Denzel Valentine’s favorite memory with Bryn Forbes didn’t take place on the hardwood. It took place on grass.
“We played football together, little league football,” Valentine said. “I was the quarterback, and he was my receiver. That was pretty cool. We played like seven, eight years of football, and we won a lot of championships playing football.”
It’s been almost a decade and a half since Forbes met Valentine at the age of 7, a span that includes numerous little league football titles and two basketball championships at J.W. Sexton High School n Lansing in 2011 and 2012.
Valentine and Forbes are on the championship hunt once again. Forbes, who transferred to MSU last summer after two seasons at Cleveland State, submitted one of the most noteworthy games of his career Sunday against Virginia.
His stat line — seven points, three rebounds, 2-of-3 shooting from the field — wasn’t eye-popping. But his effort on the defensive end, an aspect of Forbes’ game head coach Tom Izzo has expressed displeasure with this season, was a huge factor in MSU’s 60-54 victory to advance to the Sweet 16 round.
“The other night, I didn’t think he took a step. I don’t think he even took a leap. I think he rocket?shipped off the ground compared to where he was, because he had to guard,” Izzo said. “As I told Dantonio — linebackers, he was guarding linebackers.
“You watch the film, and sometimes he’d even get lost because his body just isn’t where maybe it would be if we were able to keep him out a year and work with him. He has improved enormously.”
It’s been a season of transition for Forbes, who was granted a hardship waiver last summer to be with his sister, who has Lyme disease, and 18-month-old son, Carter.
Forbes made an impact at Cleveland State, earning the Horizon League Newcomer of the Year award in 2013. But graduate assistant Drew Valentine, Denzel Valentine’s older brother, said he believes Forbes always intended on returning home.
“I think this is where he’s always wanted to be his whole life,” Drew Valentine said. “And just the fact that he worked hard enough and was fortunate to be in a situation to have a major role on this team is really cool and something he’s always wanted to do.”
Forbes’ ability to shoot 3-pointers earned him a spot in Izzo’s rotation at the beginning of the season. But his effort on the defensive end since the start of the Big Ten Tournament has noticeably improved.
“He’s always had it in him,” Denzel Valentine said. “He had to get adjusted to this style of playing for coach and playing in the Big Ten and playing against players like this. Everything like that. It’s coming full circle, and I’m happy it’s coming. It’s at the right time.”
Forbes said playing a big role on the team was his goal when he transferred. Similar to his childhood days as a wide receiver, he’s still on the receiving end of passes from Denzel Valentine, except this time he’s in the corner of the arc instead of streaking up the field.
Forbes calls playing at MSU with Valentine the chance of a lifetime.
"(It’s) one of the most exciting times of my whole life, especially to be with one of my best friends,” he said. “I’ve known him since I was 7 years old, not a lot of people can say stuff like that.”
