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3. Michigan State There's a brutal schedule to endure without a point guard, but hey, they are Spartans
It seemed like good advice at the time. After all, Michigan State was bringing back five of its top six scorers and four of its top five rebounders from a team that finished 33-5 and reached the Final Four. So Izzo lined up a murderers' row for the Spartans to play during the first two months of the season -- at North Carolina on Dec. 1, against Kansas in Chicago on Dec. 7, at Arizona on Dec. 11 and at Kentucky on Dec. 23. Now, however, Izzo has a problem. Cleaves suffered a stress fracture in his right foot soon after practice started and had to have surgery on Oct. 25 to repair it. He won't return to the lineup until at least the end of December. He might be available for the start of Big Ten play on Jan. 5, and there's still the Feb. 5 date with Connecticut in East Lansing to look forward to, but Cleaves's injury has dealt a serious blow to Michigan State's national championship aspirations -- not to mention the disruptions it has caused to Izzo's sleeping patterns. "I feel bad for the kid because he really worked his butt off this summer," Izzo says. "People like to say no one person is bigger than the program, but it's not always true. It'll be interesting how we handle this. If you're a good program, you can survive." The Spartans would be facing a difficult test even if they had an experienced point guard waiting in the wings, but they don't. Last season's backup, 6'3" sophomore Doug Davis, figured -- ironically enough -- that he wouldn't get much playing time with Cleaves around for another season, so he transferred to Miami of Ohio. Izzo decided not to recruit another point guard because he wanted to show his commitment to Marcus Taylor, a gifted senior at Lansing's Waverly High, who he hoped would be his point guard of the future. (Taylor committed to Michigan State on Aug. 30.) That leaves 6'7" junior David Thomas, who redshirted last year in order to work on his game. Trouble is, Thomas has never been a full-time point guard, not even in high school. Even without Cleaves, the Spartans possess a blend of talent and experience that is all but extinct in the college game. Their best player, 6'6" swingman Morris Peterson, is a senior, as is 6'9" A.J. Granger, who will start at power forward. The other two returning starters, 6'3" Charlie Bell and 6'8" Andre Hutson, are juniors. Even the best newcomer -- Mike Chappell, a 6'9" sweet-shooting transfer from Duke -- is a junior. "Last year people were really hoping we could win a national title," Hutson says. "This year people are expecting it." The Spartans face a challenge in replacing the departed Antonio Smith, who was the team's top rebounder and emotional leader, but they finally got some good news last week when they learned that 6'6" freshman Jason Richardson, a McDonald's All-America who had been declared ineligible by the NCAA, was cleared to play this season. That adds some much-needed frontcourt depth, but Michigan State's best chance at cutting down the nets in Indianapolis would be for Peterson to have an All-America year. That would be a remarkable achievement considering that four years ago he was an overweight, immature freshman who had to take a medical redshirt year because of a broken finger. The next season, to discipline Peterson for not following team rules, Izzo left him home while the Spartans traveled to a tournament in Hawaii. Peterson has toed the line ever since. Last year he led Michigan State in scoring with 13.6 points a game and was named first team all-Big Ten despite being a reserve. He never complained about not starting. Most of this discussion will be moot, however, if Cleaves doesn't come back as strong as ever when his foot heals. Shortly after learning that he needed surgery, he delivered a fiery speech to his teammates. "I know people are going to drop us in the rankings," he told them, "but our goal is still to win a national championship." Later that afternoon Cleaves's mother, Frances, gently kissed his forehead as he was about to be wheeled into a hospital operating room. It will be interesting to see how the Spartans will look upon that scene a few months from now. Will they view it as the start of a painful period from which they emerged stronger? Or will they see it as the moment when they kissed their goal goodbye? Issue date: November 15, 1999
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