sport: April & May 2010 Special Edition

MSU Assistants Also Key Contributors Fate And Luck Play Major Roles, Too Other Winners In A Season To Savor

Tom Izzo’s Spartans Battle And Take Their Best Shot April & May 2010 Special Edition $3.00 U.S.

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SPORT CONTENTS

10 IZZO VERBATIM

Talk Of Spartans Past, Present And Future

BY Jack ebling

14 STAFF AFFEC TION

COVER Photograph MIKE MAJOR

Montgomery, Stephens, Garland A Team

BY ERNIE BOONE

26 Where does it rank?

2010 Has Plenty Of Company In The Breslin Rafters

BY Jack ebling

28 FATE CAN BE GREAT

Spartans Have Taken The Good With The Bad

BY STEVE GRINCZEL

20

Moments & Milestones

The Final Product, Another Final Four, A Tapestry Of Triumphs

BY MATT LARSON

06

EB-SERVATION

08

SPORTS AUTHORITY

Everyone Wins

Victory For MSU Cause For Community Celebration

By BRENDAN DWYER

SPORT COMMUNITY

Contribute To SPORT Magazine

44

FINISH LINE

Leading Questions The Quest For Answers, Titles Continues

By Draymond green

34 Growing Pains

Spartans Survive, Thrive With Injuries BY andrea nelson

38 MSU Is Everywhere

Students, Alums Can’t Miss Final Four BY jennifer orlando

42 Season Of Triumphs Other Prep, College Programs Prosper BY andrea nelson

Send us your News + Notes, story ideas and Last Shot photographs. www.SportLansing.com

APRIL & MAY 2010 SPECIAL EDITION

3

Assists

SPORT CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Andrea Nelson Andrea is a sophomore at Michigan State University, studying journalism with an emphasis in sports and public relations. She is a member of the Honors College and Tower Guard and has a true passion for sports. Andrea helped Frankfort High win back-toback state titles in girls basketball in 2005-06. Today, she helps produce “Ebling and You” on 1320 WILS.

Matt Larson Matt has worked in the Michigan State Athletic Communications office since graduating from Duke University in 1998. For the last 11 seasons (2000-2010), he has handled publicity for the Spartan basketball program, including making five trips to the Final Four, five more than his alma mater made during his time in Durham, N.C. Born in Texas, and raised in Lincoln, Neb., he now considers Lansing his home.

Jennifer Orlando A Michigan State senior, Jennifer is excited to be a journalist in the ever-changing world of media. She served on the MSU yearbook and newspaper staffs and currently works for University Relations and with “Ebling and You” on 1320 WILS. Jen is a member of the Student Alumni Foundation and the Italian American Club. She is a Spartan through and through. Naturally, she bleeds green.

The Greater Lansing Sports Magazine

Volume #2 • Issue #7 April & May 2010 Special Edition

Publisher NBB Publishing Editor Jack Ebling Assistant Editor Andy Flanagan Contributing Writers Ernie Boone Brendan Dwyer Jack Ebling Draymond Green Steve Grinczel Matt Larson Andrea Nelson Jennifer Orlando PhotographY Jerry Chang Sarah Choss Greater Lansing Sports Authority Mike Major MSU Athletic Communications Terri Shaver MAGAZINE Design & LAYOUT Traction Printing Millbrook Printing, Co.

Brendan Dwyer Brendan is a Lansing native and a graduate of the Michigan State University School of Journalism. As a fan of Michigan’s Capital Region and sports of all kinds, he is right at home as the Manager of Marketing Communications for the Greater Lansing Sports Authority. Brendan has a nice jump shot, a wicked slice and a beautiful family of five.

Mailer Aldinger’s, Inc. Editorial Office 1223 Turner St., Suite 300 Lansing, Michigan 48906 (517) 455-7810 www.SportLansing.com

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4 APRIL & MAY 2010 SPECIAL EDITION

Copyright © 2010 NBB Publishing.

All rights reserved.

SPORT EB-SERVATION

Another State-ment Spartans Defy The Odds And March To April

This was supposed to be a golf column. Next month it will be.

Waving The Flag Michigan State fans flocked to Lucas Oil Stadium to support their favorite team.

But early spring in Mid-Michigan is known for three things: schizophrenic weather, mass migrations to warmer climates for spring break and shorter trips – often back-to-back-to-back adventures – for the Michigan State men’s basketball program.

2010 was no exception as the Spartans spit in the face of adversity, reached their sixth Final Four in 12 seasons and came within a whistle and a second win over an

Atlantic Coast Conference co-champ from earning the school’s third NCAA title.

Thus, a decision was made after MSU had bused to Indianapolis to face the Butler Bulldogs. Our long-awaited golf special issue would have to wait a few weeks.

Tom Izzo’s team demanded that respect in another banner season.

For those who’d rather not wait for their golf fix, the Spartans did their best to drive

the ball, hit the iron and sink a few long ones.

They scrambled their way out of trouble and put the ball in the hole from long distance.

Even par? Try par excellence in terms of Big Ten programs over a dozen years. And the only bunker they saw was the one where the coaches holed up after Selection Sunday to map strategy and memorize every nuance of their opponents.

They say nothing good is easy. If that’s true, Izzo’s 15th MSU squad had to be one of his best. After a school-record 9-0 conference start, it had to rally to tie Ohio State and Purdue atop for the Big Ten. Then, with the team doctors and trainer working double-overtime, the Spartans won four NCAA Tournament games by a total of just 13 points. People have had more points than that on their driving records.

The drive of Izzo, his assistants, the support staff and, most of all, some irrepressible players is impossible to quantify. Let’s put it this way: It’s no accident that 55 MSU student-athletes have been on men’s Final Four squads from 1999-2010. The combined count for Michigan, Iowa, Minnesota, Northwestern, Purdue and Penn State in that span? Try zero.

It speaks volumes that more fans saw the Spartans’ 11 NCAA games in person the past two seasons than watched the Wolverines’ 33 games in Crisler Arena since November 2008. And that more people saw MSU’s Friday practice at Ford Field last April than attended any two Purdue home matchups.

That’s what Spartan Basketball has become, whether Izzo always appreciates that or

Jack Ebling SPORT EDITOR

Jack has covered sports and much more as a writer and broadcaster in Mid-Michigan since 1978. A three-time Michigan Sportswriter of the Year, he was a 2006 inductee into the Greater Lansing Area Sports Hall of Fame. He has written five books – four on Michigan State and one on the Detroit Tigers – and has contributed more than 125 pieces for national publications. The former English teacher and coach spent nearly a quarter-century as a beat writer and columnist for the Lansing State Journal and won 21 major writing awards. He became a sports radio host in 2002 and branched into news talk in 2006. Currently, he hosts “Ebling and You” weekday afternoons and co-hosts “The Jack and Tom Show” Saturdays on 1320 WILS in Lansing. He also writes weekly MSU columns and provides audio files for SpartanTailgate.com 6 APRIL & MAY 2010 SPECIAL EDITION

Photography MSU ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS

BY JACK EBLING

not. We can quibble over the definition of “elite” all we want. The bottom line is that 99 percent of the programs in this country would love to be in MSU’s Nikes, even when Achilles tendons are blown.

When the doors are closed and people are turned away from a Midnight Madness extravaganza, it doesn’t matter if fans were picked up in limos and promised free lobster.

They made a statement the same way their heroes would.

So it’s not surprising that the theme of this year’s commemorative issue is Passion and Perseverance. It’s why Spartans from Paris to Shanghai met to watch the postseason run.

And it’s why Jennifer Orlando could chronicle that loyalty in her story this month.

If that isn’t my favorite piece in this issue, Draymond Green’s as-told-to Finish Line column is. With football inspiration Blair White, MSU has never had a better Green-and-White tandem at the same time.

But there’s plenty more in the pages that follow, including some of the best photography anywhere. And the stories are meant to make you remember – not now, but when you look back next season or reminisce in 2020.

Izzo has seldom been as frank as he was in our latest long discussion, printed verbatim

without a filter. His assistants have never been profiled the way longtime Spartan observer Ernie Boone did in a companion piece.

We’re lucky to have the access and insight of MSU Associate Sports Information Director Matt Larson in his nugget-rich season recap.

No one was closer to the team from a media standpoint, though it’s patently untrue that his new baby is named Izzy.

It was fun to take a look back and compare this team to Izzo’s first five Final Four squads, more than all but a few universities have produced. And Steve “Will They Ever Win Again?” Grinczel, who covered the Spartans for nearly 24 seasons, adds important perspective with his look at the role of fate and luck.

Finally, we called on Andrea Nelson, an authority on foot and ankle problems from her days as a two-time state champ with Frankfort High, to chronicle the injuries that made this season, to borrow a Masters phrase, A Trauma Unlike Any Other.

She also compiled a recap of the other top achievements in basketball from a Greater Lansing perspective, from the East Lansing High girls state title to the Oakland University men’s NCAA appearance, with significant help from Mid-Michigan talent.

But for the MSU men, the search for talent and the stalking of titles continues. When we

THE FINAL FIX FOR THE SPORTS JUNKIE

Jack Ebling Tom Crawford SATURDAYS

|

8-11AM

talked to him last, Izzo was in his car late at night, driving back from Saginaw on a scouting trip, trying to find that last missing piece.

Next season, the one thing that will definitely be missing from a March-April run is the element of surprise. If the Spartans don’t make it to Houston’s Reliant Stadium – actually, if they don’t star in “One Shining Moment” – some will dub the season a failure.

I’m not sure any individual or team can be labeled that way, regardless of the depth of their disappointment, if they’ve given as much as this year’s team did. That level of commitment isn’t likely to change, unless the effort somehow intensifies.

With that in mind, we’ll see you back here next month, after I visit those fans I mentioned in Shanghai as part of a 16-day tour of China. My son, Zach, a former Izzo ballboy, is living in Beijing, watching games at all hours of the morning and spreading the gospel of MSU hoops.

Next month is all golf, I promise. After all, within a few weeks of that issue, Izzo will swing a club for the first time in 2010. He knows it’s more important that the Spartans are part of another foursome and that they snap a string of last-game disappointments.

Like Phil Mickelson on the 13th at the Augusta National, they always have a shot.

Another Championship Season

GO STATE!

1320-WILS Matt Will Gus Steigenga Tieman Ganakas

If it happens in mid-Michigan, we get you the full story first.

Adam Ruff

Follow the Spartans statewide with your Spartan Sports Network Broadcast Crew and on spartansportsnetwork.com APRIL & MAY 2010 SPECIAL EDITION

7

GREATER LANSING SPORTS AUTHORITY

Everyone Wins

Victory For MSU Cause For Community Celebration

BY BRENDAN DWYER

Every Spartan basketball fan feels a rush of excitement after a big win for the Green and White. We beam as Tom Izzo and his Michigan State players make their annual run toward the Final Four and fill the month of March with magic.

8 APRIL & MAY 2010 SPECIAL EDITION

Road To The Final Four As Tom Izzo and the MSU men’s basketball team head to the Final Four, they spread seeds of success that our community will reap for years to come.

When you’ve got the university giving to the community and the community giving back to the university, you have an ideal relationship and a setting for growth and success. We couldn’t be happier that MSU sports success trickles down and spreads not only good feelings to fans, but new business opportunities for organizations like the GLSA.” Atkinson shared that there is no better figurehead for the relationship between MSU and the local community than Izzo, a long-tenured, much-loved leader.

“Coach Izzo is a shining example of someone who cares as much about this community as he does about the school for which he works,” Atkinson said. “Beyond the success he has had as our basketball coach, his community-focused mindset makes him an excellent ambassador for the university.”

Atkinson was quick to say that while

by the Greater Lansing Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Take for example the Boy Scouts of America National Order of the Arrow Conference and the Odyssey of the Mind World Finals, which use many MSU campus facilities and each bring over 10,000 to 15,000 attendees to the area. That’s a whole lot of new folks seeing MSU’s beautiful campus and pumping millions of dollars into the local economy.

So as you’re rooting for your favorite MSU sports team, be it soccer, hockey, gymnastics or basketball, remember that a big win on a national stage gives us something to cheer about long after that day’s battle is won.

A door was just opened for a local organization. A seed was just planted for the future of Michigan’s Capital Region. Sports fan or not, that is something to cheer about.

