Mar
7
by Chris Maynard, chris@hoops4thesoul.com
Hoops 4 the Soul Southeast Regional Breakdown
#2 2000 Michigan State Spartans vs. #3 2002 Maryland Terrapins
(remember to click on the pictures)
Point Guard:
Mateen Cleaves (12.1 ppg, 179 assists) vs. Steve Blake (8.0 ppg, 286 assists)
The heart and soul of the Spartans, the senior Cleaves is an erratic shooter who yet has the knack to hit the big shot when the game is on the line. Cleaves is the emotional leader of this talented Spartans squad, never getting rattled in the big moments and always being a catalyst to Michigan State comebacks and game-changing runs. A steady performer himself, Blake is a distributor who gets all of his teammates involved. While having a jumper that resembles a push shot, Blake is erratic at times from the outside, but is like Cleaves in that he’ll take and make the big shot. Both of these point guards aren’t the greatest athletes; however, they understand how to play the game and run an offense. Cleaves gets the advantage with his leadership skills and overall charisma; however, Blake is a truly underrated, gritty performer who will get into Cleaves on the defensive end. Advantage: Michigan State
Shooting Guard:
Charlie Bell (11.5 ppg, 4.9 rpg) vs. Juan Dixon (20.4 ppg, 4.6 rpg)
The junior Bell makes his biggest impact on the defensive end, and boy will he have a challenge guarding Dixon. While Bell is an erratic outside shooter at this point in his career, Dixon is close to automatic from the outside. Dixon, along with Kentucky’s Tony Delk, are the best shooters in this region. For his skinny stature, Dixon is as tough of a competitor as you’ll find, with ice water in his veins and absolutely no fear. Like Cleaves, Dixon pumps blood into this Maryland team with his unique competitiveness, dead-eye shooting and intimidating presence. Dixon’s killer instinct is what makes this Maryland team great. Advantage: Maryland
Small Forward:
Morris Peterson (16.8 ppg, 6.0 rpg) vs. Byron Mouton (11.1 ppg, 5.0 rpg)
A sweet shooting senior, Mo Pete is at his best filling the wing on the Spartan break, either for a thunderous jam or a poetry-in-motion three pointer. Peterson is the toughest Spartan to contain; he has the innate ability to be around the ball in the biggest moments. Often smiling from ear to ear, the game seems easy for this Flint, Michigan product. A picture in contrast, Mouton is an intense senior who ratchets it up on the defensive end. A transfer from Tulane, Mouton is a quiet yet solid player who does his job game in, game out. A tough defender, Mouton will still have his hands full with Peterson, the Spartans leading scorer. Advantage: Michigan State
Power Forward:
A.J. Granger (9.5 ppg, 5.3 rpg) vs. Chris Wilcox (12.0 ppg, 7.1 rpg)
Granger doesn’t look like much of a ball player but he’s really underappreciated. Granger has developed a really consistent jump shot from the top of the key and is a gritty defender down low who knows how to throw his body around with the big boys. Speaking of a big boy, the sophomore Wilcox is a man child with a NBA ready body. What Wilcox shows up is always the key for Maryland; will it be the dominator who nearly rips down the backboard with his powerful slams or the disinterested and inactive performer who seems lost at times. If Wilcox brings his “A” game and attitude, this match up easily goes in favor of Maryland. However, since Wilcox is always an unknown and Granger is so solid, this battle is a stalemate on paper. Advantage: Even
Center:
Andre Hutson (10.2 ppg, 6.2 rpg) vs. Lonny Baxter (15.2 ppg, 8.2 rpg)
A lanky 6’9’’ junior, Hutson has a placid demeanor on the outside; however, he plays with the nastiness of a Flintstone. Hutson is a fluid lefty who is silky smooth in scoring at the hoop. A rock on the block, Baxter clears the lane with his wide shoulders and excellent bank shooting. A beast in the paint, Baxter is like Hutson in terms of being an extremely efficient scorer. When Dixon is clicking from the outside and Baxter is throwing people around in the inside, Maryland is nearly unbeatable. Love Hutson’s game but he’s going to really have to move his feet against Baxter, who reminds you of a Sunday player who goes to the YMCA and just kicks butt for two hours. Advantage: Maryland
The Bench:
Like Wilcox, Michigan State has a potential game-changing wildcard in athletic freshman specimen Jason Richardson (5.1 ppg, 4.1 rpg), who can jump out of the gym and seemingly alter the course of a game with one rim-rattling slam. Richardson is a streaky shooter but will keep Maryland honest. The rest of Michigan State’s bench is nothing but a bunch of role players: big men Aloysius Anogonye (2.9 ppg, 3.0 rpg) and Adam Ballinger (2.0, 1.7 rpg) have the bodies to stand up to Baxter and Wilcox; however, they’re not experienced enough to contain the Maryland front line. Duke transfer Mike Chappell (5.9 ppg, 2.2 rpg) hasn’t quite found his game at Michigan State. The Maryland bench features two big men in Taj Holden (5.6 ppg, 2.7 rpg) and Ryan Randle (3.8 ppg, 3.1 rpg) who are very capable players in limited minutes. Junior Drew Nicholas (7.1 ppg, 2.3 rpg) gives the Terps some firepower off the bench and would start on a lot of teams. Advantage: Even
Coaching:
Michigan State’s Tom Izzo vs. Maryland’s Gary Williams
Both coaches are portraits of intensity whose teams are mirror images of their personalities. Izzo and Williams really work the sidelines and demand perfection from their teams. Izzo’s teams typically lead the country in rebounding while this Maryland squad under Williams is about as consistent and focused as they come. It’s hard to separate these outstanding coaches. Advantage: Even
Prediction:
The players to watch in this game besides the constants like Cleaves, Peterson, Dixon and Baxter are Richardson and Wilcox. Which of these two players has the bigger game could be the difference here.
