Students Rally As Team Heads To Indianapolis
3/30/2000 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
March 30, 2000
By DEE-ANN DURBIN
Associated Press Writer
EAST LANSING, Mich.- As they gathered for a rousing send-off Wednesday in the gym where Magic Johnson used to play, Michigan State fans were confident the school will see its first NCAA championship since Johnson played for the school.
"We plan on bringing back a national championship," coach Tom Izzo told hundreds of cheering students during a send-off rally Wednesday evening shortly before the team departed for the NCAA tournament Final Four at Indianapolis.
"You've been behind us this whole time," said guard Mateen Cleaves, one of the seniors who spoke to the crowd. "I just want to ask you to stay behind us two more times."
The Spartans face Wisconsin on Saturday afternoon in the semifinals. Their confidence is understandable: Michigan State has beaten Wisconsin three times this season and is playing in its second consecutive Final Four.
Team members threw miniature green-and-white basketballs into the crowd as they strode onstage. Izzo and Michigan State president Peter McPherson praised students for their support of the team.
"I just want to tell you that we've tried to represent the school as best we could," Izzo said.
Joe Acker, a sophomore studio art major, spent the afternoon making a large charcoal drawing of Cleaves. Acker, 20, could barely contain his excitement as he boosted the drawing into the air.
"I'm screaming like a little schoolgirl," he said. "My prediction is Florida and us, and we're taking 'em."
Mark Nicholson, 22, a senior trumpet player with the team's pep band, said he's certain the team will win this year despite last year's loss in the Final Four.
"They're all seniors, and this is their year," said Nicholson, a history major from Detroit.
The rally lasted about 45 minutes, with the pep band playing the school fight song, cheerleaders performing and the crowd waving green and white pompoms. After the rally the team boarded a bus and headed to the airport for the flight to Indianapolis.
Even when non-Michigan State fans were asked about the Spartans' chances, most Michigan residents were optimistic. A poll of 600 Michigan residents released Wednesday indicated that 60 percent expect the Spartans to win the NCAA title, Lansing-based Marketing Resource Group said.
Indianapolis Final Fours have a lot in common
By JIM O'CONNELL
AP Basketball Writer
INDIANAPOLIS - The Final Four's fourth visit to the heart of basketball country comes 20 years after the first. Two decades later, not much has changed.
In 1980, two teams from the Big Ten - Iowa and Purdue - made it to Indianapolis. In 2000, two teams from the Big Ten - Michigan State and Wisconsin - made it to Indianapolis.
In 1980, two of the teams that made the national semifinals - Iowa and UCLA - were unranked. It didn't happen again until now, with Wisconsin and North Carolina reaching the Final Four despite not being in the final regular-season poll.
The 1980 Final Four was held in Market Square Arena, a building that awaits the wrecker's ball since the Pacers moved into Conseco Fieldhouse. This will be the third Final Four held in the RCA Dome and each had North Carolina as one of the teams.
UCLA reached the Final Four as a No. 8 seed in 1980, one of only two teams to do that until this year when North Carolina and Wisconsin got to the last weekend of the season.
On Saturday, Michigan State, the only top seed to reach the Final Four, plays Wisconsin, with Florida, a fifth seed, facing North Carolina in the second game. The winners play Monday night for the national championship.
Michigan State (30-7), the only conference champion still playing, has won nine straight games and has two wins against Wisconsin in that streak.
The Badgers (22-13) are 0-3 against the Spartans this season, the only losses in their last 14 games. Their tournament run includes wins over top-seeded Arizona and LSU.
"I'd rather be playing someone else," Wisconsin coach Dick Bennett said. "People have tried to make a case for the fact we have lost to them three times, so that means it should be a little better. On the other hand, we don't know if we can beat them."
Michigan State got this far last season, losing to Duke in the semifinal, the Spartans' first Final Four appearance since winning it all in 1979 with Magic Johnson.
"The things I learned from last season, unfortunately, are not going to help on the court, the hotels, getting around, the practice times," Spartans coach Tom Izzo said. "Do I think it's going to be an incredible difference? Unfortunately, no. I wish I could say that it was. But yet, I think it's got to help a little bit."
Florida coach Billy Donovan makes history this weekend by becoming the sixth person to coach and play in a Final Four. He was a guard at Providence in 1987.
The Gators (28-7) play a full-court style that wears down opponents. Their impressive run to the Final Four includes victories over fourth-seeded Illinois, top-ranked Duke and third-seeded Oklahoma State.
Despite seven sophomores and freshmen in the 10-man rotation, Florida has played like a veteran team.
"As each game has gone by for our younger guys, they have had a much, much better awareness of what they can and cannot get away with at this level," said the 34-year-old Donovan, the youngest of the Final Four coaches by far. "There's been a tremendous improvement from the first day of practice to now. So I think for a lot of these kids they really aren't freshmen and sophomores."
North Carolina coach Bill Guthridge is in his second Final Four in just three seasons, but the Tar Heels (22-13) did it this time as an underdog. The NCAA tournament run included a win over top-seeded Stanford and a regional final victory over Tulsa.
"As far as us being an underdog, it has been different this year," Guthridge said. "It's kind of fun right now, but I hope that we haven't been the underdog all the time, because if you are the underdog, you haven't succeeded very well."
