2. Michigan State

Team Page | 2003-2004 Schedule | Roster

The athletic Spartans will turn up the jets and try to run opponents off the court

By Seth Davis

While working with a trainer over the summer to improve his leaping ability, Michigan State junior swingman Alan Anderson learned a simple but useful axiom: The faster you run, the higher you jump. That could serve as the watchword for the Spartans, who after winning or sharing four straight Big Ten titles from 1997-98 through 2000-01, plodded to fifth- and third-place finishes in the last two seasons. "We want to get back to running and wearing people down," coach Tom Izzo says. "This might be our most athletic team ever." And he's including the 1999-2000 team, featuring Charlie Bell , Mateen Cleaves , Morris Peterson and Jason Richardson , that won the national championship.

The current edition doesn't have a dominating floor leader to match Cleaves, but the 6'6", 220-pound Anderson does give the Spartans a tall and versatile ball handler who's adept at running the offense. Anderson had never played point guard before Izzo shifted him to that position last February, but the move sparked the team's late-season run to the Elite Eight. "Our point guard has to know everybody's spots on the court, and that's a lot of responsibility," Anderson says. "I know if I can play that position here, I can play it anywhere."

Chris Hill will start at shooting guard, but can take over the point whenever Anderson moves to the wing. Freshman Brandon Cotton, a McDonald's All-American last year, is also available at the point. The Spartans will need consistently strong play from the backcourt because they don't have much frontline depth. Last season injuries hampered their flashiest wing players, sophomore Maurice Ager and junior Kelvin Torbert . Ager missed the first six games with a stress fracture in his right foot and two other games after fainting in practice. (He's been given a clean bill of health entering this season.)

Torbert had surgery in November 2002 to remove a large bone spur in his left ankle and never returned to form before the season ended. But over the summer and fall he regained the explosiveness that made him the national high school player of the year in 2000-01. "Kelvin seems a lot more energized now," Hill says. "He finally got his legs back."

If the same can be said for the rest of the team, all Anderson has to do is get the Spartans running again, and they should jump back into title contention.

Enemy Lines

An opposing coach's view: