Michigan State University Athletics
2000 Spartan Championship Team Nominated For ESPY Award
1/11/2001 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 11, 2001
EAST LANSING, Mich. - The 2000 NCAA Champion Michigan State men's basketball team has been nominated for the 2001 ESPY Awards. The ninth annual ESPYs - for Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly - will be held Monday, Feb. 12 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nev. The Spartans are up for the College Team of the Year Award. Their competition includes the 2000 NCAA women's basketball champion Connecticut Huskies, the 2000 NCAA baseball champion LSU Tigers and the 2000 Oklahoma football team, which won a national championship by winning the 2001 Orange Bowl.
The 2000 Spartans finished the year with a 32-7 record, while capturing the second NCAA title in school history, a third-straight regular-season Big Ten Championship and a second-consecutive Big Ten Tournament title. MSU won its final 11 games of the season and became the first team in NCAA Tournament history to win all six tournament games by double figures.
A member of the Spartan championship team, Mateen Cleaves, has been nominated for an individual ESPY Award. Cleaves is one of four nominees for Men's College Basketball Player of the Year. Cleaves, who finished as the MSU and Big Ten career assists leader, was a three-time first-team All-Big Ten honoree and two-time Big Ten Player of the Year. The former Spartan All-American is up against Iowa State's Marcus Fizer, Cincinnati's Kenyon Martin and Notre Dame's Troy Murphy for the award.
Overall, the ESPYs feature 34 categories. The winners are choosen by a newly expanded voting body - the ESPY Awards Academy - which includes Hall of Fame athletes from each of the sports disciplines the ESPYs honor as well as nationally recognized print and broadcast sports journalists representing every major outlet.
The ESPY Awards will be televised live on Monday, Feb. 12 on ESPN at 9 p.m.
