Sports: Two Final Fours for MSU Cagers

            With two incredible sagas, MSU achieved a rare double as both men’s and women’s basketball teams made the NCAA Final Four.

            Heart! Valor! Vindication!  If Broadway were to name a musical about this memorable hoops season for the Green and White, it would have to be with lots of exclamation points. 

            Both men’s and women’s 2004-2005 basketball teams made it to the NCAA Final Four, a rare feat achieved by only six schools in history.  They did so in Hollywood style, with two contrasting but equally compelling sagas.  And Spartans around the globe—including military personnel stationed in Iraq—celebrated with a massive outpouring of Spartan spirit and passion.

            Each team defied the odds to reach the Final Four.  The men were not expected to advance far into the tournament, and yet when all was said and done, Tom Izzo had nabbed his fourth Final Four in seven years—an NCAA record unmatched by any other current coach.  For Joanne P. McCallie, it was the other way around.  Although her team ascended to a No. 1 seed, slaying giants of the game like UConn, Tennessee, Stanford and Notre Dame, both she and the team were in uncharted waters as MSU women had never before advanced beyond the NCAA’s second round.

            Each team boasted dramatic angles.  For the men, it was redemption for past failures and vindication for Izzo’s coaching.  For the women, it was a Hoosiers-like tale of triumph by mostly local, small-town players, except that “Coach P” is a bit more affable than Gene Hackman’s Norman Dale.

            The men’s team wound up ranked No. 4 in the nation, the women’s team No. 2.  Put together, these two success tales provided MSU with more March Madness drama and publicity than any other school in the nation.

IZZO GETS FOURTH FINAL FOUR

            After the Big Ten men’s tournament in Chicago, many “experts” basically wrote the Spartans off for dead.  MSU had forged an impressive 24-6 record, but showed some blatant weaknesses.  For example, late missed free throws had cost MSU its Big Ten tournament opener against Iowa—a replay of earlier games at Wisconsin and Indiana.  Some writers questioned the players’ hearts and even manhood.

            But Tom Izzo knew better.  He believed the players had one last run in them, and predicted as much to disbelieving ears.  Inspired by a conversation with former mentor Jud Heathcote, Izzo brought a sledgehammer to a team meeting prior to the NCAA tournament and proceeded to smash two video tapes.  It was a dramatic ploy to bury the past and to focus on the future. 

            It was pure theater.  But it, er, hit the nail on the head. 

            MSU won its next four games showing hardly a trace of past mental lapses.  In the NCAA first round in Worcester, MA, the Spartans swept by Old Dominion 89-81, disappointing many pundits who had picked against the Spartans, and then dominated Syracuse-slayer Vermont, the nation’s emerging Cinderella, 72-61.  MSU then went to Austin, TX, and proceeded to beat powerhouses Duke, a No. 1 seed, and Kentucky, a No. 2 seed. 

            In St. Louis, the Spartans lost to eventual national champion North Carolina, a team loaded with future NBA players who were assembled, ironically, by top assistant Doug Woczyk, who moves on to Tulsa.  Unbeknownst to many observers, MVP senior Alan Anderson had a meniscus tear in his knee and was unable to play up to par in that 87-71 loss.

            Nonetheless, MSU’s “March to the Arch” netted the Spartans a treasure trove of positives:

• First, it reinforced the fact that Tom Izzo is one of the game’s foremost coaches—something media critics tend to forget. Izzo boasts the second-best winning percentage in the NCAA tournament among all active coaches.  No other coach can boast four Final Fours in the past seven years.
• It vindicated seniors Alan Anderson, Tim Bograkos, Chris Hill and Kelvin Torbert, who proved they did have enough heart to hang a banner in Breslin Center.  Their “footsteps in the sand” is a Final Four banner, no less.  Adds Izzo,  “I think their legacy might be the greatest of them all, because they came back after being down so many times.”
• It solidified MSU‘s status as an elite program.  "Since the Izzo era began in 1995, how many programs have outdone the Spartans?” writes Michael Rosenberg of the Detroit Free Press on March 24.  “Michigan State fans can count them on one hand—and still have a finger left over to show how they feel about Michigan."
• It will help future recruiting.  As Izzo notes, “The one thing that I didn't realize was that every kid I've recruited in 10 years has now been to a Final Four. I used to hear that about (Bob) Knight. It's something that makes me feel real good.  That's what you tell kids when you recruit them." 
• It will help future recruiting (part two).  MSU’s fastbreak offense, which drew oohs and aahs from the commentators, is sure to attract talented athletes who prefer the up-tempo style to the slowdown tactics some propagandists try to falsely pin on MSU.
• It shooed several monkeys off the team’s back.  After five previous losses to Duke, MSU finally beat the Blue Devils.  (Just as earlier, Izzo beat Bo Ryan after a string of losses to Ryan-coached Wisconsin teams.)  After a series of losses to ranked teams, MSU beat Wisconsin, then Duke, and then Kentucky—the last a payback for the record-setting “BasketBowl” loss the previous year in Ford Field.  MSU did not get a chance to beat Syracuse in Worcester, MA, but soundly beat the team that knocked off the Orangemen.
• It capped one of MSU’s most successful seasons ever, 26-7 overall and  13-3 in the conference.  MSU’s losses were to the national champion, two number-one seeds, and five Top 25 teams. 
• It was great for team morale, which bodes well for future unity among the players.  Winners tend to unite more and celebrate their success.
• It struck a blow for the Big Ten, helping the conference emerge as the most successful league in the NCAA tourney with two teams in the Final Four and three in the Sweet Sixteen.  No other conference could match this.
• It sparked pride among MSU’s 400,000 worldwide alumni, many who gathered in cities across the nation with their regional clubs to follow the Spartans.
• Finally, it provided MSU with untold publicity in the national media. 

