ADAMS' CRANDALL DESERVES AN 'A' FOR EFFORT IN HIS WORK WITH SPARTANS

Burney thinks Oakland County should give a collective "three cheers for effort" to former area prep star and current Michigan State senior hoop hound, Jon Crandall, for his unheralded, yet highly-important contribution to the Spartans back-to-back appearances in the NCAA Final Four these past two years.

Crandall, a 2006 graduate of Rochester Hills Adams High School, earned a spot as a walk-on for head coach Tom Izzo and his national powerhouse squad as a sophomore in the fall of 2007. Since then, the 6-foot-8 foot Crandall has been an integral part of MSU's scout team, mimicking the styles of plays of various opponents' forwards to help prepare the starters for battle in the ever-brutal Big Ten. Known as the "king of the floor burns" around the Sparty lockeroom for his tenacious play in practice, a demeanor and mentality that has endeared him to his college coach, Crandall is the ultimate "gel" guy - the type of supporting player every winning team needs to help them toughen-up.

As a junior last season, he scored his first career bucket against Alcorn State in an early-season game and then registered the first Big Ten points of his career by putting in a deuce against Indiana in February of 2009. So far this year, Crandall has seen 17 minutes of action.

When he was a prepster balling with the Highlanders back in the day at Adams High, Crandall was practically a walking double-double. During his senior campaign ('06), he averaged 10 points and 8 rebounds per contest. He was a captain his senior year and led the squad to Class A district championships in both 2005 and 2006. Basketball wasn't the only sport Crandall excelled at during his high school years either; he also lettered in football (winning a D2 state title squad as a soph in 2003) and lacrosse.

The story of Crandall's hoop career in East Lansing reminds me a lot of former late-90s OC hoop stud, Mat Ishbia of Birmingham Seaholm, who walked-on the team in 1998, earned a scholarship in 1999 and finished his career with four Final Four appearances (one as a coach) and one national championship ring. Now that Crandall already has two Final Fours to his resume, an accolade any college athlete would dream about accomplishing, he just needs that rock on his finger for his playing career for coach Izzo and SpartyNation to conclude perfectly.