This is without doubt the most competitively-matched game in the Sweet Sixteen. Maryland’s front line really poses a challenge for the Spartans, which really could use the services of Antonio Smith, who graduated following the 1999 season.
In terms of competitors (Cleaves, Baxter), killers (Peterson, Dixon) freakish athletes (Richardson, Wilcox), solid role players (Bell, Hutson, Granger; Blake, Mouton, Nicholas) and coaching (Izzo, Williams), this game has it all and should go down the wire.
While the three-seed, Maryland would seem to have the edge with its inside and outside play; however, Michigan State is comprised of a bunch of kids who’ve been playing together since they were kids and just know how to win. Michigan State wins this game in a nail biter.
Coming Later this Weekend: Preview of the Midwest Regional
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The heart and soul of the Spartans, the senior Cleaves is an erratic shooter who yet has the knack to hit the big shot when the game is on the line. Cleaves is the emotional leader of this talented Spartans squad, never getting rattled in the big moments and always being a catalyst to Michigan State comebacks and game-changing runs. A steady performer himself, Blake is a distributor who gets all of his teammates involved. While having a jumper that resembles a push shot, Blake is erratic at times from the outside, but is like Cleaves in that he’ll take and make the big shot. Both of these point guards aren’t the greatest athletes; however, they understand how to play the game and run an offense. Cleaves gets the advantage with his leadership skills and overall charisma; however, Blake is a truly underrated, gritty performer who will get into Cleaves on the defensive end. Advantage: 
The junior 
A sweet shooting senior, Mo Pete is at his best filling the wing on the Spartan break, either for a thunderous jam or a poetry-in-motion three pointer. Peterson is the toughest Spartan to contain; he has the innate ability to be around the ball in the biggest moments. Often smiling from ear to ear, the game seems easy for this 
Granger doesn’t look like much of a ball player but he’s really underappreciated. Granger has developed a really consistent jump shot from the top of the key and is a gritty defender down low who knows how to throw his body around with the big boys. Speaking of a big boy, the sophomore Wilcox is a man child with a NBA ready body. What Wilcox shows up is always the key for 
A lanky 6’9’’ junior, Hutson has a placid demeanor on the outside; however, he plays with the nastiness of a Flintstone. Hutson is a fluid lefty who is silky smooth in scoring at the hoop. A rock on the block, Baxter clears the lane with his wide shoulders and excellent bank shooting. A beast in the paint, Baxter is like Hutson in terms of being an extremely efficient scorer. When 
Like Wilcox, 
Both coaches are portraits of intensity whose teams are mirror images of their personalities. Izzo and Williams really work the sidelines and demand perfection from their teams. Izzo’s teams typically lead the country in rebounding while this 
In terms of competitors (Cleaves, Baxter), killers (Peterson, 
You know my feelings on 2000. The only redeeming quality is the MSU-Iowa State elite 8 game that was as good as a championship game and I think both teams new it. MSU was certainly a deserving national champion in any season. There were tons and tons of upsets, almost all due to lousy play. Miserable UNC and Wisconsin teams made the Final 4. Gene Keady choked when his first F4 bid was all but handed to him. The Pac 10 got a pair of 1 seeds and both lost in the 2nd round. Cincinnati went from title contender to easy out when Kenyon Martin broke his leg in the conference tourney.
I went to W-Salem to see Illinois play in the 1st round and was rewarded with Mike Miller’s buzzer beater to beat Butler. Although none of us were happy at the time and we were less happy when Florida dispatched of the Illini with ease two days later and somehow made the title game.
This tournament goes to show that while upsets are exciting, too many of them leads to awful games later in the tournament.
2002 had its fair share of upsets with Antonio Gates and Kent State making the elite 8 and an underachieving Missouri team easily winning its first 3 games and nearly beating Oklahoma to make the F4 as a 12 seed.
I somehow have no recollection of the 2OT UCLA upset of 1-seed Cincinnati in the 2nd round. I think the game most people remember is the Duke-Indiana game with the Jason Williams basket and a foul at the end, Mike Davis freaking out, the missed FT and uncalled hack on Carlos Boozer’s putback at the buzzer and a rare moment where Duke got hosed. That Indiana team making the final was a sad thing. They were really not good.
Maryland was a good enough team and they did beat very talented UConn and Kansas teams to get to the final, so they deserved to be the champ.