Former MSU basketball utility player Alan Anderson signed with the NBA’s Toronto Raptors today.

According to Izzo, Anderson was getting looks in the last week from Toronto, the Los Angeles Clippers and Cleveland.

Anderson had a brief NBA career after leaving MSU, but ended up in Europe. Now, he’s back.

“I’m really happy for Alan,” Izzo said. “I definitely think he can play in the league too. I just think his ability to guard people and play different positions.”

Phoenix — Although he only had one season at MSU, Brandon Wood made the most of it.

The senior guard tried to keep the Spartans’ season alive launching eight 3-point attempts, many near the end in desperation, in the 57-44 Sweet 16 loss to Louisville. Despite only making two of them, he led MSU in scoring with 14 points.

He and senior forward Draymond Green were the only two Spartans to score in double figures.

Wood came to MSU this season in his final season of eligibility in hopes to get to the NCAA Tournament.

He did, and played in three tournament games.

And although the season’s success saw the Spartan season come to a disappointing end, they got farther than many predicted back when the Spartans started the season 0-2 and unranked.

“We try to look at the season as a whole. We had a memorable season,” Wood said. “We put our footprint on the Spartan program. We did things a lot of teams in the country didn’t do. Of course we wanted to win and keep it moving, but they played better than us tonight. We’ve got to just reflect on the good things that happened this season.”

And Wood did a lot this season to help his basketball future. Coming into the season, he was a pure scorer from a mid-major conference at Valparaiso. And just a scorer.

Following a season under head coach Tom Izzo, Wood vastly improved his rebounding and defense. Combined with his scoring abilities, those skills should help make Wood a pretty well-paid player overseas.

Phoenix — The 57-44 loss to No. 4-seed Louisville marks the first MSU head coach has failed to take a No. 1 seed to the Final Four.

Louisville head coach Rick Pitino improves to 10-0 in the Sweet 16, 4-0 at Louisville.

Louisville forward Gorgui Dieng had seven blocks, the same amount five Spartans totaled.

The 44 points on 28.6 percent shooting are the lowest totals MSU ever has had in an NCAA Tournament game.

The Spartans had averaged 75.8 points, shooting 54.3 percent in the last five games in the Big Ten and NCAA Tournaments.

Phoenix — Although their careers ended a few games short of where they wanted it to end, Draymond Green and Austin Thornton had a heck of a run in their time at MSU.

The seniors collegiate careers ended Thursday night in a 57-44 loss to Louisville.

The pair saw a championship game, a Big Ten tournament title, two Final Fours, three Sweet 16s and three Big Ten regular-season championships — but they wanted another Final Four.

“We know we did some things at Michigan State that haven’t been done in a long time,” Thornton said. “We were able to win the conference championship and then we down to Indianapolis and won the Big Ten tournament championship and that was special. And obviously we made the Sweet 16. Our ultimate goal was to make it to New Orleans to the Final Four. We weren’t able to accomplish that. So it’s a bittersweet feeling.”

The fifth-year guard Thornton didn’t play much in his previous season, but developed into a key contributor and starter in his final season. Without him, this year likely wouldn’t have gotten to where it did.

Meanwhile, Green turned into a Spartan great. He’ll leave the program as the leading rebounder in MSU history and just one of three Spartans to score 1,000 points and grab 1,000 rebounds.

And his leadership is one that will be remembered as an Izzo-era great, along with former guard Mateen Cleaves, not mention one of the programs best.

Without Green, this season could left the Spartans unranked like they started the season. Instead, they rocketed to a 29-8 season and a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, something almost no one saw coming.

“Just from where we came from at the beginning of the year, no one thought we was going to do anything,” Green said. “And for all us guys, including our coaching staff and our managers, our support staff, everybody rallied around us like the they did, it was great. And we couldn’t have asked for a better year. We could have asked for a better needing, but the year couldn’t get any better.”

Phoenix — Entering the season, senior forward Draymond Green had a dream.

It seemed extremely distant at the time, the idea of passing Greg Kelser as the Spartans’ all-time leading rebounder.

But the All-American became one of the best rebounders in the nation in his senior season and seemingly grabbed every missed shot.

Near the end of the season, it seemed like he’d have to average 10 rebounds a game until the championship, if MSU made it.

But incredible efforts led him to within 12 rebounds of Kelser’s 1,092 entering Thursday’s Sweet 16 matchup with Louisville.

And in the 57-44 loss, Green grabbed 16 rebounds, to but him at 1,096 and safely atop the all-time rebounders at MSU.

Following the game, he gave his coaches credit for the rebounding, but couldn’t enjoy the accomplishment of a dream.

“It’s great, it’s a great thing, but I can’t appreciate it right now,” he said in the locker room.

MSU trails 23-18 at the half

Sophomore center Adreian Payne rebounding well early, he needs too.

