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Michigan State Spartans (2001: 28-5)

The following team preview is provided by Blue Ribbon. For the nation's most comprehensive look at this and all Division I teams, be sure to order the 2001-02 Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook, on sale now at 1-800-775-2518.

The Michigan State Spartans are in the midst of a run unmatched by anyone in the country over the same time period, save defending national champion Duke.

Consider these accomplishments: Four consecutive Big Ten titles. Three straight Final Fours. And the 2000 national title to boot.

The man who succeeded his mentor and 19-year MSU staple Jud Heathcote in 1995 has taken the program to heights even Heathcote couldn't. Tom Izzo, the first coach in school history to produce four straight 20-win seasons, is one of the hottest names in coaching -- at any level.

This year, the Spartans face a rebuilding project.

Izzo terms the challenge ahead "total reconstruction." As if losing Andre Hutson (graduated), fellow four-year starter Charlie Bell and key role players David Thomas and Mike Chappell wasn't enough, both sophomore Jason Richardson and freshman Zach Randolph bolted early for the NBA, the school's first early entrants since Magic Johnson in 1979.

Richardson went No. 5 overall to the Golden State Warriors, Randolph No. 19 to Portland.

Over the last two off-seasons, the program has bid farewell to seven players who started at least their final season and 10 scholarship players overall. Even top assistant Stan Heath left after last season for the top job at Kent State.

Izzo is left with a shell of his typical roster: eight scholarship players, none of them seniors, and two walk-ons. And Izzo's teams had become accustomed to going eight- or nine-deep most games.

Any last-minute efforts to add a couple more recruits in the spring were basically rendered impracticable by the new 8/5 scholarship rule, with Izzo reluctant to take a chance on the type of periphery prospects still available so late.

Unfortunately, the schedule was designed for a team that wouldn't be so overtly young. Izzo has never been one to shy away from a challenge, and this year those challenges come in the form of games against Florida, Arizona, Virginia, Stanford and Seton Hall, plus a preseason NIT field that includes Oklahoma, Syracuse, Arkansas, Fresno State and USC.

Only the Arizona and Seton Hall games are in the comforts of the Breslin Center, where MSU holds a nation's-best 44-game home winning streak.

But no one, including Izzo himself, seems to be writing off the potential of this team. He likes the fact that all five of his returning scholarship players gained overseas playing experience this summer.

And for his part, the always light-hearted coach is choosing to focus on the positives. "Some of it is going to be kind of fun," he said. "At least you don't have to worry about playing time."

Projected starters

PG - Marcus Taylor (6-3, 190 lbs., SO, #1, 7.4 ppg, 1.3 rpg, 3.6 apg, 22.0 minutes, .396 FG, .271 3PT, .744 FT, Waverly HS/Lansing, Mich.)

A Lansing native, Taylor's first brush with Spartan greatness came at 10 years old, when he attended Magic Johnson's summer camp in Los Angeles, even staying at the superstar's house. As young as junior high, he was playing pickup games with active MSU players.

In other words, his eventually suiting up for the Spartans was inevitable.

Upon his arrival last season, Taylor did not disappoint. Izzo was content to break him in as Cleaves' successor slowly, starting him in only nine games. But considering Taylor's experience, Izzo considers him "a returning starter."

Taylor played 22 minutes a game and turned in a decent 1.75 assist-to-turnover ratio. He showed exactly the kind of ball-handling and defensive skills expected of a McDonald's All-American.

Where Izzo expects to see Taylor step up this season is in scoring. With the exception of a 15-point, seven-assist performance against Florida, Taylor was mostly an afterthought in the offense, but that wasn't the role asked of him.

SG - Kelvin Torbert (6-4, 220 lbs., FR, #23, 26.0 ppg, 8.2 rpg, 3.5 apg, 2.5 spg, Northwestern HS/Flint, Mich.)

Losing Richardson is made slightly less painful by the addition of Torbert, similar in playing style and, by all indications, athletic ability. Just as Richardson was one of the nation's top recruits his senior year, Torbert was a USA Today first team All-American and the Gatorade national player of the year.

His jumper is deadly, his explosiveness to the basket unmatched among the nation's incoming freshmen. He lit up the McDonald's All-America game with 21 points.

