Can Tyson Walker approach Cassius Winston status?

Tyson Walker has joined the Spartan 1,000 career points club. This milestone led to an interesting debate. Cassius Winston or Tyson Walker?

As Michigan State basketball put the finishing touches on its win against Oakland, Tyson Walker secured his place in Spartan history. Walker’s 14 points were enough to have him surpass 1,000 career points wearing green and white.

Shortly after this, a discussion got started on X.com. Tyson Walker or Cassius Winston?

Note: the post that sparked this was deleted

The case for Tyson Walker

When I first heard this, my immediate reaction to it was to instantly point to Cassius Winston’s success and call this not a debate. However, I am going to take my years of watching MSU basketball with both at the helm into account here and play devil’s advocate. Tyson Walker did not, and does not, have the same supporting cast that Cassius Winston had.

I am not saying this team is bottom of the barrel or that Tom Izzo is washed, as Twitter likes to say once a week, but Walker’s support staff is much different than Winston’s late 2010s cast.

Cassius had threats of Matt McQuaid’s 3-point shooting, Xavier Tillman’s shutdown ability in the paint despite his size, or lottery picks Jaren Jackson Jr. and Miles Bridges making highlight tapes every other game. Tyson Walker has Coen Carr (a walking highlight reel), AJ Hoggard (one of the better guards at driving the lane but struggles with cold streaks) in recent memory, and Jaden Akins’ lockdown defense. However, as Izzo noted when I covered Michigan State basketball against Baylor last weekend, Akins has struggled with his shot lately. 

Some nights, this has forced Tyson Walker to take the team on his back and try to will the team to victory.

We saw this against James Madison when the entire team was ice cold and Walker still went off for over 30 and recorded six steals. On Saturday, Tyson was the biggest threat on the court, setting the tone by making his first three shots, all from beyond the arc. Baylor coach Scott Drew lamented Walker getting open on the first play in his post-game press conference, noting the one thing they wanted to avoid was giving Walker a shot. When the Spartans tried to upset Purdue last season, Walker put up 30, doing all he could to will his team to victory. Against Marquette, Walker’s 23 points willed the Spartans to the Sweet 16.

Every night, we sit down at our seats or on our couches and get ready for Tyson Walker to put on a show. When that No. 2 comes out of the tunnel, you wonder if this is another night where he surpasses 30 points, again. The cameras show his warm-up, the fans take videos of his routine, Walker becomes the show.

Walker’s calling card is his volume and his defensive ability. He can nail a three if you give the guard an inch of room, and fellow guard AJ Hoggard’s ability to drive the lane forces the defense to leave Tyson one-on-one.

While Cassius Winston is no doubt on the Mount Rushmore of Michigan State basketball greats, we can agree Winston’s defense was not top-tier. Tyson has the edge in the defensive battle and is the better two-way player here. With a season and a half less than Winston, Walker is only 40 steals shy of Winston’s career mark. For blocks, Tyson’s block in the first half against Baylor meant that he had surpassed Winston’s career total. 

The big drawback on Walker is the lack of Spartan success. After the Oakland result on Monday, Walker’s Michigan State teams are 50-31 over the first two years and some change. His furthest March run in the Big Ten Tournament was to the semifinals his first year. His furthest NCAA Tournament run was the Sweet 16 last season. Walker grabs points like there is no tomorrow, but his teams have not had the same success as Winston’s. 

Obviously, with a year less, Walker will not reach most, if any, of Winston’s four-year numbers. However, Walker’s numbers and his heroics when the Spartans underperform make this a discussion. 

The case for Cassius Winston

Cassius. Winston. All-time Big Ten assists leader. The turnover-prone freshman “Casual Cassius” turned into the vocal and emotional leader of a Michigan State basketball team that never said “I quit.” The magician who erased a 27-point deficit against Northwestern as easily as he erased opposing teams on his route to a Final Four in 2019. The leader who led Michigan State basketball to becoming the hottest team in the country before COVID-19 ended the season early. Perhaps the key in the biggest “what-if” in Michigan State basketball history.

If you were on Michigan State’s campus like I was during the 2018-2020 seasons, Cassius Winston was the program. Every night you went to the Breslin Center, you sat down and waited for the show. The second No. 5 jogged out of the tunnel, the fans and the cameras turned to watch his every move. Does that not sound similar?

For as sharp of a shooter as Walker is, Cassius is the more accurate of the two for career numbers. Cassius’ sophomore year of 50.7% field goal accuracy and 49.7% from three will likely be the best shooting year we see for the next few decades. His points for his junior season are the fifth-best in Spartan history. He ranks No. 6 in all-time Michigan State basketball history for points. 

This is all before you mention Winston’s assist marks. There is not a player in Big Ten or Michigan State history who was as prolific at dishing the ball out as well as Cassius. He lives on the Spartan charts for all-time assists (890), and single-season assists (291 as a junior), and is No. 3 in assists per game for a career (6.4), only behind fellow Michigan State basketball legends Magic Johnson (7.9) and Mateen Cleaves (6.6). Simply put, a player with Winston’s ability does not stick around and create these numbers. 

While Winston had the better teams objectively, this also comes from Winston elevating those teams. He became such a focus in the opposition’s game plan that his teammates were put into position to succeed. Cassius was crafty, positioning himself for a quick drive to the rim or to kick the ball out with equal levels of success. No matter which offensive version of Winston you planned for, the passer or the shooter, you still lost. With Winston in the starting lineup consistently, a Spartan team never lost double-digit games. In all three years of that, Winston’s squad won the Big Ten regular season title.

The best of these teams was Winston’s 2018 squad. The Spartans went 32-7, winning the Big Ten regular season, the Big Ten tournament, and advancing their way to the Final Four. When you mention Cassius Winston, this team and the Final Four is the first thing you think of. The Spartans went cold against Texas Tech, ending their season only two wins shy of the ultimate goal. 

Cassius and the Spartans struggled in 2019, with Winston dealing with a tremendous personal tragedy after his brother Zachary Winston passed away. The team was affected, and the group healed with Cassius, and this team was the resilient team that fans are the most fond of. When late February rolled around, there was not a team in the country hotter than Michigan State. Unfortunately, this chance was taken from the Spartans from COVID-19. 

The verdict

Ultimately, I believe that Cassius Winston ranks above Tyson Walker in my ranks of Michigan State greats. Frankly, it’s not even close. Both players are prolific scorers, but then have an area where they outperform the other. Winston was the playmaker, and Walker brought the defensive intensity.

Cassius’ track record of postseason success, however, blows this out of the water. A smaller factor is that Winston had four years to build his case compared to Walker, who will finish with three. Winston has accomplished so much and lives in so many pages of the Spartan record books. However, a whole new debate that can spark from this is who would you build a team around, who to start, and who to have off the bench. I still roll with Cassius here, but that becomes closer. I want the emotional leader and offensive game that Winston brings. I’ll sacrifice the defense.

All this said, let’s think about this. We should not debate their greatness but rather appreciate it. There will never be another Cassius Winston. There will also never be another Tyson Walker. If Walker leads us the Spartans on a pair of deep March runs, we can revisit this debate in a few months. Until then.