“I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t tough to sit out my last season of high school basketball, a season I was thrilled to begin,” Roe said. “But even with the injury, I still couldn’t break away from (St. Edward) and my team — going to practices, helping out with guard picks, messing around and banging down low, throwing my crutch up in the air to block shots and keeping guys loose. I couldn’t focus without basketball, so I didn’t separate it from my life.”

And during Roe’s constant involvement with the team, despite tweaking his right knee in the team’s season opener on Dec. 6, his high school coach and mentor Eric Flannery — the Cleveland Plain Dealer’s seven-county boys basketball coach of the year this season — couldn’t have been more astounded and proud of him.

“It’s not like he needed to be there, but he was — he was around in practice and he attended all of the games, acting as an emotional leader and cheerleader,” Flannery said.

“He would sit next to me and the assistant coaches and we’d ask him what he saw, just to get some ideas from him, trying to work the mental aspect of his game to see what the coaches see.”

Upon obtaining positive feedback from his team, Roe took the leadership role and ran with it.

“He would always be putting his arm around guys and throwing out some advice to them and not long after, he became a mentor of his own,” said Frank “Happy” Dobbs, varsity boys’ basketball assistant coach at St. Edward. “When your senior superstar accepts that role, it’s huge for the team.”

With the combination of understanding a leadership role early in life and playing under an extremely successful preparatory coach, Izzo said he has no doubt Roe will be ready for his transition to the college level, which starts June 13 — his official move-in date in East Lansing.

“He’s ahead of schedule and nobody sees any reason by June that he won’t be ready to go 100 percent, so that’s positive,” Izzo said. “He is a driven, driven guy. I know how much time he spends on his game. And he’ll be looked at to lead by example from the moment he arrives (on campus). It’s not whether you do it yourself, it’s whether you drag other people with you. That’s what will be fun about Delvon — I think he’s got some of those qualities in him and those are the qualities you need.”

Focusing on ‘now’

With high school graduation around the corner, MSU may have to take a back seat in Roe’s mind for the time being.

“It’s been the very first part of my mind for a long time now,” he said. “It’s hard to focus on anything else with the thought of being in college, in a new atmosphere, a new type of deal, a new coach, a new start, a new beginning. As soon as I wake up, I recognize that it’s a day closer to getting to campus and starting with the team — getting used to the system and I can’t wait for a new challenge for me.”

While plagued with his injury, Roe refused to let it knock him down and out. Instead, Roe used the time to actually become a better all-around player — mastering his outside game, shooting jump shot after jump shot — one area of his game previously criticized by some.

“I’ve tried telling myself this injury shined a necessary light on certain aspects of my game and life,” Roe said. “I’m gonna shock a lot of people next year, and I’ve come a long way since getting hurt. My injury is almost finished; I had a lot of time to work on my weaknesses and many times I stood in the gym for six to seven hours, just shooting and shooting. My jumper will be a very good strength of mine.”

The ever-improving jump shot will fit in nicely with Roe’s future teammates, junior center Goran Suton and sophomore forward Raymar Morgan — two athletes Roe and his father could never keep their eyes off of.

Roe said his father constantly tells him how well he and Suton will mesh, just as he and former St. Edward teammate Tom Pritchard did. Suton and Pritchard play a similar brand of basketball — unselfish yet aggressive.

When they were discussing who would gel the most with Roe, the finger always pointed to Suton.

“We’ll be a combination to look for,” Roe said. “But I’m the most excited about what he can teach me at the college level.”

On to bigger things?

One of those themes — team commitment — is an aspect Roe already has contemplated deeply. He’s pondered whether to stay at MSU for three to four years or to pull the NCAA plug early and enter the NBA draft.

After all, Roe became an athlete many critics immediately labeled as a “one-and-done” no matter what university he attended — averaging 22.5 points and 11.5 rebounds his junior year.

“It’s whatever happens, happens,” Roe said.

“If Coach Izzo thinks I’m ready, let that happen. But it’s about the present right now. I signed a four-year contract to play Michigan State basketball and get a degree. That’s what I am planning on right now.”

While basketball is basketball, grades have always been important throughout Roe’s school career.

“Whether it’s socially, academically or athletically — Delvon finds room for them all,” Flannery said. “It’s like nothing I’ve ever seen, and when he switches from high school to MSU, I think he’s still going to be ready in all aspects. He’s going to do extremely well.”

Junior guard Travis Walton, who will take a captain role for the third straight season for the Spartans in the fall, said he and Roe will approach team leadership differently, but still effectively.

“I’m more of a vocal guy, most people know that,” Walton said.

“I’m an up-in-your-face leader who won’t let you get away with nothin’ if you’re not working hard. But Delvon? He’s more of a lead-by-example kinda guy. He’ll talk, but he motivates guys from playing his tail off.”

Perfect poise?

But the most admirable attribute consistently brought up about Roe isn’t his versatility on the basketball court, or even his ability to drop 30 points any given night.

It’s his poise.

“Delvon’s very special and I’ve been around a lot of great players, as a college coach for 22 years,” Dobbs said. “But this kid, he has such a great understanding of how to handle all the accolades and how to handle all the pressure with such grace.

“This year epitomized his character more than any other year, and he’s never once changed his personality — he stays the same way all the time. You’d never know he was being recognized and that takes a very grounded person to be able to do that.”