Logically, with Torbert's talents and MSU's glaring need for a scorer, expectations will loom large for him to emerge as an immediate superstar.

SF - Adam Wolfe (6-9, 215 lbs., SO, #3, 1.7 ppg, 1.7 rpg, 6.0 minutes, .273 FG, .167 3PT, .875 FT, South HS/Westerville, Ohio)

Wolfe's biggest obstacle as a red-shirt freshman wasn't Big Ten competition.

It was headaches.

Throughout the season, Wolfe suffered from migrane headaches, a condition that has plagued him since childhood. Some of the headaches were debilitating enough to keep him laid up in his room for two days at a time. This obviously put a crimp on his development.

Izzo says doctors finally have the problem under control, and Wolfe figures to have a shot at taking over one of the starting forward positions, if he can hold off incoming freshman Alan Anderson. The Westerville, Ohio, native draws comparisons to former Spartan A.J. Granger in terms of his ability to both bang underneath and step back for the occasional outside shot.

Wolfe showed some encouraging signs playing for the Big Ten Men's Basketball Foreign Tour team on its trip to England and Ireland. He was the team's leading scorer (14.3 ppg) and rebounder (6.5 rpg). He also shot .586 (34-of-58) from the field and .412 (seven-of-17) from three-point range.

PF - Adam Ballinger (6-9, 250 lbs., JR, #55, 1.9 ppg, 1.6 rpg, .4 blocks, 8.2 minutes), .465 FG, .727 FT, Bluffton HS/Bluffton, Ind.)

Like several teammates, Ballinger was limited by injury last year. He missed the first eight games of the season with a broken thumb. But he also made the first start of his career on Jan. 21 against Ohio State and took full advantage, scoring a career-high 10 points.

Like Wolfe, he has decent offensive moves, but will be counted on more for his strength. It will be tough replacing a rebounder the caliber of Hutson, but Ballinger will get the first shot.

C - Aloysius Anagonye (6-8, 255 lbs., JR, #25, 4.7 ppg, 3.1 rpg, .5 blocks, 17.7 minutes, .624 FG, .714 FT, DePorres HS/Detroit, Mich.)

Despite averaging less than 20 minutes a game last season, Anagonye becomes the most experienced player on the team this year. He did start 24-of-33 games and led MSU by shooting 65.8 percent (25-of-38) from the field in Big Ten play.

By default, Anagonye must become the Spartans' main defensive presence in the paint. But he has actually been more impressive on the offensive end thus far, gaining more offensive (57) than defensive (46) rebounds last season. Some of his best games came against teams with quality big men, like his 10-point, 12-rebound effort against Samuel Dalembert and Seton Hall and his 5-of-7, 13-point day against Marvin Ely and Fresno State in the NCAAs.

At 6-8, Anagonye will be giving up inches to many of his counterparts on the schedule this season, like Purdue's 6-11 John Allison and Michigan's 7-2 Josh Moore. A good early test will come in December against Florida's Udonis Haslem, quite possibly the nation's top center.

Bottom line

Rebuilding, reloading, call it what you want. But this will definitely be a transition year for the Spartans.

They are basically looking at two stars, Taylor and Torbert -- the latter of whom has yet to play a collegiate game -- and a thin supporting cast filled with more questions than answers. It's still enough to keep them in the upper half of the Big Ten, but the run of four consecutive league titles is likely over.

But that's not to say Izzo's mini-dynasty is dead.

It didn't end with the loss of cornerstones Cleaves and Peterson, and it probably won't end as long as he's the coach. But he is the first to admit that after failing to properly prepare for losing Richardson and Randolph so soon, he needs to adjust to the times.

Izzo did end up landing replacements for Randolph and Richardson, if a year late. A pair of Top 30 prospects that play their positions, 6-10 Paul Davis (Rochester Hills, Mich.) and 6-4 Maurice Ager (Detroit), will arrive next fall. If he can keep Taylor and Torbert too, the Spartans' talent level should return quickly to form.

As for this year, it will all depend on what, if anything, he gets from previous non-factors like Wolfe, Ballinger and Andreas, and if Anagonye can take his game to the next level. Izzo talks about the need for the team to "get better every week," to take its lumps early against the non-conference titans but turn the experiences into a positive come January.