NCAA Tournament 2000 - Cleaves embodies spirit of the Spartans

Cleaves embodies spirit of the Spartans
By Dick Vitale
Special to ESPN.com

Mateen, Mateen, Mateen. I can't sing the praises enough of this outstanding leader. I felt Cleaves' performance in the first half of Monday night's championship game was as good as I have seen in a long, long time.


	Mateen Cleaves triggered Michigan State with his own offense.

He was the maestro man, he orchestrated the offense. Yes, Michigan State as a team easily broke the Florida press, but it was Cleaves who led the attack. He hit three big 3-pointers, he came back into the game after being hurt, he showed the critics that he could knock down the long range jumper. And when all was said and done, he was able to reach his goal, cutting down the nets in Indianapolis.

Morris Peterson did an outstanding job on the defensive end, shutting down Mike Miller. People will say that Peterson didn't score much in the first half -- it's true that he didn't do much on the offensive end, but look what he did defensively! He held Miller to just two shot attempts.

And A. J. Granger was brilliant knocking down shots and hitting the glass. Mike Chappell came off the bench and hit a big 3-pointer when Cleaves was hurt. Every time Florida made a run, the Spartans had the answer.

When you look at Michigan State, they did a great job against the pressure defense and traps. They had people to help Cleaves in handling the basketball. They defended the 3-point shot.

Certainly Michigan State was not afraid to play the up-tempo style of game. In fact, the Spartans were 22-2 this season when scoring 70 or more points, with the two losses coming to Texas and Indiana.

Cleaves has something you just can't teach, and Michigan State not only went through the pressure, it attacked it and got easy baskets off of it.

I'll tell you what; you will see Mr. Cleaves play 10 years in the NBA. I love the little general. Hey, maybe he will then go back to East Lansing and take over as coach for Mr. Izzo! You never know, baby! Michigan State also plays super defense. Don't look at the final score, because Florida hit a few 3-pointers late and Udonis Haslem did have a big game inside. The Spartans are one of the best defensive teams for a championship team I've seen in a while.

Talk about playing your best at the right time. The Spartans closed the season with 11 straight wins, and only one of them came by fewer than 10 points. That was a nine-point win over Wisconsin in the Big Ten tournament. Now that's a case of dominance, baby!

Right from the start
As soon as Michigan State was sent to the locker room by Duke in Tropicana Field at last year's Final Four, that's when Tom Izzo knew what it would take to get his Spartans ready for the golden moment this time around.

What has happened this season in East Lansing really began with the events that night in the locker room in Florida. The Spartans received great news when Cleaves said no, no, no to the megabucks of the NBA, deciding to come back for his senior year. This passionate leader led the team to the winner's circle; you can throw away statistics when you look at his game.

He has the unbelievable ability to make people around him better. He is such a fierce competitor and it becomes contagious to his teammates. When they rolled the balls out back in October, you knew that Michigan State was going to be the team to beat. I picked them to win it all in my preseason magazine.

Then the Spartans played an unbelievable non-conference schedule, facing the likes of Kentucky, Arizona, North Carolina, Texas and Kansas. It really prepared them for their second phase, the Big Ten conference schedule and then the league tournament. Michigan State played against the best.

I felt this year the Big Ten conference was the premier one in the nation. The elite of the elite were the Spartans.

Then there was the journey through the NCAA Tournament. Valparaiso, Utah, Syracuse, Iowa State, Wisconsin and then Monday over Florida. That's not an easy road, baby!

Think about the comeback against Syracuse, down 14 in the second half. Or what about the rally against Iowa State, a team which I felt deserved a No. 1 seed.

It was a great, great run. Izzo's team is like a great, great family.

We heard all about the depth of Florida, the bench strength, the 3-point shooting. Guess what; it all belonged to the Spartans on Monday night.

Let's give credit to Florida for a great run. Billy "The Kid" Donovan has a lot to be proud of. His team features a total of 10 freshmen and sophomores, and the future is bright down in Gainesville.

However, on Monday night, the celebration was in East Lansing.


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