Photography BRENDAN DWYER, GREATER LANSING SPORTS AUTHORITY

But the impact of Spartan sports success lives on long after the cheering crowds have faded and the jubilant high-fives have subsided. A big win is more than a check mark in the ‘W’ column – it means a growing fan base, as well as national credibility and exposure, not just for MSU, but for the entire Greater Lansing community.

“When the Greater Lansing Sports Authority sells our region as a host city for sports tournaments and events, we are at an immediate advantage because of the notoriety of the MSU athletic program,” said Mike Price, manager of sports development for the GLSA. “So many people in sports who aren’t even alumni or former Lansing area-residents are aware of MSU and Sparty.

Our region receives instant credibility as an established sports town based on our culture of winning.”

And while men’s basketball is obviously the cornerstone of that winning culture, the other 24 varsity sports on campus are also doing big things to bring name recognition to the school and Michigan’s Capital Region.

“I recently had someone stop me and say they were impressed with MSU’s recent Big Ten championship for women’s crew. That conversation led into how an amateur rowing regatta could work really well in Greater Lansing,” Price said. “Having Michigan State University as part of our community is a huge help to the GLSA and so many other local entities. When you’re able to make that connection with someone because of MSU, it simply opens doors.”

Speaking of opening doors, the individual who holds the keys to a lot of doors on campus is Rick Atkinson, assistant athletic director for facility and event management.

“Both the university and the athletic department are very proud of the name they have built across the country for Michigan State,” Atkinson said. “But we are equally proud of the Greater Lansing community.

he’s happy MSU’s sports success helps bring amateur athletic tournaments to the area, its facilities have long been the proud hosts of major non-sports events brought to town

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• We’ve given away more than 7,000 trees to customers in the past four years, and more than 35,000 energy-saving compact fluorescent light bulbs since last September.

• Our nationally-recognized LED streetlight system near the state Capitol uses 78 percent less electricity, virtually eliminating light pollution.

• In 2009, we were Michigan’s first utility with a state-mandated, energy-efficiency program to benefit customers and the environment.

• Our award-winning, all-volunteer Adopt a River program serves as a model for other rivernurturing efforts across Michigan.

The Lansing Board of Water & Light Michigan’s largest public utility, now celebrating its 125th year of service to mid-Michigan.

Izzo Verbat Talk Of Spartans Past, Present And Future

BY JACK EBLING

The pain of defeat never disappears. Neither does the pride or the thrill of victory.

But when Tom Izzo reflects on what happened with Michigan State’s basketball program in 2009-10, there’s more good than bad. Much more.

That was clear again two weeks after a 28-9 season ended in Indianapolis – four games later than some expected and two nights too soon.

We were reminded of that and many other things in a conversation during – what else? – another recruiting mission…the kind of conversation we’ve had so often through 27 seasons.

10 APRIL & MAY 2010 SPECIAL EDITION

SPORT: Tom, after more than five-anda-half months and 37 games, what was the best part of such an emotional season?

IZZO: I watched a team grow through adversity. You watch a kid like Durrell Summers, who had some growing up to do.

And he did it. I don’t think there’s anything more rewarding than to see people get it.

What is “it”? It’s that little, tiny word that says it all. But this team grew to get it. And that’s a very rewarding feeling.

SPORT: If there was one thing you could change about your 15th season as MSU’s head coach, what would it be?

IZZO: I still think it would have to be Kalin Lucas’ injury at the end. As well as other people played, he was our catalyst and the key to our team. I think he was really growing and maturing. He was going to have a big run.

SPORT: It has often been said that Kalin’s injury brought the team closer together and allowed others to flourish.

Do you buy any of that?

IZZO: I really don’t. When you hear people say, “That’s why Summers started playing better,” I don’t think that had anything to do with it. Summers became more focused and bought into some things, to be blunt about it. I think Korie (Lucious) played a little better and made some shots with a little more opportunity. But some of that would’ve happened anyway with Chris Allen’s injury.

And if it brought them all closer together, I think that was because of what happened in the locker room at halftime against Maryland. When you see one of your guys go down and realize how fragile it all is, that woke some guys up. It isn’t just coach-speak.

It happens in real life.

SPORT: You’ve had wins with greater championship implications, but do you

remember a more emotional day than that in terms of building a lead, losing a lead, having a great player and losing that player?

And can you describe the feelings with that Maryland game?

IZZO: It was definitely one of the more emotional days of my career, just because of what you said. We started out playing so well with Kalin. I think he had six or seven assists in the first 10 minutes of the game. We had about a 12-point lead. Then, at halftime we found out he was done. They didn’t even take x-rays. They knew. But we played so well in the second half for about 15 minutes. Then, to lose the lead, get it back, lose it again and finish the way we did was real rewarding. We earned that victory. Yeah, we lost the lead.

But we were out of bodies. Then, Raymar had his tooth fly out. He came to the bench to sit down and said, “My tooth got knocked out!”

I said, “So? We’ve got nobody left! You’ve got to play!”

SPORT: You always talk about memorymakers. If there’s one snapshot of your 15 years, most people would say it’s you and Mateen Cleaves watching “One Shining Moment” after the title in 2000. Did the hug you had with Kalin after the Maryland game or the feeling of watching Durrell come close?

IZZO: They do come close. In Kalin’s case, he’d lost so much. Yet, there he was, back on the bench. And I saw a different side of Kalin. In Durrell, there was a moment when he said, “Coach, go to me!”

I said, “Are you going to make it?” And he said, “You know I’m going to make it for you!” We went through that with Morris Peterson, too. But not a lot of people knew it. Everything wasn’t as publicized. And the Cleaves thing was so important because he was the one who took a chance on me.

All the things we talked about in recruiting

tim

APRIL & MAY 2010 SPECIAL EDITION 11

happened on his last night. But in some ways these guys accomplished more. Seeing Delvon Roe playing on one leg was pretty special. I said, “You don’t have to play, Del.” But he wanted to do it for himself, for me and for the team.

SPORT: You see guys in every program who don’t care enough. Is it possible Roe might’ve cared too much, not because of his Spartan tattoo, but because there was nothing that could make him sit out?

IZZO: You know, we really did work with the doctors on that. But I think he rivals Cleaves coming back with his injury. And Delvon’s situation wasn’t for half of a half.

He’s one of the tougher players we’ve had. He reminds me of Andre Hutson that way. But with the knee injuries Del had already had, you didn’t know if it could be a career-ender.

He still did what he could for the team and helped us get to the Final Four. He’d come over, and I’d say, “What do you think? Let’s have you sit.” He’d grimace and say, “Just keep playing me, Coach!” That kid played with as much pain over a long period of time as anyone I’ve ever coached.

SPORT: Are you ever going to have an injury-free year?

IZZO: You know, it’s bizarre. You look at all the stress fractures, and we finally got through those. But some of these injuries were freakish, like Chris’s torn arch. And

Decisions, Decisions Izzo considers his options with top assistant Mark Montgomery.

12 APRIL & MAY 2010 SPECIAL EDITION

Kalin’s Achilles pop was an injury most 20-year-olds don’t get.…You know, I’m not sure we are going to have a year with no injuries. People say we practice too hard.

Yet, 99 percent of our injuries never happen in practice. I’ve made some adjustments there, too, to practice smarter. I guess it’s a good thing we have depth.

SPORT: People say, “Six Final Fours, it should be getting easier.” But can it get much harder than this year, on and off the court?

IZZO: It definitely doesn’t get easier.

I’m not sure it does at a lot of places. I’ve said all along – not as an insult and not as a compliment – that Michigan State is not one of those five schools where recruiting gets any easier. But the games and the struggles aren’t supposed to get easier if you’re playing difficult schedules and trying to win championships. I complain about the expectations, and I wouldn’t want them to be any different. Sometimes the problems are hard to explain, and I get caught in the excuse-making mode. I hate when people hit me with that, because I try not to do it.

SPORT: When you talk about expectations, no one wrestled with that more than Morgan.

Everyone assumed he should go out there every night and get 20 and 10. But how should we remember him?

IZZO: You should remember him as a guy with almost 1,600 points and more than 750 rebounds (1,597 and 771) and as one of only three players in school history to do that (1,500 and 750). We should remember him as a great kid who had the athletic ability to guard guards and guard centers. He could guard (Maryland’s Greivis) Vasquez one game, then guard (Butler’s Gordon) Hayward. I still think at times he was his own worst enemy.

He let things bother him, and it carried over to his game – even his last game. But there were a lot more goods than bads. If someone wants to hand me two more Raymar Morgans, I’ll take them – next year and the year after and the year after. And I’ll have him help me tweak the last little part that will make the difference between very good and elite.

SPORT: From the second round of the Tournament on, it was almost laughable.

The analysts would talk about the teams and the players. Then, they’d come to Michigan State and say, “We’re just going to take the Spartans because of Tom Izzo.” Are you uncomfortable with that? And is it fair?

IZZO: I’m uncomfortable with it, for sure.

I preach all the time that the players play the game. And I believe it. I don’t think there’s any coach who’s good enough to get to Final Fours without horses. I really don’t.

But I think the part that’s fair is that it isn’t just a reflection on the coach. It’s all about

the program. I think my staff does a good job. I think the players who come back do a good job. And there’s an expectation that when it gets to be the end of February, a lot of people believe in the system. I’m not talking about x’s and o’s. I’m talking about playing good teams early, going on the road and fighting through a tough conference that gives you a lot of variety. It’s not about Tom Izzo, the coach. It’s having the people around me that make the program we have.

That makes our guys believe. And your next question probably is, “Why can’t you do that all year long?”

SPORT: OK, why can’t you? And did it really bother you when people you respected said, “Why do you take it easy in the Big Ten Tournament?”

IZZO: Yeah. I’ve analyzed that. And I’ve got to take some of the blame for it.

This year I really analyzed it and made a concerted effort to try to win it. Then, we had the (Allen) suspension and this and that. So I guess some of it’s self-inflicted.

Plus, it’s like the NCAA Tournament. We’ve had some good luck and some bad luck. We had that game against Wisconsin that was all but won. And there were some others we could’ve won. But I’m going to really look at that over the summer. If a coach is doing something right to get to the Final Four, he has to take some of the blame for not winning the Big Ten Tournament more often than we have (twice, in 1999-2000).

SPORT: Your program has changed over the last 10 years. College basketball has changed. How has Tom Izzo changed?

IZZO: Wow. Your questions are getting more difficult as we go. Sometimes I think I’ve adapted too much. I want to make sure I don’t turn into some coaches who never change at all. We’ve adjusted to our personnel and in our practices. Personally, I think I’ve become a little more defensive. I don’t like that about me. I’ve had a difficult time dealing with “The Internet Age,” as far as how fast information travels. I’ve struggled with that. And that’ll be one of my summer jobs. So I think it’s a big couple of years that way. We’re going into a seating change here that’s going to bring some controversy and get people upset. I understand that.

But I also understand what our athletic department has to do. So Tom Izzo has to take a deeper look at things and realize, as a program grows, there are more things to deal with on a daily basis than there were when the program wasn’t as good.

SPORT: Every coach and every program has true believers. You’re also going to get one or two guys who don’t buy in. But the vast majority of your guys, what do you

Photography MSU ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS

Izzo Verbatim

think they tell their friends about playing at Michigan State?

IZZO: I’m sure some of them say I’m a jerk or it’s too hard. But I think in the end, most – not all, most – would say, “He has your best interests in mind. And he wants you to accomplish your goals and realize your dreams.” The hardest part is getting guys to realize it isn’t easy. But we’re to the point now where teams have to win championships, and players have to get to the NBA and graduate.

Every once in a while, I think I’ve done a poor job of letting my guard down and thinking it can be done another way. You can have different x’s and o’s. But I’ve smacked myself a few times and said, “You know what? There’s still a right way and a wrong way to do it. And there are still things that transcend time.”

Whether we were kids in the 1950s or we’re going to be looking down in the 2050s, we’re going to see the same thing. The bottom line is that guys who play here better know they’re going to be held accountable.

SPORT: You’ve talked about Draymond Green and what he said after the North Carolina game last year. He’s doing our back-page column for this issue and doing a great job with it. He said the next two freshman classes don’t have to worry about never making the Final Four. He’ll make sure that happens. And he said he’s getting kind of sick of this Final Four stuff. It’s time for another championship.

IZZO: We need people to be hungrier that way. Maybe that includes the coach. I don’t think I’m satisfied just getting there. But if you’re going to talk about the Final Four, why not shoot for the moon? The nice thing is I’ve got some guys who understand that.

