Schilling, Clark, Nairn no longer afterthoughts for MSU

EAST LANSING – Lourawls (Tum Tum) Nairn Jr. knows there were other, more heralded point guards than him who turned down Michigan State.

He also realizes he is now Option A as the Spartans’ first-year starter, even after coach Tom Izzo started recruiting him late in the process.

“I don’t believe in stars,” Nairn said Tuesday, “because you can’t put a star on my heart.”

Two of the other freshman Final Four point guards — Duke’s Tyus Jones and Kentucky’s Tyler Ulis — said no to Tom Izzo, allowing Nairn to wind up in green and white.

Izzo and his staff also went hard after Duke’s Jahlil Okafor. After losing out on the star big man, MSU turned its attention to Marvin Clark Jr. It’s a similar story to how sophomore Gavin Schilling ended up a Spartan, once the Blue Devils got a commitment from Jabari Parker — another former MSU target — two years ago.

Once were considered afterthoughts by college basketball pundits and recruitniks, Nairn, Clark and Schilling all have blossomed into pivotal pieces to Izzo’s seventh Final Four.

“Coming from that position to where I am now, starting on a Final Four team,” Schilling said, “that just shows hard work actually pays off.”

Their performance in Saturday’s national semifinal against the Blue Devils will be vital, with slowing down Okafor and Jones their primary individual tasks.

BE-DEVILED

It’s easy to see why Izzo and his staff were so enamored with the players who eventually chose Duke.

Parker, a 6-foot-8 wing, averaged 19.1 points and 8.7 rebounds, earning first-team All-America honors and finishing as runner up for the Wooden Award as college basketball’s best player.

Duke, however, got eliminated in the first round of the NCAAs by Mercer. Parker entered the 2014 NBA draft, but a torn ACL ended his rookie season for Milwaukee in December after he averaged 12.3 points and 5.5 rebounds in 25 games.

For this season, coach Mike Krzyzewski landed Okafor and Jones, as well as fellow starter Justise Winslow and reserve Grayson Allen, in a star-studded freshman class. Jones and Okafor both admitted last week that they planned to go to the same college since their early days in high school.

“Obviously you don’t just roll the ball out. There’s certainly a level of learning that every freshman has to go through,” Krzyzewski said last week. “These guys have talent, but they also have a willingness to learn. They’ve really learned.”

Okafor carries a similar pedigree as Parker’s — the nation’s top player in his class coming out of high school — and could follow Parker’s path to the pros. The 6-11 center leads the Blue Devils with 17.5 points and 8.7 boards a game this winter. NBA scouting site draftexpress.com lists Okafor as the potential No. 2 overall pick this summer, should he decide to leave school early. It’s the same spot where fellow Chicago product Parker was picked by the Bucks.

Jones has been just as big a factor as Okafor in Duke’s success this season. The 6-1 point guard from Apple Valley, Minn., averages 11.6 points, and his 5.7 assists a game ranks 22nd nationally.

“I like competing against Tyus,” Nairn said, “because he was the No. 1 point guard in our class. … I always want to go after guys like that.”

PROGRAM FITS

One of the knocks in recent years on Izzo in the recruiting world is that he’s failed to close with players such as Parker and Okafor. However, he and his staff have quickly adjusted from being spurned in those instances to secure perhaps slightly less talented players who match Izzo’s ideals of what a Spartan should be.

“Really, what we went for with these guys is they’re tough, they’re competitors and they’re willing to work. We knew we could work with that,” assistant coach Dane Fife said. “Obviously they’re not the most talented or highly touted guys, but they fit Michigan State.”

Once Parker decided on Duke, Izzo and Co. turned their attention toward his former AAU teammate Schilling. The well-traveled 6-9 power forward had played at De La Salle High in Chicago when MSU first started talking to him, then moved to Findlay Prep in Las Vegas for his senior season as Izzo intensified the chase.

Schilling picked MSU over Minnesota, UCLA and Villanova while the Spartans played in the opening rounds of the NCAA tournament at the Palace of Auburn Hills in March 2013.

“I was kind of underrated, I guess you could say. I wasn’t the most highly recruited guy in high school,” said Schilling, who has started 32 of 38 games this season and averages 5.2 points and 3.9 rebounds. “This just proves you can do anything.”

Then last year, once the Okafor-Jones tandem went south, the coaches managed to land a staggered package deal of their own in Nairn and Clark — two players who have grown into instrumental figures in MSU’s rotation since January.

The 5-11 point guard averages just 2.2 points, 1.6 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game, but MSU went on its late-season surge after Nairn entered the starting lineup.

“We missed on a couple guys and we got in on Tum late. But we had calls from people early on that Tum was very interested in our program and thought he would be a great fit,” assistant coach Dwayne Stephens said. “We went and saw Tum one time and fell in love with him. Tum was what Michigan State is about — an unbelievable leader, he was vocal, he pushed his teammates, he didn’t take plays off, had an unbelievable toughness and motor. Those are all things we loved about him.”

Once Nairn committed to Izzo in September 2013, he began working with the staff at recruiting his AAU and high school teammate Clark. The 6-6 forward, who did not play organized basketball until he was in high school, had his scholarship offer pulled from Oregon after a foot injury.

In March 2014, the sway of continuing his college career and playing alongside his best friend led Clark to follow Nairn’s path to East Lansing. Both reminded each other after beating Louisville on Sunday that this was why they became Spartans, to play in the Final Four.

“(Izzo) likes the underdog. I think that makes him somewhat comfortable when he goes after a guy like me or Tum — we’re gonna work,” said Clark, who is averaging 3.7 points and 2.9 rebounds in seven postseason games. “We don’t wanna go back to the same place we were, so we’re gonna work to get better and do whatever we can to please him. I think he likes that.”

Izzo might not have won out on Okafor and Jones on the recruiting trail, but that is of little consequence to him. Beating them now is all that matters for the underdog Spartans.