            Izzo seemed ubiquitous on TV after beating Duke and Kentucky in the regionals in Austin, TX, appearing in just about every nationally-known media show, not to mention the sports programs in CBS, ESPN and Fox Sports.  Even before the tournament, senior Chris Hill had brought great honor to MSU by being named the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-American Of The Year.  A 3.75 finance major, Hill was named First-Team Academic All-American for the second straight year—a great testatment to the quality of Izzo’s program.

            The 2004-2005 season was somewhat strange in that, for all of MSU’s winning, “it felt like a root canal” to Izzo.  He had to constantly hear negativism spewed by critics, both in the media and public.  Arguably the nation’s most successful coach the past seven years, Izzo would have liked to rest a bit on his laurels and have national recruits trip over each other on their way to East Lansing—which could happen, he noted, if his success extends 10 more years.

            Although beating Duke by double figures (78-68) was sweet and lifted “roughly 10,000 pounds of pressure” from the Spartans’ shoulders, as one writer put it, beating Kentucky proved more special.  At the end of regulation, Wildcat Patrick Sparks threw up a desperation three pointer that rolled around the rim “forever” before dropping in, securing a tie for the Wildcats.  Such a fortuitous turn could have destroyed MSU’s psyche.  Instead, the Spartans showed tremendous intestinal fortitude after such a miracle shot—in particular Anderson, who made four critical free throws to seal MSU’s 94-88 double overtime win.

            In St. Louis, Izzo won the 2005 Clair Bee Award from the Basketball Hall of Fame and Chip Hilton Sports for “having made the most significant contribution to college basketball” during the season.  It was good to finally win an award he may well deserve every year.  But Izzo is all about the future, not the past. 

            “I think we have a very good chance to be a very good team next year,” says Izzo, who has his three top scorers—Paul Davis, Maurice Ager and Shannon Brown—back, along with improving point guard Drew Neitzel, and promising redshirts Marquise Gray, Idong Ibok and Goran Suton, plus two new recruits in combo guard Travis Walton and Canadian sharpshooter Maurice Joseph.  Also returning are assistants Mark Montgomery and Dwayne Stephens. 

            Fans, stay tuned.  Naysayers, stay quiet.

MCCALLIE RACKS UP FIRSTS

            The story of this year’s women’s basketball team was about pioneering triumph. 

            Joanne McCallie, in her fifth season as head coach, led the team to where it had never been before.  MSU won its first combination Big Ten conference title and Big Ten tournament title, its first national Top Ten ranking, its first NCAA No. 1 seed, its first NCAA Sweet Sixteen, its first NCAA Final Four, and its first national championship game.  At every stage, Coach “P” acted with élan, looking very comfortable in those stratospheric circles and well deserving of the AP “Coach of the Year” award, which she won by 10 more votes than runner-up Kim Mulkey-Robertson, coach of national champions Baylor.

            McCallie’s team reflected her poise, playing with the precision and the mind-set of a confident, championship team.  Even when down 16 points to national powerhouse Tennessee, the women calmly came back to beat the Volunteers 68-64, completing the greatest comeback in the history of the women’s NCAA Final Four.  MSU’s comeback was so awesome that it seemed to rattle coach Pat Summitt, who boasts 15 Final Fours and 6 national championships.

            In the final seconds of the game, when Victoria Lucas-Perry broke away for an insurance layup after a pass from Lindsay Bowen, the outburst at the RCA Dome had to be the most electrifying moment ever for an MSU women’s team.

            But MSU’s magic run ended in the final game against Baylor.  The Spartans had expended an enormous amount of energy in coming back against the Volunteers and did not seem to have the same pop in their 84-62 loss against the Lady Bears.

            “It (final loss against Baylor) leaves us very hungry, very motivated and we feel like we’ve got some unfinished business,” says McCallie.  “Could we be great again?  Absolutely, unequivocally, without a doubt, but we’re going to need to have a summer that gets everybody involved.

            “What we accomplished is just the beginning of being a really top-notch team and a top-notch program.”

            Along the way to Indianapolis, twice—for both the Big Ten tournament and the NCAA Final Four—the Spartans buried virtually all the biggest names in women’s basketball.  MSU slayed the two biggest recent dragons of the game—three-time defending national champions UConn and perennial powerhouse Tennessee.  MSU also trounced such national powers as Notre Dame, Stanford, Ohio State, Purdue and Minnesota.  At 33-4, MSU won more games than any other women’s basketball team in MSU history.  And the Spartans were a phenomenal 13-2 against ranked teams, tops in the nation.