They’ve been through the wars. And I agree with Draymond. We talk about Final Fours for a year or two. If you really want to go down in history, you have to win them. Draymond is a guy who gets that. He’s going to be one of the best we’ve had here. He has some Cleaves in him, some Hutson in him, some Magic in him and some Steve Smith in him. But he’s unique, too. He’s stubborn. He wants to understand things. And I’ll be shocked if he’s not one of the best leaders we’ve ever had. That includes before I was here.

SPORT: Not to put more pressure on, since you’re going to have that already, assuming everyone is OK next season from a health standpoint, should 2010-11 be your best team?

IZZO: Wow. That’s a great question. I think it’s going to be hard to ever look at a team that’s better than the 2000 and 2001 teams, talent-wise. They had experience and depth, great guard play and pretty good post play. We’ve still got a way to go with our

posts. But I think next year has the potential to be right there. I think a lot of that will be determined this summer. Green is on a program with Derrick Nix and Garrick Sherman to improve their cardiovascular. They’re going to kick it every day. And if we get the guys on the perimeter healthy, I think we can run on a more regular basis. We’re still not as good a running team as we can be. I also think you’re going to see Kalin take it to another level.

Stay tuned. Let’s see in September.

SPORT: In terms of what this university is all about, when you get out and try to sell it now, how do you explain it? And how much do people know about it?

IZZO: As you know, the most difficult part of my job has been the inconsistency in the athletic department, with the football coaches coming and going and the A.D.s coming and going. That been hard for me.

No. 1, I love football. And No. 2, to be really successful as a program, you need football.

I’m a huge Mark Dantonio fan. I know it has been a wicked year in some ways. But some of those cards were dealt in a strange way. I just like the direction we’re headed.

So now I sell it as an incredible institution academically, where we have the Honors College for the elite and something for almost everyone. That’s what life is. And our school is a melting pot of the world.

That’s why you can get an athletic career that’s second to none, get a truly great education and grow socially. We’re what the next 60 years of your life will be all about.

SPORT: We know how hard it was when you were just getting going, when there were as many Indiana fans as Spartans in Breslin and how hard it was when a secretary would say, “The president called,” and you had to think “Who would that be today?” But right now, what’s the hardest part of your job?

IZZO: Right now, I’d say it’s dealing with distractions. There’s so much going on on college campuses and so many people involved with kids’ lives. A lot of them don’t have the best interests of the kid in mind.

And trying to sell that is hard. We become like the parents. We’re the last to know things and the ones who are going to tell you no and hold you accountable. I think what’s really important there is that each class has somebody like a Draymond Green or a Mateen Cleaves, who’s selling that to the other kids. Not telling. Telling isn’t good enough. Selling! That’s the biggest key right now and another area where I think I have to improve. I need someone who doesn’t just do what I say, but who believes and communicates it. If that happens, the job will get easier.

SPORT: Last questions. Whether it’s

Making His Point Izzo gives instructions to point guard Korie Lucious before a free throw in the NCAA Tournament.

next year after a national championship or 15 years from now when you’re old and gray, at some point you’re not going to be the coach at Michigan State. What are you going to tell the powers that be about the future of the program? And when you see Alabama building a statue for Nick Saban, what do you want your legacy to be.

IZZO: Banners. All I want is banners. I don’t need a statue. I don’t need a floor. I don’t need a building. Just banners and guys coming back. That’s all I need, to be honest with you. And I’d tell the administration it’s not as easy as it seems. I tell the players that to get to the NBA, to win a championship and to graduate isn’t easy. To do what we’re doing isn’t easy. You need to have everyone on the same page. And I hope the guy they hire cares about the university and the community and the program – all the programs. That’s the blue-collar approach I’ve always had. And Jud had a lot of those same characteristics. I don’t think just any guy is right for a program. I think there’s a right guy for each program. It’s easy to say now, but I think I was the right guy for this program. I believed in the place and was a fan from a very young age. They have to find someone who loves Michigan State and can embrace what we’ve built. It was built

by John Hannah, by Duffy Daugherty and by guys way before I came here. It’s not the Tom Izzo way. It’s the Michigan State way.

APRIL & MAY 2010 SPECIAL EDITION

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Staff Affection Montgomery, Stephens, Garland A Team

It was in Spokane. Tom Izzo stood in the hallway outside the Michigan State locker room and addressed the media. He talked about how tough it sometimes is to play for him and allowed as how there were times he wasn’t sure he could do it himself.

Mark Of Excellence Former MSU point guard Mark Montgomery plays a key role in the Spartans’ consistent success.

14 APRIL & MAY 2010 SPECIAL EDITION

But coaching with him, that’s altogether different.

“It’s great working for Tom,” said Mike Garland, in his second stint on the MSU basketball staff. “He’s very demanding. He wants things done the proper way. But he allows you to coach. You hear the voices of assistant coaches at practices. You don’t always hear assistants at other places.

There’s no micro-management. He holds you accountable.”

Mark Montgomery and Dwayne Stephens echo those sentiments.

The three have become a smooth working unit in just three years. During that time they helped the Michigan State men’s basketball team post an 86-25 record, win two Big Ten championships and make two trips to the NCAA Final Four, once reaching the title game. Individually, Garland has been a key part of five of Tom Izzo’s six Final Four runs. The other two have been part of three.

While Izzo and standout players like Kalin Lucas, Durrell Summers and Draymond Green have become household names, Garland, Montgomery and Stephens are seldom recognized as they travel around the state. Few outside the local media, high school coaches and the most avid MSU basketball fans even know their names.

Yet, none of the deeds that have brought about that adulation would have been possible without the work of the three longtime Spartan assistant coaches. And they couldn’t be happier in their anonymity.

Tom Izzo is the face of the MSU program, and that’s as it should be. Assistant coaches are often best heard, not seen. Have no doubt about it though, their voices are heard throughout the MSU program, and their work is seen at every level.

Izzo, himself, seldom misses an opportunity to sing their praises. He tells anyone who’ll listen that it is this team of hard-working assistants who scout the opposition, break down countless hours of film, help develop the game plans and drive

thousands of miles to recruit the players MSU needs to be successful.

Montgomery, a third-team All-Big Ten selection and team captain as a player at MSU (1988-92), has been an assistant since 2001, after spending four years as an assistant at Central Michigan. He was named associate head coach in 2007 and coordinates recruiting, in addition to scouting opponents and working with the perimeter players.

Under his tutoring, 10 Spartans have gained all-conference recognition. During that time MSU has made the NCAA Tournament each year, three times advancing to the Final Four. Soft spoken but intense, Montgomery pours all of himself into the job. And the job, he says, is to win games, get kids to graduate and help kids to grow into mature adults.

“Sometimes you are defined by your job,” said Montgomery, who married his wife, Alexandra, a little more than a year ago. “I spend most of my time on the job.

Most of what I do is pretty much jobconnected. …Hey, I was here seven years before I got married.”

If Montgomery seems married to the job, he is just as loyal to Izzo – and vice versa.

“He holds us accountable,” Montgomery said. “We talk about things we want to do (individual goals included). And he expects us to do our best to position ourselves to accomplish the things we say we want to accomplish. When he feels we aren’t doing the things we need to or should be doing, he calls us out.

“They (the other assistants) are all on the same page. They have a feel for each other and know what to expect. They trust each other and know that everything they do will be in the best interest of the program and the kids in it. You know that everyone is going to work as hard as you do. They’ve got your back. Stuff is going to get done. That’s the bottom line: ‘Let’s get it done.’”

Looking back on the season, he feels good – understandably so.

“We accomplished two of our three

Photography MSU ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS

BY ERNIE BOONE

No Holding Back MSU assistant coach Mike Garland voices his opinion – one that always matters to former Northern Michigan teammate Tom Izzo.

APRIL & MAY 2010 SPECIAL EDITION 15

Staff Affection big goals,” Montgomery said of a Big Ten championship and Final Four run. “I’d call that a very successful season. I learned a lot. I learned that things are fragile. They can change day-to-day, and you have to be ready to deal with the changes. Tom stresses preventive management. You have to deal with the little every-day problems before they become big issues.”

Montgomery would like an opportunity to be a head coach, but he’ll wait for the right opportunity to come along. If Izzo and others are right, that might not be very long.

Many say Montgomery is ready to run his own program. Meanwhile, Izzo continues to provide opportunities to grow and presses his top aide to hone the skills needed for a top job. Jeff Goodman of FoxSports.com has Montgomery on a list of the 10 assistants ready to move up.

Stephens, a teammate of Montgomery, was MSU’s MVP in 1992. He captained the Spartans in 1993 and joined the MSU staff in 2003. He had been an assistant at Oakland and at Marquette, where he helped former Izzo assistant Tom Crean take Marquette to the Final Four in 2003.

“D.J.” coaches the MSU post players in

16 APRIL & MAY 2010 SPECIAL EDITION

addition to recruiting and scouting opponents.

MSU has led the Big Ten in rebounding in five of his seven years. And two post players have earned all-conference honors.

An excellent recruiter, Stephens is listed among the top 25 college recruiters by Rivals. com and the top 20 high-major assistants.

“Working for Izzo is awesome,” Stephens said. “He gives you a lot of responsibility and lets you coach. There’s no micro-managing.

He doesn’t pigeonhole us. He expects us to be involved in every phase of the program.

At staff meetings you are expected to voice your opinion. He holds us accountable. We’re expected to get the job done.”

As for working with Montgomery and Garland, it has been a dream come true.

“I couldn’t ask for a better working environment,” Stephens said. “Mike is older and has had more life experience. I can go to him about non-basketball things. I respect him.

With Monty I get a chance to work with one of my closest friends. It doesn’t get any better.”

Recruiting is Stephens’ major responsibility. He works hard at building and maintaining relationships with high school and AAU coaches and identifying talented kids who can fit into the MSU program.

But like all the assistants, Stephens is engaged in every aspect of the program. He shares scouting duties with Montgomery, alternating teams on the schedule. During the tournaments, one will take the first opponent, and the other will scout the teams MSU could face next.

Like the others, perhaps he works hardest at building and maintaining relationships with the current players. Each of the three assistants is responsible for four current players. They stay on top of each player’s day-to-day activities and are available to assist with any issues or problems.

“You have to build and maintain relationships with players,” Stephens said. “They have to believe that you have their best interest at heart. They have to feel that you are in it with them, not talking down to them.”

MSU’s student-athletes aren’t the only one who learn from those relationships.

“I learned more this season,” Stephens said. “I’ll take the things I learned and apply them here and wherever I go in the future.”

Much of what he learned had to do with helping young people deal with success in today’s environment and how tough it is

for some to deal with the outside influences that accompany athletic success.

Garland and Izzo have been friends since college. He was Izzo’s first outside hire when Izzo took over in 1996. And he uses that experience to help the others work more effectively with Izzo and to transmit life skills to players.

Garland left MSU in 2003 to take the head coaching job at Cleveland State. Despite increasing the number of victories each year, he was forced to leave after just three seasons. Garland returned to MSU in 2007.

The Spartans have gone to the Final Four five of the 10 years he has been on staff.

“Using basketball as a vehicle to teach these kids life skills is the most important part of what we do here,” Garland said. “I’m not just saying that. Every one of us really believes it! I agree with Monty, ‘Dealing with kids, helping them mature as adults, will win more games than getting in the film room.’”

Looking back at what was a remarkable season, Garland summed it up best. “It was a season of lessons,” he said. “Some things were taught, and some things were learned.

What players (and coaches) do with those things, only time will tell.”

Under The Watchful Eye Spartan assistant coach and former MSU forward Dwayne Stephens keeps his eye on the team’s young big men and works on player development.

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APRIL & MAY 2010 SPECIAL EDITION

17

SPORT SHOTS

Captain Morgan Spartan senior Raymar Morgan launches the game-winning free throw in a one-point win over Tennessee in the Midwest Region Final.

PHOTOGRAPH BY MSU Athletic communications

18 APRIL & MAY 2010 SPECIAL EDITION

APRIL & MAY 2010 SPECIAL EDITION 19

20 APRIL & MAY 2010 SPECIAL EDITION

Moments& Milestones The Final Product, Another Final Four, A Tapestry Of Triumphs

BY MATT LARSON Associate Director, MSU Athletic Communications

A college basketball season can feel like a marathon.