Senior forward Draymond Green entered the game needed 12 rebounds to tie the MSU all-time record. He has six in the half.

Despite early Spartan lead, MSU looks a little excited, overshooting a lot of their shots.

MSU playing smothering defense, but struggling mightily offensively.

Louisville finds a hot period, nails three threes. The Cardinals also are getting a lot of second chances.

MSU finds a couple steals with about 4:41 left in the half, brings the score back to within two.

The Spartans have zero team fouls in the first 16 minutes. Possibly bad officiating or great defense.

Phoenix — Although experience traveling for the NCAA Tournament would be valuable for Branden Dawson, he didn’t make the trip to Phoenix.

The freshman guard tore his ACL in the last game of the regular season and didn’t make the trip to Indianapolis for the Big Ten Tournament — which the Spartans won.

He did make the Spartans first two tournament games last week in Columbus, but for a variety of reasons, did not make the trip out west.

“It was a combination of things,” Izzo said at a press conference Wednesday. “He was supposed to be there for practice and was unable to do it because of papers he had to do that he didn’t have finished and were due the next couple of days. So I made the decision that it would be best if he stayed back.”

Team doctors were also concerned with the plane ride and his knee.

ESPN announced its Gatorade State Boys Basketball Players of the Year on Thursday, and two future MSU men’s basketball players, Matt Costello and Gary Harris, won the award for the states of Michigan and Indiana, respectively.

According to ESPN, winners are chosen based on three main criterion: athletic production and impact in the 2011 season, high academic achievement and exemplary personal character.

Costello is a 6-foot-10, 245-pound forward/center at Bay City Western. He averaged 25.1 points, 17.1 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 3.9 blocks per game in his senior season with the Warriors. Also last year’s recipient of the award, Costello was named Michigan’s Mr. Basketball on Monday.

Off the court, Costello has a 3.73 GPA and has participated in the National Honor Society, his school’s jazz band, tutor programs and coached and officiated youth basketball.

As a 6-foot-5 guard, Harris was a highly sought after recruit (No. 11 overall by ESPNU) from Hamilton Southeastern High School in Fishers, Ind. On the way to leading the Royals to a 22-3 record and the Indiana Class 4A sectional final, he averaged 25.4 points, 7.6 rebounds, 4.2 steals and 3.7 assists per game as a senior. Harris also will play in the 2012 McDonald’s All-American Game.

Harris owns a 3.55 GPA in the classroom and has volunteered with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and with youth basketball camps.

A couple potential future Spartans also won the award in their respective states. Jabari Parker, the top player in the class of 2013, was named the Illinois Gatorade Player of the Year after averaging 19.5 points, 8.9 rebounds, 4.9 assists and 3.3 blocks per game on the way to leading Simeon Career Academy to its third consecutive Class 4A state championship. The 6-foot-8, 220-pound guard/forward has offers from all across the country, including MSU, Duke, North Carolina, Ohio State, Illinois, Kentucky, Kansas and Washington.

Representing the class of 2014, point guard Tyus Jones earned the award in Minnesota by scoring 28.1 points and dishing out eight assists per game as a sophomore at Apple Valley High School. Jones shot 55.6 percent from the field and 44 percent from long range.

Along with the Spartans, Jones has offers from Duke, Marquette, Ohio State and Arizona, among others.

Phoenix — On the way to Wednesday’s pep rally, I had time to catch up with former MSU men’s basketball coach and current Spartan Sports Radio color commentator for a few moments.

He talked about how he liked the temperature and sights of Arizona, something I couldn’t argue with him about.

He also had some comments regarding Thursday night’s game against No. 4-seed Louisville.

Ganakas watched the Big East Tournament Champions during practice on Wednesday and said they’ll have trouble shooting the ball against the Spartans, but that their defense will make up for it and it should be a tough battle.

I’ll take the coaches word for it, he said the Spartans will come out victorious.

Phoenix — At the Sheraton Downtown Phoenix Hotel on Wednesday there was an MSU Alumni Association pep rally for the MSU men’s basketball team’s Sweet 16 game.

The roughly 600 Spartan faithful received some thoughtful words from MSU Trustee Mitch Lyons, Alumni Association President Scott Westerman, Athletics Director Mark Hollis and head coach Tom Izzo.

Hollis made mention of all the wonderful things happening in MSU sports, including the men’s basketball tournament, the women’s selection into the women’s basketball tournament and the hockey team’s tournament game this weekend.

Izzo made mention of the team’s success this season and fielded questions from the audience.

Among them, a women asked why he doesn’t play zone defense, his response including that she was smarter than her husband and many great coaches, including Mike Krzyzewski and Bobby Knight don’t play zone.

Another asked what he thought of the upset of Michigan in its first game of the tournament, his response was along the lines of we’re past that, a double-edged sword.

Meanwhile, players mingled through the back with fans as the pep band played and cheerleaders and dance team performed.