Judgment day has arrived for NBA Draft hopefuls.Only 57 aspirants will hear their names called tonight in the 2002 NBA Draft at New York’s Madison Square Garden.
After competing with 65 professional hopefuls at the Chicago predraft camp June 4-7, Marcus Taylor will soon cement his decision to leave MSU.The guard said he plans to return home Tuesday and sign with an agent before leaving to work out with the Chicago Bulls on Thursday.Hiring an agent would end any dreams that Spartan fans have for Taylor to don the green and white for MSU next season.While in Chicago, Taylor said he was focused on displaying the skills that allowed him to lead the Big Ten in scoring and assists.
Marcus Taylor has no intention of returning to MSU next season.In a press conference Wednesday night, Taylor apologized for misleading Spartan fans and made it clear he intends to be drafted in the 2002 NBA Draft on June 26.“I’ve been working my whole life to get to this point, where I’d be able to put my name in the draft with confidence,” Taylor said.
Earvin “Magic” Johnson changed the way professional basketball is played and he is now almost guaranteed a place in basketball’s hallowed walls. Johnson, who played 13 years with the Los Angeles Lakers, was one of 14 players, coaches and teams nominated Wednesday for induction into the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass. During his two-year career at MSU, Johnson put up record numbers.
With one scholarship to fill for next year’s team, the MSU men’s basketball team is looking abroad to snag their last recruit. Last week, staff from MSU made a trip to Europe to look at 6-foot-10 center Erazem Lorbek.
You have to love the NBA Playoffs. Right off the bat, you get two weeks worth of five-game first-round matchups, full of 83-63 nail-biters.
Just a week after one piece of the Spartan men’s basketball coaching staff decided to stay put, another assistant soon might be leaving the MSU sidelines.MSU assistant coach Mike Garland will interview for the head coaching job at Wisconsin-Green Bay today, Wisconsin-Green Bay Sports Information Director Brian Nicol said.Garland, a teammate of MSU head coach Tom Izzo at Northern Michigan, has spent six seasons as an assistant on the Spartan bench.
With a win Sunday, the MSU baseball team salvaged a split in its four-game series with Big Ten leader Indiana at Kobs Field.The Spartans (22-8 overall, 6-5 Big Ten) started slow Sunday, but outlasted the Hoosiers (26-8, 8-4) 10-6.
The MSU basketball team received its first verbal commitment in a top 25 recruit for its 2003 recruiting class.Detroit DePorres junior point guard Brandon Cotton, widely considered a top prospect, told Spartan head coach Tom Izzo Monday that the two-year starter plans to don the green and white.Cotton said Izzo was the deciding factor in choosing MSU.“Coach Izzo wins a lot and produces good players,” Cotton said Monday night.
The Illinois men’s basketball program and its fans knew it would happen sooner or later. Illini guard Frank Williams would leave early for the NBA - it was just a matter of when.
When Kelvin Torbert, Alan Anderson and Chris Hill became MSU’s 2001 recruiting class, another Big Ten title and another trip deep into the NCAA Tournament seemed within reach, if not certain. Sure, the Spartans would lose five seniors, but the trio of recruits would help ease the blow. Torbert, an electrifying scorer, was the 2001 Sporting News Player of the Year, Michigan’s Mr. Basketball and Flint’s second all-time leading scorer - behind ex-Spartan Charlie Bell - with his 1,978 career points at Flint Northwestern High. Anderson, a silky and versatile slasher, rated the No.
A Saluki is defined as an ancient breed of dog with a keen sense of vision used in hunting. A Southern Illinois Saluki is an ancient breed of basketball player, using its maturity and experience in the NCAA Tournament to knock off some of the biggest names in college coaching. The sixth-seeded Texas Tech Red Raiders and head coach Bobby Knight fell prey to the mighty Salukis in the first round of the tournament.
Inside his office in the new Berkowitz Basketball Complex, MSU men’s basketball associate head coach Brian Gregory sat and listened to my questions about the state of college basketball. “Can you think of any recent superstar-type players who turned down the NBA and came back for their senior year?” I asked. “Here at Michigan State you have to look at Mateen (Cleaves) and Morris Peterson, because those two guys had the opportunity to leave early,” Gregory said.
I have to admit, I am an Indiana Hoosier Basketball fan. For my money, it doesn’t get any better when Tom Coverdale hits a triple from the top of the arc and limps, on his bum ankle, to the other end of the court to play defense.
While this year’s Spartan men’s basketball team didn’t achieve the same success as its predecessors, who earned trips to three consecutive Final Fours, faces from the program’s recent history still are making noise in March. Former MSU assistant coach Stan Heath announced his resignation as the head coach at Kent State on Thursday to take the helm as head coach at Arkansas. That decision came as other current Spartan assistant coaches discuss their potential futures as leaders of other programs. Associate head coach Brian Gregory has spoken with DePaul and Bradley about their coaching vacancies, athletics department spokesman John Lewandowski said. Neither Bradley nor DePaul spokespersons could be reached for comment. Many major universities have turned to the MSU pedigree possessed by current and former assistant coaches. Nabbing Heath to be the Razorback coach spawned Arkansas Chancellor John White to excitedly pass out Heath candy bars to everyone attending the news conference. Heath, 37, got the 10th-seeded Golden Flashes within one game of the Final Four, losing 81-69 to the Indiana Hoosiers last Saturday in the South Regional final. “It’s been a whirlwind,” Heath said Thursday at a Fayetteville, Ark., press conference.
In what seems to be becoming an annual event, another member of the Spartan men’s basketball team will leave MSU early and enter his name into the NBA Draft. But unlike when ex-Spartans Jason Richardson and Zach Randolph declared for the NBA Draft at the end of the 2000-2001 season, sophomore guard Marcus Taylor’s announcement on Tuesday to declare for the draft is anything but definite. “Becoming an NBA player has been one of my goals for a long time,” Taylor said in a written statement.
When the Spartans first saw their NCAA Tournament seeding - No. 3 in the West Regional in Ann Arbor - they were pretty satisfied.
With another MSU recruit, Rochester High’s Paul Davis, becoming the latest Mr. Basketball award winner Monday, next year’s Spartan men’s basketball team will likely include the state’s past three winners - Davis, freshman guard Kelvin Torbert and sophomore guard Marcus Taylor. But the state’s highest prep accolade doesn’t guarantee instant success as a Spartan, and MSU head coach Tom Izzo said Torbert will spend the off-season working on returning his game to an elite level. “I think he’ll make some improvements and hopefully, they’ll be big improvements,” Izzo said.
Michigan’s Mr. Basketball will be a Spartan for the fourth straight year. Paul Davis, a member of the MSU’s 2002 recruiting class, follows in the footsteps of Jason Richardson, Marcus Taylor and Kelvin Torbert. The Basketball Coaches Association, in conjunction with the Detroit Free Press, named Davis the 22nd annual Hal Schram Mr. Basketball recipient Monday. Davis, a 6-foot-10 center from Rochester High, received 760 points, while Anthony Roberson of Saginaw High got 382 points and Lester Abram of Pontiac Northern High received 269. Davis won the award despite breaking his right ankle 16 games into his senior season.
Dear Marcus Taylor, I know we’ve both heard speculation about your future at MSU. And while you might be considering leaving school early for the NBA, I ask you to stay put. This isn’t for my benefit, really - it’s for your own good. I understand why entering the NBA Draft might sound like a good idea to you.