A single game played in November, December or sometimes even February does not hold a lot of significance, except as it influences future contests, which all link together to form a season. As Selection Sunday approaches, you’ll hear pundits discuss a team’s “body of work,” placing more weight on the overall accomplishments of a team, rather than a game here or there. And yet it is the individual moments and milestones that leave the indelible marks in our memory.

APRIL & MAY 2010 SPECIAL EDITION 21

Moments & Milestones

OCTOBER 16, 2009

The Breslin Center is used to sellouts. In fact, every home game since the middle of the 1998 season has been sold out, a streak that currently stands at 193 games.

But prior to this season, the Spartans had never drawn a capacity crowd for its annual midnight madness event. Though attendances had reached 12-13,000, there had always been room for more. On the night when MSU unveiled new Final Four banners and raised the 2009 banner to the rafters, the doors to the Breslin Center were closed prior to the highly anticipated men’s team introductions, as the building reached capacity. “One of my personal dreams was to somehow fill this place for Midnight Madness. Now, we’ve done that,” remarked Izzo, who entered the arena in an Indy car, spotlighting the team’s goal of reaching another Final Four.

A Large Debut For Big Nix NOVEMBER 13, 2009

Dunkin’ Durrell MSU got a huge lift from Durrell Summers throughout the NCAA Tournament.

Coach Tom Izzo will often talk about a team or individual “leaving a footprint.” It’s his way of recognizing a great achievement.

To be sure, the 2009-10 Michigan State basketball team left its footprint in the record books and in the minds of all Spartan fans. Certainly, any season that allows the school to hang two banners (2010 Big Ten Champions and 2010 Final Four) ranks among the best in school history. But it’s not until you dig deeper into the individual moments and milestones that you can appreciate everything this group of young men accomplished.

Some of the moments that follow were well publicized. Others weren’t. Some deal with hard statistical numbers. Others deal with raw human emotion. Regardless, they are all part of my memory of the journey through the 2009-10 season, one that I was fortunate enough to have a first-class ticket for the entire ride.

22 APRIL & MAY 2010 SPECIAL EDITION

One of the questions surrounding this year’s team was the center position. Freshmen Garrick Sherman and Derrick Nix and redshirt junior Tom Herzog were being asked to replace Goran Suton, the Most Outstanding Player of the 2009 Midwest Region. In the season opener, Nix showed he was capable of producing at the Division I level, totaling 11 points and 14 rebounds in his Spartan debut.

The 14 rebounds were the most ever by an MSU freshman in his first game. Nix also joined Matt Steigenga as the only two Spartans to post a double-double in their debuts.

Izzo Leaves His Footprint Thanksgiving Weekend NOVEMBER 26-28, 2009

MSU left for the Legends Classic championship rounds in Atlantic City on Thanksgiving morning. But as the Spartans were getting ready to load a bus to depart for the airport, a familiar face waited in the darkened Breslin Center tunnel. Earvin “Magic” Johnson, one of the game’s alltime greats, greeting the players, provided encouragement and gave a few snippets of advice. He proved that the current team was playing for all the greats who have come before them.

Once in Atlantic City, the Spartans lost a disappointing game in the semifinals to

Florida, setting up a meeting with UMass in the consolation game. MSU bounced back with one of its top offensive efforts, scoring a season-high 106 points on .586 shooting. The real stat that mattered was 341 – as in win No. 341 of Izzo’s coaching career, passing his mentor Jud Heathcote.

While Izzo conducted a post-game, on-court interview, the team schemed for his arrival in the locker room. Senior Isaiah Dahlman was giddy with anticipation. When Izzo finally walked through the doors, Dahlman distracted him and Draymond Green dumped a cooler of water on his head. The reaction of the players was priceless as they all took joy in being part of their coach’s milestone. Raymar Morgan also presented Izzo a plaque with the mold of a footprint and an inscription reading “You’ve left your footprint: 341 wins.”

In typical Izzo fashion, he was a little embarrassed that his milestone came at the expense of surpassing his mentor, saying, “I hope somehow, some way, Jud enjoys it, since he’s such a big part of it, and he feels good about our joint record of 681.

And we’ll keep going together.”

A Lesson Outside Basketball DECEMBER 7, 2009

Basketball road trips are business trips. The Spartans have been to some great cities and destinations. But they spend most of their time on the task at hand and see more of the inside of a gym and hotel ballrooms than they do the local sites. On occasion, Izzo will provide his team with a learning experience, as in a visit to Ground Zero in New York City on Thanksgiving 2001. Such was the case this year when the Spartans played at The Citadel.

During one of Izzo’s trips to Kuwait a few years ago, he met a few soldiers who had attended The Citadel. By traveling to Charleston, S.C., this season, Izzo provided his players with the opportunity to witness men and women their own age whose college experience was vastly different.

MSU arrived to its morning shootaround nearly an hour early, and Izzo instructed his players to spend a little time walking around the quad. I followed a group of players who walked into the first barracks and immediately struck up a conversation with the cadets, while also witnessing the knobs being quizzed by upperclassmen and cadets falling into formation before heading out to lunch. The discipline of the cadets was impressive, as was the respect and reverence the Spartans held for what appeared to be a vastly different culture.

Photography MSU ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS

The Madness Begins With A Full House

“It was great to see how they’re living, what they go through,” Green said. “It’s pretty tough. You have to be a strongminded person to go through it. It’s something that I’ll remember for the rest of my life.”

That night at the game, The Citadel hit its first seven 3-pointers and the student section was among the most vocal the Spartans have ever seen, taunting players and coaches and reaching out to touch the managers on the end of the Spartan bench. Yet at the end of MSU’s 69-56 victory, the Spartans remained on the floor, standing next to the Bulldog players during the playing of The Citadel Alma Mater, paying tribute to the men and women who know the real meaning of sacrifice.

The Big Ten Journey Begins DECEMBER 31, 2009-JANUARY 2, 2010

MSU entered Big Ten play ranked No. 11 in the nation. But Izzo felt that something was still missing. In college basketball where the margin between winning and losing is so small, Izzo believed the team needed to become a tighter-knit group.

One way to do that was to get away from all outside distractions and spend time together. On New Year’s Eve night, the Spartans loaded a bus and headed down to Evanston, Ill., a day early. Upon their arrival, the team enjoyed sparkling cider and made their New Year’s resolutions.

New Year’s Day meant two practices, the first of which was at a campus rec center. Because the center was closed to the general Northwestern student population during semester break, the heat had not been turned up to its regular level, resulting in frigid practice conditions. Rather than complain, every member of the travel party made the most of the situation. Izzo and Mike Garland laughed that it was like playing back at Northern Michigan, while many players commented that it was a lot like shooting in a high school gym over winter break. The resolve was impressive as the Spartans went through a short, focused workout. The next night the Spartans turned in a very impressive 91-70 victory over ranked Northwestern, and MSU was off and running in the race for a secondstraight league title.

On the bus ride back to East Lansing, the Spartans cheered on the MSU football team as it battled in the Alamo Bowl. The trip was a small step, but the team was starting to come together.

Turning The Corner Korie Lucious responded to the challenge and replaced injured point guard Kalin Lucas for the last three-and-a-half games of the NCAA Tournament.

Back-To-Back Nailbiters

Kebler’s Opportunity

JANUARY 23 & 26, 2010

FEBRUARY 13, 2010

MSU took a 6-0 league record on the road to Minnesota, but the Spartans were coming off a less-than-stellar performance at home against Iowa. The poor play appeared to carry over as MSU shot 28.6 percent in the first half and trailed the Gophers 34-26 at the half. But the Spartans wouldn’t quit and took their first and only lead of the game on a Kalin Lucas 3-pointer with 1:30 left. Minnesota had several shots to win in the final seconds, but MSU found a way to keep the ball out of the basket and escaped with a 65-64 win. “I thought we were pronounced dead a few times,” Izzo said after the game.

The next game was a road trip to Michigan. The Spartans trailed 56-53 with less than 90 seconds left. Durrell Summers missed a 3-pointer, but Green grabbed the rebounded and threaded a pass to Morgan, whose layup cut the deficit to one. MSU’s defense forced a Michigan airball, giving the Spartans the last shot at victory. Once again it was Lucas’ moment. His mid-range jumper with 3.5 seconds left gave Michigan State a 57-56 win. “It’s what he was put on this earth to do,” Morgan said of Lucas’ late-game heroics.

The win over Michigan established a new mark for best Big Ten start in program history at 8-0. MSU would push the record to 9-0 in its next game vs. Northwestern.

The previous mark of 7-0 was held by the 1977-78 Spartans.

Due to a combination of factors, including a severe ankle injury to Lucas, MSU dropped its first three games of February and entered Penn State with a 9-3 conference mark, in dire need of a victory to stop the slide. Although Lucas’ ankle was feeling better, the Spartans were still short-handed as Korie Lucious was out for a one-game academic suspension. This meant little-used walk-on Mike Kebler would be called upon for back-up point guard duties. Lucas scored 24 points and dished out six assists, but Kebler might have been the star, playing 13 minutes and providing great defense on PSU’s Talor Battle. During a decisive 13-0 secondhalf run, Kebler’s play spurred a Spartan defense that forced five straight Nittany Lion misses and four turnovers, including two shot-clock violations. In the locker room after the game, someone commented that he was surprised by Kebler’s defensive skills. Kebler matter-of-factly responded, “You shouldn’t be. I’ve guarded Kalin every day for three years in practice.” By making the most of his opportunity, Kebler proved he would be ready when called upon during MSU’s tournament run.

Bad Backs & Winning Ugly FEBRUARY 28, 2010

The Spartans had a week off after a APRIL & MAY 2010 SPECIAL EDITION

23

Moments & Milestones home loss to Ohio State dropped them to 11-4 in the Big Ten. MSU was in control of its own destiny but in dire need of a win at No. 3 Purdue to have any shot at a league title. It wasn’t a pretty game, as the Spartans committed 23 turnovers. But the Spartans played remarkable defense, holding the Boilermakers to 30-percent shooting, including just 27.3 percent in the second half of a 53-44 victory. MSU also outrebounded Purdue by a 46-20 margin, grabbing more boards (46) than the Boilermakers had points (44). It all led to Izzo saying, “It’s the prettiest ugly win I’ve ever had. Or the ugliest pretty win.”

No. 3 Purdue became the highest-ranked Big Ten opponent the Spartans had ever beaten on the road. In the hours and days following the win, a lot of attention was focused on a sleepover orchestrated by Green that involved all of MSU’s players, coaches, managers and staff spending the night at Breslin two days before the Purdue win.

“Was it good for us from a back standpoint? Probably not,” Izzo said. “Was it good for us from a rest standpoint?

Probably not. Was it good for us from a togetherness standpoint? One of the great team-building events. And the best part is, it goes back to my original saying that I’ve believed in my whole career here. It was a player decision.”

Motivated Morgan Ensures Championship MARCH 4 & 7, 2010

In the last week of the regular season, MSU just needed to win home games vs. Penn State and Michigan to clinch a share of a second straight Big Ten Championship. It got off to a good start as the Spartans sprinted out to an 11-point lead midway through the first half vs. PSU. But at the end of the game, they needed Battle to miss a half-court shot to escape from a crushing defeat. MSU stood as a 67-65 winner, but the mood in the Spartan locker room was not joyous. For the next few days, the tension inside the MSU basketball family was palpable.

Yet, when game day arrived, the Spartans were loose and focused to take on in-state rival Michigan. So often on Senior Day, it’s an underclassman who rises to the occasion to send out his teammates on a high note.

And while Morgan received a lot of support from his teammates in a dominating 64-48 win over the Wolverines, he was ready to do it all by himself, literally. In fact, as late as the first media timeout of the second half, Morgan had more points (19) than Michigan (16). The tone was set early in the first half, however, when Morgan and U-M’s Zack Novak fought for a loose ball.

Morgan wrestled for the ball, ripped it from Novak and sent him flying to the floor.

Moments later, Morgan stepped to the foul line to complete a 3-point play, pointing to the ground and motioning as if to say, “This is my house, and we’re not losing with a championship on the line.”

When Morgan left the Breslin Center court for the final time with 1:25 left, he kissed the “S” at center court, then embraced his coaches and teammates after a second-straight league crown, the sixth of the Izzo era. A frequent target of media and fans who always demanded more, Morgan would finish among the most accomplished players in MSU history. He left as one of just three players in school history to rank in the school’s top 10 in career scoring and rebounding.

