.

When he walked off the court, I knew - and I'm sure MSU coach Tom Izzo knew - that Neitzel would be a great contributor for him.

But Michigan State's savior? No one would have guessed that.

Since Izzo made his first Final Four in 1999, us Michiganders have become accustomed to two things come March: Michigan not making the NCAA tournament; and Michigan State making the tournament and often going deep into the dance. The Spartans won their only championship in 2000 behind point guard Mateen Cleaves, and made Final Four trips in 2001 and 2005.

Even last season the Spartans - with Ager, Brown and big man Paul Davis - seemed a very dangerous No. 6 seed in the Big Dance. That is, until they got knocked off by some school named George Mason, which happened to also beat North Carolina and Connecticut on its way to the Final Four.

But then something as strange as a team called the Patriots making the Final Four happened to MSU. The talent well became dry. Brown left school early. Davis and Ager were seniors. The Spartans didn't have any blue-chip recruits coming in. They were left - entering this season - with Neitzel, who averaged a moderate 8.3 points per game last season, as their most experienced returnee.

Clearly it was Neitzel's time to show his true colors. To show that, sure, he can pass the ball - his primary role as a freshman and sophomore - but, man, can this kid shoot it too. So, with Travis Walton overtaking point guard duties some of the time, Neitzel has been free to do just about everything he can for an otherwise anemic Michigan State offense (besides Neitzel's 18.5 points per game, the only other Spartan averaging double figures is Raymar Morgan, averaging 11.1 a game).

Against Wisconsin on Tuesday, Neitzel took over down the stretch, scoring 11 consecutive points - including three triples - sandwiched around two Wisconsin free throws in just over 2 minutes to turn a four-point deficit into a five-point lead. Minutes later, MSU's fans stormed the court to celebrate knocking off the No. 1 or No. 2 team in the land (depending on what poll you subscribe to).

Neitzel clearly outplayed the Naismith Award candidate for Wisconsin, Alando Tucker, outscoring him 28-16 on just two more shot attempts. Both players finished with two rebounds and two assists. While all the publicity Tucker has gotten for leading the Badgers to one of the nation's best records and a shot at the Big Ten championship is deserved, Neitzel - did I mention, he's a junior? - has been nearly as impressive, especially of late. Tucker’s 20.2 points per game average is slightly higher than Neitzel's, but his 5.3 rpg average isn’t as impressive as Neitzel's 4.3 assists per game.

And, of course, Tucker has better, more experienced teammates around him who he can almost always count on to make smart plays in a close ballgame. When Michigan State finds itself in a tight one, it's on Neitzel's shoulder - as witnessed Tuesday. Besides Kevin Durant at Texas, find me a player on an NCAA tournament team who's more vital to his team's success than Neitzel. Not as easy as taking out the trash, is it?

So as we head toward Championship Week, don't forget this kid. He may not be able to leap out of the gym - I don't even know if he can dunk. He may look as if he could be Greg Oden's kid - if, in fact, Oden really is 43 like we all surmise. But you'll be seeing a lot of this kid the rest of this season and into next year.

Don't be taken aback by the things he does, either. He's been doing them for a long time.