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Q&A: SI's Grant Wahl Spartans show they're complete team
Posted: Tuesday April 04, 2000 12:53 AM
Sports Illustrated college basketball writer Grant Wahl chatted with CNNSI.com from courtside at the RCA Dome after Michigan State's 89-76 victory over Florida on Monday for the national title. CNNSI.com: How impressed were you with Michigan State's performance? Grant Wahl: Very impressed. This weekend they showed they were able to play at two completely different paces and win big at both, which shows me they're a complete team. A guy like Jason Richardson, for instance, who didn't do anything against Wisconsin because he doesn't play that kind of game, comes out and has a wonderful game playing at a fast pace like this. It reminds me of the UConn game they played earlier in the year. They don't play at a fast pace very often, but when they do, they can do it awfully well. CNNSI.com: What was your initial reaction when Mateen Cleaves went down with the injury? Wahl: That they were in trouble. He's so important to them. I was on other side of court, so I didn't see exactly what happened, other than the replays. At the time, they were ahead by six, and when he came back, they were up nine, so they played OK without him. Charlie Bell had a wonderful game. He may not have had a ton of points, but he didn't screw up. He was very capable and in control, able to run the team while Cleaves was gone. That said, it was still a huge lift for them when he came back from the locker room. CNNSI.com: Could you feel the energy in the arena when he came back? Wahl: Oh yeah. They actually showed him on the big screen as he was walking from way back, and the crowd went nuts, but it was still 45 seconds-to-a minute until he came out on the court. And then it got even louder, I'm sure that helped his teammates, too, seeing Mateen come back like that, even though he didn't do anything stat-wise after he came back. CNNSI.com: You've seen Florida a lot this year. How did they get forced into a situation where they were looking to get it into Udonis Haslem on every possession? Wahl: Michigan State was guarding them really well on the perimeter, and Florida didn't have any threats. Mike Miller only had two shots in the first half. That's your star, and he really wasn't able to create anything. None of the perimeter guys was doing anything. Teddy Dupay got benched for rest of game after his foul on Mateen. He didn't score. Justin Hamilton's not really a scorer, and Brett Nelson was hot and cold. But the inside was open, and Michigan State was pretty clearly going to give it to them. If you had told me Haslem was going to score 27 in this game, I would have said it was going to be close. Brent Wright had a good game, but those were the only two guys that did anything for Florida. To be honest, I was pretty disappointed with Mike Miller. CNNSI.com: Was there anything Florida could have done differently to make a game out of it? Wahl: It's hard to say. Michigan State played so well. I don't think there' much more Florida could have done. A.J. Granger had a wonderful game, Cleaves was scoring, which you couldn't have expected, and Morris Peterson was the guy who really got them going and put them away in the second half. Michigan State just had too many threats tonight on offense, and Florida did not have a particularly good half-court defensive game. CNNSI.com: Finally, assess what Michigan State accomplished on the season as a whole? Wahl: If you look at it, they had a lot of obstacles this year, beginning with Cleaves' broken foot. They had a ridiculously tough schedule, which was made even tougher when they didn't have Cleaves for part of it. They lost to Wright State, which is pretty crazy. And yet, they didn't over-schedule. Everything they did had a purpose, and they were ready to win in March. I think the toughest game they had, and the real national championship, was against Iowa State. I'm convinced Iowa State was the second-best team in the tournament, and it's too bad they couldn't play it here.
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