“We’ve Got Your Back K” MARCH 21, 2010

Michigan State’s 85-83 win over Maryland in the second round of the NCAA Tournament will go down as one of the greatest games in school history. While there were so many great plays, my most memorable moments have nothing to do with the game itself. First, I’ll remember a somber Izzo walking out of the locker room after a very emotional halftime, when the team learned that Lucas was done for the rest of the season. Though MSU led by nine at the half, it felt as if the Spartans trailed by double figures. The determination shown

by Lucas’ teammates in the second half showed they truly had each other’s back.

Nearly an hour later, Lucious took a pass from Green, over a ducking Delvon Roe, dribbled once to his left and calmly rose and fired. For some reason, I knew it was good the moment it left his hands and started walking to grab people for on-court postgame interviews. That’s when I saw the two hugs I’ll always remember. The first was Izzo and Lucas. While all the team was mobbing Lucious at the other end of the court, Izzo and Lucas embraced for what seemed to be an eternity. Izzo later remarked he was so happy for the team and yet so sad for Kalin.

The second hug was a broken-toothed Morgan lifting Lucious off his feet and carrying him around the court. Lucious had extended Morgan’s collegiate career and soon learned how much that meant.

In the post-game locker room, Green kept Family Matters Hall of Fame coach Jud Heathcote and his wife, Beverly, follow the Spartans on the tournament trail.

24 APRIL & MAY 2010 SPECIAL EDITION

yelling how they all had Lucas’ back, while the magnitude of the moment finally hit Lucious. The player that seemed so cool and calm on the court was overcome by a flood of emotions. All season, Izzo had demanded and desired more togetherness from his team. In that moment, everyone witnessed what true togetherness could accomplish.

A Warrior’s Effort MARCH 26, 2010

There were still games to play, and MSU had larger dreams than the Sweet 16. Northern Iowa controlled play in the first half and took a 29-22 lead into the break. When the Spartans got to the locker room at halftime, they saw Lucas’ jersey hanging up, placed there pre-game by equipment manager Dave Pruder, reminding them once again that they were playing for someone besides themselves. Lucas had opted to put off surgery on his ruptured Achilles for a week, promising to be with his teammates in St. Louis, saying, “They told me they had my back, and I told them I had theirs.”

The Spartans played with renewed purpose in the second half. While Lucious received a lot of attention for his winning plays at the end of the contest, I’ll remember Roe as an unsung hero of that game. He had put off knee surgery until after the season, playing through excruciating pain and giving his teammates everything he could. And his put-back dunk early in the second half signaled that MSU had a newfound energy that wouldn’t be denied.

During timeouts, Roe couldn’t sit down or even stand still at the back of the huddle, instead walking around to alleviate pain and make sure Izzo didn’t see the pain in his face. After MSU’s 59-52 win, Green rightfully called Roe a warrior.

A Quiet Confidence MARCH 28, 2010

Maybe it was Izzo’s 15-3 record in the second game of an NCAA Tournament weekend (entering the Tennessee contest), or maybe it was that MSU seemed to be on a storybook ride. But I had great confidence after reaching the Elite Eight. Perhaps more than anything, it’s the confidence in knowing that a team of talented players are fighting for each other and determined not to let each other fall short of their dreams. MSU would claim a 70-69 victory, setting a record in the process for the smallest combined victory margin (13) in four games to get to the Final Four.

The game was played at a high level with great offense to start the game and great toughness, defense and clutch shots at the end. But as was the case with the Maryland game, my memories are not of game action.

The first one is pretty obvious – watching the team lift Lucas on their shoulders to cut down the nets. But it comes with a slightly different perspective. Izzo almost always makes the final cut on the nets, providing some great photos over the years, either with players or one of his children on the ladder with him. As the keeper of the photos, I’m always looking for that great shot. As the Spartans cut down the net, Izzo was doing interviews on the court, which I halted to allow him to make the final snip. As we approached the ladder, the team decided not to wait and lifted Kalin on their shoulders. At that instance, I knew that watching that meant more to Izzo than had he cut down the net himself.

The second moment came following the post-game celebration as MSU prepared for its post-game interviews. As Green and Izzo walked into the press room, Green explained to his coach how he had purposefully fouled Scotty Hopson with 11 seconds left and MSU leading by a single point. In Green’s eyes, Hopson came off a screen and got good elevation on his jumper. Green was confident he was going to make it, so he hit him on the wrist, forcing him to shoot two pressure free throws. The cerebral sophomore was probably right as Hopson’s jumper was on-line but just short. Hopson would make just one of the two free throws, setting up Morgan’s game-winning free throw. Had Hopson made the jumper, the end scenario would likely have been much different.

Elite Status APRIL 3, 2010

When MSU took the court against Butler, it marked the Spartans’ sixth trip to the Final Four in the last 12 years, further cementing its status as one of America’s elite basketball programs. Consider the following nuggets: MSU is one of just four programs in NCAA history to appear in six Final Fours in a 12 year period, and just the third program to accomplish that feat since the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985, joining Duke and North Carolina.

Izzo and Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski are the only two coaches to lead the same team to six Final Fours in a 12-year period since the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985.

With its eighth overall Final Four

Highs And Lows Kalin Lucas had 25 points to help beat New Mexico State, then popped his Achilles tendon against Maryland. appearance, the Spartans are tied for seventh-most all-time.

Izzo’s six Final Four appearances rank fifth all-time and are third among active coaches. Izzo ranks first all-time among Big Ten coaches, surpassing Bob Knight (5).

Every four-year player for Izzo has appeared in at least one Final Four before leaving MSU, as 55 Spartan student-athletes have been part of a Final Four squad.

At the Final Four Salute two days before the National Semifinals, CBS’ Greg Anthony said to the crowd that included all four teams, “Making the Final Four is a once in a lifetime opportunity…unless you’re Michigan State.”

MSU’s season came to a bittersweet end with a 52-50 loss. The Spartans didn’t play their best game of the tournament, and yet still had a chance to win at the end – proving their fight and determination. There is debate as to whether Green was fouled on a potential game-winner, though Butler star Gordon Hayward admitted hitting his arm.

But after the contest, the Spartans handled everything with class – taking responsibility on themselves, rather than blaming officials.

As Green addressed the Spartans in the locker room for the last time following the Butler loss, urging his returning teammates to come back even hungrier and even more committed next year, I realized the 2009-10 season had truly been a great ride.

And I knew that being just a small part of the journey was quite an honor.

APRIL & MAY 2010 SPECIAL EDITION

25

Where Does It Rank?

2010 Has Plenty Of Company In The Breslin Rafters

BY JACK EBLING

26 APRIL & MAY 2010 SPECIAL EDITION

Photography CHRIS HOLMES

The ink isn’t dry on their accomplishments. But that’s not the only reason it’s hard to measure what the Michigan State Spartans just did against the footprints of their predecessors.

Most historical comparisons span a generation. This one doesn’t even stretch a year when you check the dates of the final games in 2009 and 2010. An amazing body of work has been compiled – not completed – in just 12 years of post-season play.

But compare we will. Having seen all six of Tom Izzo’s Final Four teams, it’s time to evaluate the 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2005 squads against last year’s group and this season’s survivors.

Before we do, let’s get Izzo’s perspective.

After all, he’s the one who designed and developed six teams that went a combined 178-39, won five Big Ten titles and placed second once with an 83-15 record, then dominated NCAA play with a 27-5 mark.

“It had some similarities to those years, and in some ways it was even bigger,” Izzo said of this season. “The problem was it just seemed like we kept having setbacks. The Big Ten Tournament, there was a setback (with Chris Allen suspended). When Kalin (Lucas) went down the first time, we were 9-0 in the league and starting to grow.

Then, there was the Korie (Lucious) thing (a one-game suspension) at Illinois.

“There just seemed to be more distractions.

They weren’t all major. But they kept you on your toes. In some ways I worked the hardest – not in recruiting but in dealing with day-to-day stuff. When you sit there some nights, as I did with you and say, ‘God, is it worth it?’ then it all comes together, you say, ’Yeah, it was!’”

The hardware in the trophy case says the 2000 team was the best of the best. It shared the top spot on the NCAA winners’ platform with Jud Heathcote’s Magical 1979 squad. But I always have – and always will – make the case that the 1999 Spartans were a point or two better.

The ’99ers, including seniors Antonio Smith and Jason Klein but with a very raw Jason Richardson still in high school, hold the school record for wins. They also had two fewer losses than their immediate successors. After a 4-3 start, with losses to Temple and at Duke and Connecticut, they went 29-2. They won 18 straight Big Ten

games, the last 15 in the regular season and three more in the Big Ten Tournament.

In NCAA play, the Spartans’ first Final Four team in 20 years won a knockdown drag-out with Oklahoma, then dumped defending champ Kentucky to advance to St. Petersburg, Fla. There, they lost to the Blue Devils again in a ferocious semifinal, a six-point setback in a matchup of the No. 1 and No. 2 teams in the polls.

The 2000 team would be second on the list, with Morris Peterson moving from sixthman extraordinaire to Big Ten Player of the Year. With Mateen Cleaves sidelined with a stress fracture in his foot, Peterson led MSU to a 10-point win at second-ranked North Carolina. But the Spartans lost to Texas, fell on the road to the Wildcats of Arizona and Kentucky, then stumbled at Wright State, before catching fire. A February thumping of reigning champ Connecticut was a sign of things to come.

MSU had to rally to beat Utah, Syracuse and Iowa State, with the last two games in the friendly setting of The Palace of Auburn Hills. And though it wasn’t the Spartans’ fault that their opposition in Indianapolis was Wisconsin and Florida, an eighth seed and a fifth seed, respectively, it wasn’t the same as facing top-ranked Duke.

The third-best team from the six would have to be the 2001 group, which started the season 12-0, including wins over North

Carolina, Florida and Kentucky in East Lansing. With Charlie Bell and Andre Hutson back as fourth-year starters and would-be pros Richardson and Zach Randolph on the roster, MSU looked like a possible back-toback national champion till the second half of its semifinal against Arizona.

A close No. 4 on the list would be last year’s team. It dropped a pair of games at home to Northwestern and Penn State and lost five times by double digits. But it ruled the Big Ten by the second-largest margin in history and beat defending national champ Kansas, overall No. 1 seed Louisville and Big East power UConn, another No. 1 seed, before running into the Tar Heels again.

No. 5 would be…this year’s Spartans.

They overcame adversity all season and earned a share of the Big Ten title, then did what they had do in the clutch to make it back to Indy. They didn’t beat any great opponents. But they did enough to hang two banners, with the best yet to come.

That leaves the 2005 group sixth on the list.

Thirteen-point losses at George Washington and at home in MSU’s only meeting with Big Ten champ Illinois were the major blemishes.

But just when media members called them “losers”, Alan Anderson, Kelvin Torbert, Chris Hill and Co. stunned third-ranked Duke and seventh-ranked Kentucky in their NCAA regional. With Anderson injured, the Spartans faded in the second half and fell by 16 to UNC in a semifinal.

If you disagree, let the debate begin. It would make a terrific tournament, especially when you add the 1957 and ’79 Final Four teams.…The smart money is on MSU.

Here’s a look at the six teams’ resumés: YEAR

OVERALL

BIG TEN

BIG TEN TOURNEY

AP

NCAA

1999

33-5

15-1 (1st)

3-0

No. 2

4-1

2000

32-7

13-3 (T-1)

3-0

No. 2

6-0

2001

28-5

13-3 (T-1)

0-1

No. 3

4-1

2005

26-7

13-3 (2nd)

0-1

No. 15

4-1

2009

31-7

15-3 (1st)

1-1

No. 8

5-1

2010

28-9

14-4 (T-1)

0-1

No. 13

4-1

APRIL & MAY 2010 SPECIAL EDITION

27

Fate Can Be Great Spartans Have Taken The Good With The Bad

BY STEVE GRINCZEL

28 APRIL & MAY 2010 SPECIAL EDITION

Photography MSU ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS

Fate has been kind to Michigan State basketball.

Midway through the 1978-79 Big Ten season, Earvin “Magic” Johnson sprained his ankle in a do-or-die game against Ohio State, which was 8-0 in conference play. It was really bad, but not quite bad enough to prevent his return that fateful day.

