Michigan State coach Tom Izzo has an interesting method for judging the character of his players -- not just by how they handle the wins and losses or how they interact with their families and the fans.

He judges them by how they treat the team managers.

And for the first two years that Keith Appling was at Michigan State, Izzo wasn't sure what to think.

"Keith never treated them bad," Izzo said. "But he never treated them good."

It was the way Appling had always gone on with his life. He was the kind of person who -- once he got to know you -- could be himself with ease. But the problem for Appling, and those around him, came in how long it took him to feel comfortable around new people.

Tom Izzo wanted more from Keith Appling. The process took a while, but it's finally happening. Christopher Hanewinckel/USA TODAY Sports

For the few he had known his whole life, they saw him as a motormouth. Everyone else? Lips zipped.

So the general consensus was that he just didn't talk much and wouldn't ever, because in the time it took for Appling to get to a point where he was comfortable, many people had long given up on getting to know him.

He had always been that way. Appling grew up the middle child in a family of three. So he, the middle kid, was never the leader (that was his older sister) or the cute one (that was his younger brother). He was just Keith.

"I got away with not needing to say much," said Appling, whose No. 5 Spartans host No. 3 Ohio State in a Big Ten showdown Tuesday night (9 p.m. ET, ESPN). "I stayed to myself, off to the side."

It's not exactly the recipe for an elite point guard, at least not the type Izzo wanted in his offense. During Appling's recruitment, because he was so quiet, Izzo wasn't sure if Appling's silence signified trouble. He found himself calling Appling's high school coach to clarify that Appling did still in fact want to come to MSU.

"Yes," Pershing (Detroit) High School coach A.W. Canada would reassure Izzo. "Just give him time."

Because as a player, Appling was exactly what Izzo wanted at Michigan State.

Izzo had seen him take over games and beat double- and triple-teams. There was nothing forced about the way Appling played. Everything simply came to him, and he made it look easy. He walked the line of being confident and hyper-competitive but never selfish or arrogant.

After he scored a Michigan state-record 49 points in the state championship game as a junior, the most emotional quote the local newspaper could get from him was, "I just wanted to win."

After he hit a 50-footer to win the Detroit city championship he told his mom, "It's what the team needed."