            One angle that made MSU’s team such a compelling national story was the team’s composition.  The team comprised of mostly unknown small-town players from Michigan, rather than All-Americans recruited from all over the map.  This gave MSU a certain Cinderella cachet.  Indeed, the national pundits kept waiting—in vain, until the very end—for the pumpkin to appear.  But for most of the season it was a fairy tale carriage ride led by an improbable cast of characters.

• Senior point guard Kristin Haynie hails from Mason, about a long three-pointer from East Lansing, and learned the MSU Fight Song at age 4.  Because of an abdominal operation, she needs to intake some 8,000 calories a day. 
• Senior center Kelli Roehrig comes from Papillon, Nebraska, a town with a smaller population than her graduating class.
• Junior guard Lindsay Bowen hails from Dansville, a little town near Mason with a population of under 500.
• Junior forward Liz Shimek is from Empire, a town located up in a county (Leelanau) that has less than half the population of MSU’s enrollment. 

            Back-up center Lauren Hall comes from Temperance, a town with about the same population as her freshman class at MSU.  Others come from places like Saline, East Lansing, and Grand Haven.  Lucas-Perry is the Flintstone, de riguer for a Spartan hoops team.  Among the playing group, only Rene Haynes comes from a major metropolis—Columbus, OH. 

            But put together in McCallie’s system, these players performed like a juggernaut.  For example, MSU beat three-time defending national champions UConn by 16 points—in Storrs, CT—and beat No. 12 ranked Minnesota by 31 points, in Minneapolis.  When the Spartans routed archrival Michigan by 43 points, it was not a major emotional triumph but merely another run-of-the-mill display of the team’s offensive firepower.

            After winning a share of the regular-season championship, the Spartans won an outright league tournament in Indianapolis—beating Illinois, former nemesis Penn State and Minnesota, all in nationally televised games.  In the NCAA tournament, MSU took care of Alcorn State and Southern Cal in Minneapolis—with the home crowd cheering against a fellow Big Ten team.  Against USC, Rene Haynes made a critical basket coming out of a melee under the Trojans’ basket to eke out a 61-59 win. 

            At the NCAA regionals in Kansas City, the Spartans defeated Vanderbilt 76-64 and Stanford 76-69, proving the NCAA seeding committee that gave MSU the No. 1 seed over the topranked Cardinal correct.  Haynie, perfect from three-point-land, got 33 points, 17 rebounds and 17 assists in two games and was named the regionals MVP. 

            Back in Indianapolis, the team reached its high point of the season with its dramatic comeback win over Pat Summit and Tennessee.   

            Following the season, the team enjoyed a victory parade in Mason, the hometown of Haynie, who was selected 9^th overall by the Sacramento Monarchs in the WNBA draft.  Again, this marked the highest pick ever in MSU women’s hoops history.  Haynie is only the fourth Spartan to notch more than 1,000 points, 500 rebounds, 500 assists and 300 steals.  McCallie received a salary increase and contract extension shortly after the season.

            "Thanks to Joanne's leadership, the program has made great strides over the past five years, and she has put MSU's basketball program on the national map,” explains MSU director of athletics Ron Mason.  “She came here with a vision and executed it nearly to perfection this season, and certainly more exciting days lie ahead.”

            Under McCallie, MSU’s fan base has risen dramatically. The Spartans have broken the school record for average attendance each of the past three seasons, ranking 14th nationally this season by averaging 6,143 fans during a 13-0 home season.  MSU broke the school single-game attendance record Feb. 20  when 14,066 fans packed the Breslin Center to watch MSU beat No. 2 Ohio State 66-64.

            What is McCallie’s winning formula, besides having an engaging personality, great media presence and an iron will to win?  Her formula is to combine a match-up zone defense with a relentless offensive scheme that can produce torrents of points.  In addition, she surrounds herself with talented assistants—Ann Marie Gilbert and former Volunteers Al Brown (coach) and Semeka Randall (player), the last two boasting multiple Final Four and National Championship experience. 

            MSU only loses Roehrig and Haynie, so its prospects for next year are very positive.  A couple of youngsters, sophomore Katrina Grantham or freshman Laura Hall, could step in at center.  Five highly touted prospects will come in, including Michigan’s Miss Basketball Tiffanie Shives of Lansing Christian, Jenny Poff of St. Johns, Aisha Jefferson of Dayton, OH, Lauren Aitch from Lansing Waverly, and Alissa Wulff, a transfer from Virginia.  Shives, a McDonald’s All-American, could vie for Haynie’s position.

            Finally, it must be noted that the rise of the women’s basketball program under McCallie has enjoyed the full support of Tom Izzo and the men’s team—a circumstance not always true of other schools, where territorial jealousies sometimes prevail.  When the Spartans beat Michigan at Breslin Center to clinch its second straight Big Ten title, several members of the men’s team went on the floor with the women as part of the celebration.

            “Success,” proclaimed a sign, “is gender-neutral.”