Had the Spartans gone on to lose and drop to 4-5 in the league, they would have been all but eliminated from consideration for the NCAA Tournament. As fate would have it, Johnson defied prudent medical wisdom. As he limped out of the Jenison Field House trainer’s room, the crowd reacted with an emotionally charged din that remains unprecedented in Spartan lore. MSU beat the Buckeyes in overtime, went on to capture a share of the league title and won its first national championship.

Answering Their Critics 2005 seniors Chris Hill, Alan Anderson, Tim Bograkos and Kelvin Torbert beat Duke and Kentucky to advance to the Final Four, only to have Anderson get injured.

In 1999-2000, a dicey decision to have Mateen Cleaves undergo foot surgery and sit out the non-conference portion of the season proved to be fortuitous. Cleaves came back to lead MSU to a 13-3 Big Ten record and another league championship. However, an even more fateful turn of events took place in the Conference USA Tournament when Cincinnati’s Kenyon Martin broke his leg. Without the nation’s top player in the lineup, the Bearcats dropped from being a sure No. 1 to a No. 2 seed and gave up the path in the Midwest Regional MSU used to win its second NCAA crown.

Fate has also been unflinchingly cruel to the Spartans, as MSU’s sixth Final Four team under Tom Izzo will readily attest. For awhile, the stars appeared to be lining up favorably for a third, albeit improbable, national championship. In the second round, ninthseeded Northern Iowa upset overall No. 1 seed Kansas, which would have posed serious matchup issues in the low post for No. 5 MSU in the regional final in St. Louis. But late in the first half of Michigan State’s second-round game against Maryland, junior point guard Kalin Lucas ruptured his Achilles tendon.

Even without their best player, the Spartans advanced to the Final Four where hometown favorite Butler, also a fifth seed, awaited in the national semifinals. On the other side of the bracket, No. 2 seed West Virginia and Bob Huggins, who coached Cincinnati and Kenyon Martin 10 years earlier, was set to face Duke, the weakest No. 1 seed in the tournament.

MSU was ill-equipped to cash in on what would have been a great situation and lost to Butler, 52-50. It’s impossible for Izzo or any other right-thinking observer not to

figure Lucas was good for the three points the Spartans needed to win. He did lead the team in scoring, with 14.8 points, and assists, with four, per game during the season. And with a healthy Lucas, Izzo would have liked MSU’s chances against the Blue Devils, who eventually escaped with a one-point victory over Butler in the NCAA final.

“It does drive me a little crazy to think about it like that,” Izzo said. “Of our last three Final Fours, I think we had the best chance of winning this one on paper, because I didn’t think the teams were as good. I think we could have won it without Kalin, but with him…”

That kind of thinking only leads down memory lane where the fickle finger of fate has pointed toward the Spartans more often than not. If Izzo wanted to drive himself completely insane, all he has to do is ask the “What if?” question of other fateful events that have helped shape recent MSU history.

For example, what if Alan Anderson didn’t hurt his knee in the game before the 2005 national semifinal against North Carolina in St. Louis? The Spartans were coming off one of the most impressive regional sweeps in tournament history after defeating Duke and Kentucky in the same weekend. With Anderson hobbling, MSU couldn’t hold onto a five-point halftime lead against the Tar Heels, who went on to beat Illinois for the championship.

“In ’05, with a healthy Alan Anderson, we beat (North Carolina),” Izzo said. “I don’t know if we could have beaten Illinois, but we thought we had a real chance to win it all that year because we were playing good. We had depth. We had everything. And going in

APRIL & MAY 2010 SPECIAL EDITION

29

Fate Can Be Great

Hugs All Around The 2000 National Champions overcame injuries and made the most of their opportunities.

against Carolina, we worked hard all week on a mismatch we thought we had defensively with Anderson and put some plays in for him. He didn’t practice much all week, but we thought he’d be OK. Then, the day before the game, he couldn’t do anything.

“And then, we knew we were dead. That one was hard to take.”

Or how about that 1990 regional semifinal game against Georgia Tech in New Orleans?

Izzo, then the chief assistant under Jud Heathcote, recalled that had the Spartans beaten the Yellow Jackets, they would have faced Minnesota in the regional final.

“And we had just beaten (Minnesota) at their place,” he said.

Instead, MSU lost 81-80 to Georgia Tech in an overtime period that should have never been played. It was later determined that Kenny Anderson’s basket at the end of regulation came after time had expired. A subsequent victory over the Gophers would have put Michigan State in the national semifinal against UNLV. Maybe the Spartans wouldn’t have gotten past the Runnin’ Rebels, who went on to crush Duke in the championship game, but they would have had another Final Four banner.

Then there’s the 1986 Sweet 16 in Kansas

City. The Spartans surprised themselves by beating Washington and Georgetown for the right to face Kansas in its own backyard. Heathcote’s team was seemingly in control with a six-point lead when the clock stopped running with 2:20 left in regulation. With time standing still for some 15 seconds and the Spartans back on their heels in disbelief, the Jayhawks rallied for a 96-86 overtime win. Kansas beat North Carolina State to advance to the Final Four, where it lost to Duke, which fell to Louisville in the final.

“Before we play Georgetown, Jud says, `Damn, we can’t beat them,’ “ Izzo recalled. “We didn’t think we could beat Washington. And I’ll never forget this to the day I die. Jud and I scouted the first (regional semi) and North Carolina State upset Iowa State. As we’re walking off the court to get ready to play Kansas, we get into the locker room and Jud goes, ‘The only team we’re better than is North Carolina State.’ We thought we could win that game, but we didn’t think we could beat Kansas. And we should have had Kansas beat.

“If in both cases they had the new clock rules, where you can look at it on TV (replay), we might have been in two more Final Fours.”

Izzo chooses not to belabor the role fate

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30 APRIL & MAY 2010 SPECIAL EDITION

plays in determining outcomes, even if it has stood in the way of a couple more Final Fours and another national championship or two.

Those titles would have secured MSU a place amongst the nation’s other iconic programs.

“It is what it is,” Izzo said.

After all, while the Spartans can lay claim to what appears to be an inordinate number of raw deals, it also has fate to thank, in part, for some of its greatest successes. The random nature of fate is demonstrated in few other sporting events more acutely than in the NCAA Tournament, where good fortune and misfortune run hand-in-hand. This year, Syracuse earned a No. 1 seed but was barely a factor because star center Arinze Onuaku was out with a leg injury.

“As good as we were in 2000, if Kenyon Martin doesn’t break that leg, they’re a 1-seed and they’re probably in Cleveland and Detroit,” Izzo said. “If they’re in Cleveland and Detroit, and they’re really good, that gives them a better chance. There’s one that definitely worked to our advantage. We ended up going through Cleveland and Detroit instead of them.

“I do think fate plays a part. I do think you’ve got to be lucky. And I do think it happens in a lot of different ways. Do we

even get to a Final Four in 2005 if Syracuse doesn’t get upset by Vermont?”

While the single-elimination tournament has undeniable mass appeal as it determines a national champion, it often fails to identify the nation’s best team.

“That’s why I say every year, you have to be good enough to get to the Sweet 16, then be lucky,” Izzo said. “That’s what makes college basketball and pro football exciting but different from pro baseball,

“I say every year, you have to be good enough to get to the Sweet 16, then be lucky.”

- Tom Izzo, Michigan State Head Coach

basketball and hockey, where you do get the best team because of the (best-ofseven) playoffs.

“You can luck out and win a game, but you’re not going to luck out and win a series. I don’t think we always get the truest of national champs because one bad game, one injury, a guy wakes up and has the flu that day, and it can cost you.”

Maybe in the end, it’s a trade-off. Perhaps

Congratulations On Another Great Season!

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Lucas’ injury and MSU’s shortfall is more payment for the championships of ’79 and ’00.

“I don’t get eaten up by it, because I think of how lucky we’ve been to get to six Final Fours,” Izzo said. “If you really put this whole last 30 years together, it does go back to Magic. If his ankle is sprained a little worse and he doesn’t come back in the Ohio State game, none of this happens.

“They could have collapsed totally. And if we don’t get in the tournament, (Johnson)

doesn’t win the national championship but he still goes pro.

“And if they did that, does Jud keep his job? Do I ever get mine? Think of how different everything might be.

There’s probably no statue of Magic outside Breslin Center. Is there even a building? I mean think about it. Would Jud have survived without a national championship? I don’t know.”

SPORT SHOTS

Sparty’s Party Michigan State’s famed mascot prepares to do battle before the team’s opening-round win over New Mexico State.

PHOTOGRAPH BY MSU ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONs

32 APRIL & MAY 2010 SPECIAL EDITION

APRIL & MAY 2010 SPECIAL EDITION

33

Growing Pa Spartans Survive, Thrive With Injuries

BY ANDREA NELSON

34 APRIL & MAY 2010 SPECIAL EDITION

ains

F

Feet, ankles and knees…oh, my! From the twin injuries of Chris Allen and Korie Lucious to Kalin Lucas’ season-ending fall, the Michigan State

Photography MSU ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS

men’s basketball team had five years of injuries packed into one.

The string of problems began in the 2009 national title game. Two young Spartans left Ford Field on crutches after a loss to North Carolina. Point guard Korie Lucious and guard Chris Allen broke the same bone in their right foot during the defeat. Each underwent surgery four days later.

A few screws and a couple of months later, Lucious and Allen were back on their feet.

But the teammates had taken different roads of recovery to get there. Allen progressed through his rehab without complications. Lucious wasn’t as lucky. After the initial repair failed, he underwent a second off-season surgery.

“Sometimes it’s just the luck of the draw a little bit,” team physician Dr. Jeff Kovan said.

“The other part of it is how compliant you are with some of your treatment. And sometimes it’s just the nature of where the break is, where the screw is and how things heal.”

Luck was on Lucious’ side the second time around. With an extra screw and months of recovery, he returned to the basketball court at the start of the season. The Spartans wouldn’t see another injury till February.

Or so many thought. It’s hard to place sophomore forward Delvon Roe’s injury in chronological order with the rest of his team. Few people know when it actually occurred. Roe planned to play at 100 percent as a sophomore after spending most of his freshman year recovering from a high school injury. That hope was short-lived.

Halfway through the season, Roe was diagnosed with a torn meniscus in his right knee. Kovan and athletic trainer Tom Mackowiak believe the tear occurred in the fall of 2009. Mackowiak said Roe’s injury didn’t show normal physical symptoms of damage until February or March. Roe was back to nursing his knee after months of activity.

MSU’s team of physicians kept Roe on the court through icing, physical therapy and pain-control strategies. Mackowiak said Roe played through a severity of pain most people couldn’t handle, all to work towards his one goal of winning a championship.

Freak Injury Tom Izzo consoles Kalin Lucas after an Achilles tendon tear vs. Maryland.

“He played through a lot that I think a lot of people would be incapable of handling,” Mackowiak said. “I think his perseverance, his strong positive attitude and his willingness to put the team in front of himself were valuable commodities. It’s just difficult for people to do that.”

It was also getting difficult for the Spartans to ward off injuries.

Allen’s right foot returned to haunt him in the first round of the 2010 NCAA Tournament. The junior sprained ligaments in the bottom of his right foot during the Spartans’ victory over New Mexico State. The fall had many people reliving his 2009 injury. But MSU caught a break when Allen’s foot didn’t.

“Those don’t require surgery. They require time,” Kovan said. “Unfortunately, the one thing we didn’t have was time. So he would APRIL & MAY 2010 SPECIAL EDITION

35

Growing Pains

Back On His Feet Lucas followed the Spartans on crutches for three games in the NCAA Tournament.

try to play with it each week, knowing that what we really needed was three weeks off to let that really heal.”

With one game down and another four on the schedule, the timing of Allen’s injury wasn’t ideal. He only had a few days off each week before having to play in the next game. Kovan said the soreness kept returning, but so would Allen.

And so did his teammates. Despite the many injuries they had been through, the Spartans could never be held down for long.

“I think they’re so hungry to be successful and win that they’re willing to give of themselves a little bit to have that success,” Kovan said. “It’s a toughness that these kids have, a desire to be the very best. And I give them a lot of credit because I think it’s something we don’t appreciate enough.”

Few can appreciate the physical and psychological pain from the final and most severe injury of the 2009-10 season. When your best player goes down, twice, you either get stronger or get lost.

