Nov. 2, 2003

EAST LANSING, Mich. -

2003-04 Michigan State Basketball
Michigan State
vs. Harlem Globetrotters
November 2, 2003 - 2:30 P.M. EST
Breslin Center (14,759)
East Lansing, Mich.

Radio: Spartan Sports Network - Will Tieman (Play by Play), Gus Ganakas (Color). Flagship - WJIM (1240 AM/97.5 FM)

TV: ESPN - Sean McDonough (Play by Play), Bill Raftery (Color), Mark Jones (Sidelines)

The Opening Tip

A Magical Weekend - This weekend has been a celebration for the Michigan State basketball program. On Saturday morning, the University dedicated a statue of Earvin "Magic" Johnson outside the Breslin Center. Today, Johnson joins the Harlem Globetrotters with Larry Bird serving as honorary team coach. In addition, this weekend serves as the 25-year anniversary for MSU's 1979 NCAA Championship team. The entire team will be honored at halftime of today's game.

The Good Stuff

The Magic Is Back - This year marks the third consecutive season that Earvin "Magic" Johnson will play an exhibition game against the Spartans. And while Johnson is a huge Spartan supporter, he always plays his best against MSU, recording back-to-back triple doubles. In 2001, he tallied 16 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists as his team lost, 89-87, when his half-court shot at the buzzer fell just short. Last year, he recorded 12 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists as he joined former Spartans Mike Chappell and David Thomas on the Canberra Cannons of Australia's National Basketball League to defeat MSU, 104-85.

MSU And The Harlem Globetrotters - There is a little history between Michigan State and the Harlem Globetrotters. On Nov. 13, 2000, the Spartans defeated the Globetrotters, 72-68, snapping Harlem's 1,270-game winning streak. Charlie Bell scored 21 points to lead the Spartans, while Zach Randolph added 17. At the 2002 Final Four, head coach Tom Izzo led the NABC All-Stars to an 86-76 victory over the Globetrotters. In addition to Magic Johnson, former Spartan letterwinners Ricky Ayala and Harrison Stepter played with the Globetrotters.

MSU And The Globetrotters Know Large Crowds - The Harlem Globetrotters currently own the world record for basketball attendance as 75,000 fans attended an exhibition game in Berlin's Olympic Stadium on Aug. 21, 1951. That record, however, will exist for just a few more weeks. On Dec. 13, MSU will play Kentucky at "The BasketBowl - Hoops On The 50" in Detroit's Ford Field. The game, with an estimated crowd of more than 75,000, has been sold out since July.

Magic Johnson And The Globetrotters - Today's game marks the second time that Earvin "Magic" Johnson has played with the Harlem Globetrotters. The first time came in 1997 when Johnson helped lead the Globetrotters to a 126-114 victory over a team of future NBA Draft picks in the Desert Classic in Phoenix, Ariz. The game was symbolic of owner Mannie Jackson's desire to have the Globetrotters play more competitive games. In addition, both Johnson and the Globetrotters were part of the 2002 Hall of Fame induction class.

Scouting The Globetrotters - This is the fourth annual Fall College Tour for the Globetrotters. The eight game tour is highlighted by trips to MSU and defending NCAA Champion Syracuse on Nov. 11. The Globetrotters opened the tour on Monday with a 95-67 win over North Dakota.

Magic And Bird - The rivalry between Earvin "Magic" Johnson and Larry Bird began with their meeting in the 1979 NCAA Championship game. It continued to the NBA a year later where Bird was named Rookie of the Year in 1980, while Johnson captured NBA Finals MVP honors leading the Lakers to the first of five titles in the 1980s. Johnson's Lakers would defeat Bird's Celtics to win the 1985 and '87 titles, while also winning championships in 1982 and 1988. Bird won NBA titles in 1981, 1984 and 1986, defeating the Lakers in '84. Each player won three regular-season MVP awards in their careers.

