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Cager recruits to officially sign with U

November 8, 2000

If men’s head basketball coach Tom Izzo was happy to hear verbal commitments from three recruits - among them one of the most highly-touted players in the nation, Kelvin Torbert - then today should be Christmas in November.

Flint Northern shooting guard Torbert, Minneapolis guard/forward Alan Anderson and Indianapolis shooting guard Chris Hill are all expected to sign letters of intent today to play for the Spartans next fall.

Torbert will be MSU’s newest Flintstone, following the heels of former players Antonio Smith, Mateen Cleaves, Morris Peterson and senior guard Charlie Bell. Many recruiting analysts say he could be the best player to come out of Flint yet.

“Kelvin by himself, with one arm and no legs is a great recruiting class,” said Dave Telep, editor of the recruiting Web site www.Rivals.com. “I think there’s no doubt MSU has once again a top 10 recruiting class.”

Although Torbert said he originally wouldn’t make his decision until the spring, he announced two weeks ago that he knew in the end he’d be wearing green.

“I really just sat down with my family and decided I knew I wanted to come to State,” he said. “It didn’t make sense to wait when I knew.”

Torbert’s goal for his senior year is to break Flint’s all-time scoring record set by Bell at 2,252 points.

Despite that competition, Torbert said Bell and all of the other Flintstones have called to congratulate him on his announcement.

“I’ve heard from all of them,” he said. “They all said I made a really good decision.”

Anderson, a 6-foot-5, 218-pound senior from Minneapolis’ De La Salle High who picked MSU over Minnesota and Kansas, is also a strong commitment for the Spartans, Telep said.

“Anderson is tremendously underrated nationally,” he said. “He’s maybe even invisible. But he could even qualify to be a McDonald All-American.”

Hill, a 6-foot-3, 175-pound guard and honor roll student who averaged 17 points, five rebounds and four assists per game, led his Lawrence North Hill High team to an 18-2 record his junior year.

“Chris will be a backup guard,” Telep said. “He’ll be a role player for the Spartans.”

The class, ranked No. 3 by Telep, follows MSU’s No. 1-ranked 2000 class, with freshman center Zach Randolph and freshman guard Marcus Taylor.

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