36 APRIL & MAY 2010 SPECIAL EDITION

Junior point guard Kalin Lucas’ first injury came when he sprained his ankle against Wisconsin. MSU’s first Big Ten loss led to a three-game skid. But Lucas fought the pain to help his team win a share of the title.

Mackowiak said Lucas got treatment three or four times a day during conference play.

Depending on how much time he had, those sessions would last anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour and 20 minutes. The hard work paid off when Lucas was ready for another tournament run.

Lucas scored a career-high 25 points against New Mexico State but didn’t stay healthy for long. With 2:28 remaining in the first half against Maryland, Lucas scored on a runner down the lane. The crowd cheered.

Every Spartan leaped to their feet. Except Lucas. It was his last shot of the year.

Hopping on one foot and clutching his ankle, Lucas made his way to his team’s bench with a pain-stricken face. He later said it felt like he had been kicked by a cheerleader. It didn’t look good for MSU as he was led back to the locker room.

Lucious had no choice but to pick up where Lucas left off. The sophomore nailed a game-winning 3-pointer for the history books to send the Spartans to the Sweet 16.

Lucas celebrated with a boot on his foot.

“I thought pretty much that I just rolled my ankle,” Lucas said. “I didn’t think it was that much worse. Then, we went back to the locker room. The doctors started feeling the back part of my ankle, and there was nothing there. That’s when I started to get nervous a little bit.”

A few days later the worst was confirmed.

Lucas had torn his Achilles tendon and would be out for a minimum of months. Just before the Final Four, Lucas underwent surgery to sew the torn tendon back together.

“He had a very peculiar injury for a young person,” Kovan said. “It’s not as uncommon for someone in their 30s, 40s and even 50s.

But for somebody young to have an Achilles tendon tear with no history with problems whatsoever, it’s pretty rare.”

When a leader falls, it’s easy for others to follow. Take out their leading scorer and 2009 Big 10 Player of the Year, and all odds were against the Spartans.

But Lucas’ injury quickly turned into a blessing in disguise. A team found strength in its injured leader and rallied around him to keep its season alive. The No. 1 jersey became more than just a uniform as it hung in the locker room. The Spartans started the season together with one goal in mind and were determined not to let Lucas down.

“It made me feel great,” Lucas said. “My teammates, they do care about me. And it

feels good playing for a program like this, where we all stick together and we’re all one. It felt good to see my teammates rallying around me, knowing they were trying to get to the Final Four because of me.”

Not only did his teammates rally around him, but Mackowiak said Lucas rallied them as well. He continued to attend film sessions, traveled with the team and became a coach from the sidelines. Lucas had gone from the court to the bench.

But he was more than willing to take the spotlight off himself and concentrate on his team.

“It’s very difficult for any athlete to have your dreams taken away from you,” Mackowiak said. “You have to change your role to be an observer instead of a participant.

But Kalin did that to the utmost of his ability. He turned the focus not on himself, but on his team. And it was amazing that he could do that.”

MSU won its next two games to reach its sixth Final Four in 12 years. Lucas had carried his team on his shoulders through thick and thin during the season. It was time to return the favor. After each player had trimmed away a piece of the net, the entire team hoisted Lucas off the ground to cut the last thread. They had done it.

“He had fought all along to get up on that ladder to cut that net, and there was no way that he wasn’t going to be able to get up there,” Mackowiak said. “I think it just shows the support and camaraderie the team has for him and he has for the team and how they’re all just one big family.”

The Spartans’ season ended one game shy of the National Championship. It’s hard not to wonder what could have happened if Lucas had been healthy. Could they have beaten Butler? How about Duke? But Lucas understands that there’s no use dwelling on what could have been.

“Right now, the one thing I try to do is keep my head up,” Lucas said. “Don’t look in the past and just try to think about the future. Just keep my head up at all times and know that things happen for a reason.”

And the future looks bright. Lucas will be returning for his senior year with a list of unfinished business. The top two? Graduation and a return to the Final Four, where he’s hoping to win his last game as a Spartan.

Despite the many injuries they suffered over the past year, they were never kept down for long. They played through severe pain for reasons only they can understand. They played for more than themselves. They played for their teammates, friends, family, coaches, fans and school. Because they were needed.

Because they are Spartans.

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SPORT QUICK HIT

MSU Is Everywhere Students, Alums Can’t Miss Final Four

BY JENNIFER ORLANDO

The mantra painted on the championship floor in Indianapolis – “The Road Ends Here” – reminded players in the 2010 Final Four that it was their final stop en route to an NCAA basketball championship.

Roadtrippers Sarah Choss, Allie Masters and Emily Schneider (from left to right) take in the Final Four at Lucas Oil Stadium.

The Izzone In Indy MSU Izzone members were some of the first to get tickets to the game at Lucas Oil Stadium. “Izzone season ticket holders were the only students eligible to purchase (the tickets),” said Katie Copple, co-director of the Izzone.

The NCAA provided 660 tickets to each school of the final four. Students could pay $25 for all three games played in Indianapolis. Just before midnight on March 29, all 2,800 members of the Izzone were sent an e-mail with a link that took them to the site where they could buy tickets.

38 APRIL & MAY 2010 SPECIAL EDITION

The tickets went quickly, Copple said.

“This year, the tickets sold out within moments of them going on sale,” she said.

Izzone member Sarah Choss was one of the lucky ones who got tickets. It took preparation and quick reflexes to click the mouse at exactly midnight for her to be successful.

She said the process began when she logged on to the web site at 11:45 p.m. From there, it was a waiting game.

“Right as the clock hit midnight, I immediately hit ‘Buy’,” the sophomore from Farmington Hills said. “I was then taken to a new page asking for my name, credit card information, etc. At first, I wasn’t sure I actually had gotten tickets as we had been told an e-mail would be sent if we got tickets. I received the confirmation about five minutes later and literally stared at the screen in disbelief that I had gotten tickets.”

Choss said attending this year’s Final Four was a must, since she couldn’t get tickets to last year’s event in Detroit. While she did travel to the Motor City to take part in Final Four festivities, actually watching the game in person was important, even if she was one of the 330 students who sat in the upper deck at Lucas Oil Stadium. The first 330 in line got floor seats.

“All year long we kept saying that we would be in attendance at the Final Four cheering on our Spartans,” she said. “And sure enough, we were there. I am a huge fan of MSU basketball, and I made it a personal goal to attend a Final Four at some point in my time here. So I am glad I fulfilled that goal while I had the chance.”

Even though the Spartans fell to the Bulldogs 52-50, Choss and her friends were still proud of their team.

“I was upset after the Spartans lost,” she said. “I stared at the court without moving for a good five minutes while I processed that we had lost. I didn’t stay upset for long, though, as I was proud our team had made it to the Final Four, especially considering all of the injuries our team was dealing with.”

A World Away Dan Eschtruth (far left) and three friends follow the Spartans from China.

Spartans At Home Paul Glasser and 15 of his friends gathered around a television in his East Lansing house to watch the defensive battle between MSU and Butler. Chips, dips and drinks accompanied the friends.

The informal gathering fit into everyone’s schedule – and budget – better than making the three-and-a-half hour journey to Indianapolis, Glasser said.

“I don’t think any of us could go to Indianapolis because of money and exams on Monday to study for,” the geology senior said.

“And it’s probably just as much fun to gather around your TV with all your friends.”

Marissa Nelson was waitressing at Applebee’s while the game took place. The journalism senior said, even though she was working, she still tried to catch the action with the cooperation and help from her customers.

“I tried to take orders and check on my tables during the commercial breaks, which guests thought was funny,” she said. “I could catch some of the game, but the whole restaurant would cheer during good or bad moments, so I always had an idea of what was going on.”

But in the last few moments of the game, it was all business – watching it.

“Towards the end the Applebee’s came to a standstill,” she said. “Servers, managers, cooks and guests were glued to the TV’s, and

Photography Sarah Choss, Jerry Chang & MSU Athletic communications

But for Spartan fans the world over, it was no time to stop watching their favorite team.

It was a date to watch the Spartans take on the Butler Bulldogs on April 3, whether in person or on TV. In a tournament run marked with last-minute shots and injured heroes, the road some fans traveled to watch the semifinal game was just as exciting.

As Naoki Takahashi explained and SPORT discovered, “The real Spartan fans and the Spartans themselves, no matter where we are around the globe.”

the place was silent. I have never seen that happen before, it was surreal.”

Another kind of silence took place after the game was over, Nelson said: one of disappointment.

“After we lost you could cut the silence with a knife,” she said. “And then it cleared out.”

The excitement of the city was palpable even after the loss, in spite of or because of the heightened presence of police, Glasser said.

“Oh, you could feel the electricity in the air,” he said. “You could tell everyone was really excited before hand, and afterwards people were a little disappointed, but everyone just wanted to have a good time and enjoy their Saturday night.”

City officials were pleased with the outcome of the night, too, even if the outcome of the game wasn’t what they hoped. In terms of celebratory events, East Lansing Mayor Vic Loomis was satisfied with how things turned out.

“We really have to tip our hats to all the Spartans that were on campus and in the city of East Lansing Saturday night,” Loomis said in an interview on “Ebling and You” on 1320 WILS. “They celebrated the way we hoped they would and the way Spartans celebrate. They celebrated very responsibly. It was a fun night from that standpoint.”

Spartans Around The World At 6:07 a.m. April 4, Jerry Chang and 20 other Spartan alumni were at a sports bar watching the Spartans compete in the national semifinal game. No, they weren’t watching a taped version of the game, they were watching it live in Shanghai, China, which is 12 hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time and 11,305 miles from East Lansing.

The Canadian-owned sports bar, Big Bamboo, has been the Shanghai alumni club’s “designated spot to watch MSU athletics” over the years, Chang said.

Chang, a 2000 Business Administration graduate, moved to Shanghai six years ago and said there are at least 30 addresses on the alumni group’s mailing list, and many more Spartans who come to watch parties of sporting events.

This year’s final four game was no exception in terms of the excitement it brought to the MSU alumni of Shanghai.

“During the game, everyone was clapping after each point or yelling their advice or critique of each play and the play of each player on the team,” he said. “It was very much like a bunch of couch-potato players trying to assess the game.”

Spartan Spirit MSU students enjoy the program’s sixth Final Four in twelve years.

With 40,000 international alumni in about 20 clubs around the world in places like Turkey, China, Thailand, Germany and Mexico, Claire Brender, director of International Alumni Relations at MSU, said the success of MSU sports impacts international alumni groups.

“The question about how clubs are impacted by success in sports is important to our clubs,” she said. “Our Indonesian amulni interact all day long with the equivalent of tweets using a Yahoo list-serve. And I noted numerous e-mails from them throughout the finals.”

Kahlil Rowter, president of the Indonesian MSU Alumni Club, said his club followed NCAA basketball through the newspaper and electronic media.

“Of course we were very enthusiastic about MSU getting to the semifinals,” the 1991 economics graduate said. “And we kept updating each other through emails on MSU team’s progress. Several congratulated Coach Izzo on MSU reaching the Final Four.”

There are already arrangements being made for next year’s NCAA tournament, Rowter said.

“In March next year we are planning to get together for a game watch.”

There were avid Spartan fans in Japan, too, like Takahashi. He kept up with the tournament through the CBS webstreaming service, “March Madness On Demand.”

The former Izzone member (1998-2002) said he gets encouragement from others for his dedication to MSU athletics.

“My family and friends tell me that I am

a great fan, caring to watch night games from 7 a.m. Japan time, and afternoon games from 3 in the morning, dying to cheer our players go up and down the court while jumping up and down the floor intensely in front of a laptop,” he said. “I tell my people here in Tokyo that I am not a fan. I am a Spartan.”

And while alumni were getting together to watch the game, MSU students studying abroad were just as enthusiastic. Nicolette Jean Sutkowi watched the Spartans take on Butler at a Paris bar at 11 p.m. local time She said she was going to watch the game “no matter what” even though she was on her program’s spring break.

“I actually had people visiting me here in France and I made them delay other travel plans to watch the game,” she said. “I didn’t get the opportunity to watch all the games in the tournament, but some of the other students did. I watched as many as I could even if it meant going to random bars at 2 in the morning to see some of the game.”

Sutkowi said while soccer is much more of a popular sport in France, the French are aware “basketball exists thanks to the few MSU fans abroad that definitely make the world aware of MSU basketball.”

Even though she was in Paris, Sutkowi said she missed watching the game at one other place in the world.

“It was kind of sad to not be able to watch the game on campus,” she said. “But it was amazing to know that people around the world can watch our team play, too.”

As Spartans always do.

APRIL & MAY 2010 SPECIAL EDITION

39

It’s Your Shot Send us your favorite local sports photos.

The best photos will be featured as a SPORT Last Shot.

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40 APRIL & MAY 2010 SPECIAL EDITION

SPORT LAST SHOT

Flat-Out Effort NCAA FINAL FOUR SEMI FINAL LUCAS OIL STADIUM IN INDIANAPOLIS. 04/03/2010

PHOTOGRAPH MSU ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS MSU forward Draymond Green won’t be denied on a drive to the basket against Butler.

APRIL & MAY 2010 SPECIAL EDITION

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41

SPORT QUICK HIT

Season Of Triumphs Other Prep, College Programs Prosper

BY ANDREA NELSON

The Michigan State men’s basketball team wasn’t the only Greater Lansing program to have success this winter. Boys and girls high school hoops and a few other college programs put their names on the map of the basketball world as well.

42 APRIL & MAY 2010 SPECIAL EDITION

Valentine said. “There were players doubting.

A lot of the parents were doubting. The school officials and everyone doubted what was going on. And we came together as a team. From that point on we went on an incredible roll.”

Several Big Reds received individual honors. Sophomore Denzel Valentine and junior Tyrin Wade earned all-state honorable mention. Valentine, Wade and their coach made the LSJ all-area Class B team.

Coach Valentine said he was extremely proud of his team’s unwillingness to give up after a few early losses.

“This team probably wasn’t expected to even get out of the district,” Valentine said. “So I think to some degree this team was disrespected. There were still so many focuses on other teams. We kind of slid off the radar, and that’s fine with us.”

The Big Reds weren’t the only team Valentine had his eye on this season. With son Drew playing for Oakland University, he had to keep track of a group down the road as well.

Led by former Okemos High star Johnathon Jones and Everett High state champ Derick Nelson, Oakland earned its second NCAA tournament appearance in five years with a 26-8 record. The Golden Grizzlies set the Summit League record for most wins in a single season. Head coach Greg Kampe said despite their winning record, they had to win the league championship to receive an automatic tournament bid.

“It was very exciting, and the feeling was as great a feeling as you could possibly have,” Kampe said. “You have a good team, there’s a lot of pressure on you, and you’re able to accomplish what your goals are. It was a very rewarding season.”

Oakland has won four league titles since becoming a Division 1 school in 2000.

Kampe said the Grizzlies’ goal is to establish themselves as a school consistently seen in the NCAA Tournament.

“In the landscape of college basketball and Michigan, we’re trying to position ourselves

Quakers Sow Oats LaDontae Henton launches a jumper in a win over Owosso during Eastern’s breakthrough season.

right behind the Spartans, as maybe the second-most successful program of the 2000s behind Michigan State,” Kampe said.

“Every time we can win a championship and every time we can do something special, that establishes our place.”

The Mid-Michigan girls had their own share of success this season. Portland High finished 25-2 and reached the state semifinals for the second time in three years, an achievement head coach Ray Kimball had in his sights long before the season started.

“Last summer I thought we were going to have a pretty decent team,” Kimball said.

“Everything just honestly fell into place.

We had great senior leadership and some

Photography MIKE MAJOR

The Lansing Eastern Quakers finished 21-3, their best record under third-year boys head coach Rod Watts. Watts led his team to the school’s first league and district titles since 1991. The Quakers’ success made Watts the Associated Press Class A Coach of the Year.

“I have to credit my coaches for that as well as the players,” Watts said. “A lot of the preparation that goes on, my coaches are a part of that. If I don’t have coachable players and guys who can execute what we set out, it would be impossible for me to receive that honor.”

With the trio of senior Cameron Sanchez, junior LaDontae Henton and freshman Charles “Cha-Cha” Tucker, the Quakers’ success came with no surprise.

Sanchez finished the season as a member of the Lansing State Journal Dream Team and earned all-state Class A honorable mention.

As a first-team all-state, three-time Lansing State Journal Dream Team member and LSJ Player of the Year, Watts said Henton has his best basketball ahead of him. Henton averaged 24.8 points and 14.5 rebounds per game for the Quakers and finished the season with a torn meniscus.

Watts hopes to make his team’s success this season a tradition at Lansing Eastern.

“It really means a lot to me,” Watts said.

“It means a lot to the team. It means a lot to the community, because the program at Eastern has been down for quite some time.

Our goal was to turn it around and get it back on the right track, and we think we made strides in that direction.”

The Sexton boys’ basketball team also took big steps this year. The Big Reds made it to their first state championship game in 50 years. After a 6-4 start, Sexton went on a 9-1 run to finish its regular season.

Fourth-year head coach Carlton Valentine said his team started 0-2 in the CAAC Red after finishing 24-0 in their conference the previous two seasons.

“There were a lot of people doubting,”

quality youth mixed in. It was just a very exciting season and we were real happy with how things ended up.”

Senior Sierra Riker, sophomore Sarah Trierweiler and Kimball made the all-area Class B team. Kimball said soon they’re expecting to be one of the top teams in Class B year in and year out.

“It’s what our goals are,” Kimball said. “Some teams have goals to have a winning record.

Some teams have a goal to win a league. We want to win the league. We want to win a district. We want to win a regional. And our goal is to get to the Final Four every year.”

The East Lansing girls’ basketball team took their season one step further. The Trojans won their first Class A state title with Miss Basketball Klarissa Bell and LSJ Coach of the Year Rob Smith leading the way.

“It was a special moment for the program in terms of players who have played for us in the past and all the people who have supported us over the years,” Smith said. “I think with any program that successful, you have to go through a lot of turbulence before you get to where you want to be. So it’s really a celebration for everyone who has stuck with us.”

Bell and fellow seniors Malika Glover and Zakiya Minifee earned all-area honors.

Glover made the LSJ Dream Team, and

Minifee earned all-state honorable mention.

They will be teammates again next year as first-year Golden Grizzlies.

Bell, Glover and Minifee are three of the five Division 1 basketball players the Trojans have produced in the last two years. Smith took advantage of the talent he has been given over the past few years and has turned out some extremely good players.

“We’ve just been so blessed to have those kinds of athletes and to have them ultimately put their effort into getting better in basketball,” Smith said. “That doesn’t happen very often where you have that many kids over a short period of time have that much success.”

Bell hopes to add to an already successful MSU team next winter.

The Lady Spartans ended their season 23-9, marking their seventh-straight 20-win season.

They started 2-4 in conference play before going on a 10-1 run to finish second in the Big Ten standings.

MSU earned its second-straight NCAA Tournament bid and made it to the second round before falling to Kentucky.

A large part of the Spartans’ success can be credited to senior Allyssa DeHaan, MSU’s fifth All-American. She finished second on the NCAA Division I blocked shots list and

ranked fourth at MSU in career points (1,649) and rebounds (919). DeHaan was the first Spartan to be named the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year and earned All-Big Ten honors for the fourth time in her career.

“Allyssa had a tremendous career as a Spartan,” Merchant said. “All of her accolades are well-deserved. Certainly, to be named an All-American is fitting to end her four-year career. She definitely changed the game, especially at the defensive end.”

The Spartans led the Big Ten in scoring defense and blocks. And though next season’s team will be different without DeHaan, Lansing’s Lauren Aitch and mainstay Aisha Jefferson, the future remains bright.

“We were pleased with our performance this year,” Merchant said. “We had one of the toughest non-conference schedules in the country, which really prepared us for the challenges of the conference and postseason play. Our players embraced the challenging schedule, which gave us the confidence to face and handle any adversity we might encounter throughout the year.”

The MSU men’s basketball team might overshadow other local successes during the winter, but there are plenty of talented athletes and exciting stories in the Lansing area that shouldn’t be missed.

APRIL & MAY 2010 SPECIAL EDITION

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SPORT FINISH LINE

Leading Questions The Quest For Answers, Titles Continues

It takes a lot to be champions, in basketball or anything else. One of the most important things is leadership. It can make or break you, as we’ve seen for years at Michigan State.

If great captains and a great coach provide leadership, everyone follows. If the leaders do what’s right, not what’s easy, there’s a better chance everyone will.

We saw that this season in winning a share of the Big Ten title and getting back to the Final Four. We also saw it with Antonio Smith and Mateen Cleaves. And we saw it last year with Travis Walton. They dragged other guys along with them.

I always thought I could lead that way, too. Coach Izzo saw those leadership qualities. But he wasn’t sure I was ready to be a captain as a sophomore. So I just kept doing what leaders do. Finally, Coach came to me and said it was time.

Being a leader is something you’re born with. My mom always told me to be a leader, not a follower. That’s what I did in first grade when I stood up and gave Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech.

I was never shy at all. But you don’t always think of yourself the way other people do. I think of myself as someone who loves to play basketball and loves life.

God has blessed me every day.

He gave me the strength to do the right things. No one is perfect. But as a leader, you always know people are watching. You can’t have the slip-ups other people have.

As a leader, you have to be open to others and able to listen. You have to know that you don’t know it all. And you have to know when to walk away. Sometimes when something happens, you want to retaliate. But you stop yourself and swallow your pride.

If you let your pride get in the way, you start to make mistakes. Instead of making mistakes, you need to make sacrifices. And leaders make more sacrifices than anyone else.

I’ve learned a lot about leadership from coaches – the way they carry themselves and look for the best possible scenario. A great leader is never unprepared. He never takes another team lightly.

44 APRIL & MAY 2010 SPECIAL EDITION

But I learned just as much from watching Travis lead my freshman year. He did everything in his power not to be the first four-year player for Coach Izzo not to make a Final Four. That wasn’t being selfish. Not Travis. He was the ultimate program guy.

Born Leader Draymond Green exemplifies everything Tom Izzo wants in a vocal captain.

Travis stayed in contact with everyone. He was always there. He had everyone’s best interests at heart. And he was a huge fan of basketball at all levels, even the women’s game.

It was after Travis’ last game, the loss to North Carolina last April, that I knew I had to do something. Everyone was really down about losing. But we’d accomplished some great things. So I asked myself, “What can I say to help us refocus?”

Magic had just finished talking, and I asked Coach if I could say a few words. I said that North Carolina had been blown out by Kansas 12 months earlier, and look what they’d done!

We could do the same thing. And we almost did. If we hadn’t had all the injuries…

But there were other problems this year.

I kept wondering, “What can we do to come

together and bond?” I’d been thinking about a sleepover for a while. It was something we did my sophomore year in high school. That group went on to win two state titles.

Finally, we had a meeting with Coach Izzo, Kalin Lucas and Isaiah Dahlman. Coach said maybe we should go bowling. I said, “I think we should have a sleepover.” He said, “Huh?” But Kalin, Isaiah and Doug Herner liked the idea. We had grown men sleeping next to each other on the floor. We had to be that close if we wanted to win.

That’s why we won after Kalin got hurt.

We’d always preached family. And when our floor general went down, we had to pick him up. At halftime of the Maryland game, we all stopped to see him. One by one, we said, “We’ve got your back!”

If Korie Lucious hadn’t hit that lastsecond shot, someone else would’ve made a play. It could’ve been anyone at the bottom of that pile. Korie was just the one I heard call my name four or five times. And Delvon Roe was smart enough to duck when I threw the pass.

When we lost to Butler, a lot of people talked about how I’d been fouled on a shot that would’ve put us ahead. There’s no purpose in criticizing the officials. They’re human. That’s part of sports. Besides, we made too many mistakes. If we’d done a few things right, it wouldn’t have come down to the last shot.

A few seconds after that, I had to get Coach Izzo away from the refs and walk him back to the huddle. The last thing we needed was a technical foul. I said, “C’mon, Coach! We need you to help us win this game!”

It didn’t happen. And congratulations to Butler. Congratulations to Duke, too. It was very difficult to watch that championship. But after four years of Class A titles and playing in Final Fours, just getting back there next season isn’t that exciting.

Nothing is guaranteed. I just know there’s one thing on everyone’s mind – winning a national championship. We can’t lose sight of that goal. We have to keep our eyes on the prize. That’s my job as a captain.

Photography MSU Athletic communications

BY DRAYMOND GREEN

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