1979 Reunion - Michigan State's 1979 NCAA Championship team will gather in East Lansing this weekend to witness their teammate, Magic Johnson, be honored with a statue. The group was honored as a team at halftime of the Michigan State-Michigan football game on Nov. 1, and will be introduced individually at halftime of the basketball game on Nov. 2. The '79 Spartans captured MSU's first basketball championship, posting a 26-6 record. They tied for the conference championship with a 13-5 league record. It wasn't the smoothest season, however, as the Spartans opened the season with a 11-5 record, 4-4 in the Big Ten. MSU would go on to win 10 straight games to win the league and advance to the NCAA Tournament. In the tournament, the Spartans won their five tournament games by an average of 20.8 points. The championship game against Indiana State is still the highest rated televised game in NCAA history, with MSU winning 75-64. In celebration of the 25-year anniversary of the 1979 championship team, MSU's Coca-Cola Spartan Classic over the Thanksgiving weekend will feature all four teams from the 1979 Final Four.

Statue Specifics - The statue honoring Earvin "Magic" Johnson was unveiled on Saturday morning. The structure, entitled "Always A Champion", symbolizes Johnson's championships at the high school, collegiate, NBA and Olympic levels with a statue of his body erupting from four abstract figures. The total height of the structure and base is approximately 12 feet tall, with the actual statue of Johnson less than 9 feet tall. The cost of the project is approximately $250,000 and is funded entirely through private donations. In the sculpture, Johnson is looking up the court with the basketball in one hand and is directing his teammates with the other hand, all of which were attributes that made him one of the greatest basketball players of all time and the man who made "triple-double" part of the basketball vocabulary. The statue is being designed by sculptor Omri Amrany from the Fine Art Studio of Rotblatt-Amrany, based in Highland Park, Ill. Amrany's previous works include the Michael Jordan statue in front of Chicago's United Center, a Harry Caray statue at the entrance to Chicago's Wrigley Field and six statues of great Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park. Most recently, he's completed statues of Vince Lombardi and Earl "Curly" Lambeau at Green Bay's Lambeau Field and a statue of Al McGuire at Marquette.

Sustained Excellence - The mark of an elite program is sustaining excellence over time and doing it against top-flight competition. There are 13 programs that have amassed 125 or more victories over the last five seasons. Michigan State is third on that list with 134 victories. However, MSU is also the team most willing to play top-notch competition, ranking first with 59 games against ranked opponents, while winning a nation's best 38. Michigan State and Kentucky are tied with 21 games in the regular-season against non-conference ranked teams. A look deeper into the numbers shows that of those 21 games for MSU, 13 were against top-10 teams. (Rankings based on The Associated Press Top 25 poll at the date the game was played.)

Preseason Favorites - Michigan State was picked as the preseason favorite to win the Big Ten Conference by both the league's media and coaches. This is the second year in a row and the fifth time in the last six years that MSU has been selected as the preseason favorite.

Davis And Hill Earn Individual Honors - Junior guard Chris Hill and sophomore center Paul Davis were both selected to the preseason All-Big Ten team as selected by the league's coaches. Hill also earned a spot on the media's all-conference team. Davis is the only non-guard to earn a spot on either team, while no seniors were honored. Both Davis and Hill were named John R. Wooden Award Preseason All-Americans in August.

Green-White Recap - While you shouldn't read too much into an intrasquad scrimmage, there are a few lessons to be learned from the 109-96 Green team victory. Paul Davis is ready to be a force in the middle for the Spartans as he scored 27 points and grabbed 17 rebounds. The Spartan offense is explosive as the teams shot a combined 54.3 percent from the field, scoring a total of 205 points. Maurice Ager is dangerous when healthy, totaling a team-best 34 points, while hitting six three-pointers. Kelvin Torbert has worked hard to refine his shooting stroke, scoring 25 points on 11-of-16 shooting, including 3-of-4 from three-point range.

Playing The Best - Michigan State's 2003-04 schedule has the possibility to go down as one of the greatest in college basketball history. Opponents on this year's slate have combined for 32 National Championships, 406 NCAA Tournament appearances, seven of the 11 all-time winningest programs, five of the six all-time winningest Final Four teams, eight 2003 conference champions and 14 2003 postseason teams (10 NCAA Tournament and four NIT).

One Of A Kind Schedule - Michigan State's 2003-04 schedule is heading into uncharted waters. No team has ever played Duke, Kansas, Kentucky, Syracuse and UCLA during the same regular-season.

Returning Talent - Michigan State is a popular preseason pick for the 2004 Final Four based upon its returning talent from the 2003 Elite Eight squad. The Spartans return five of their top six scorers from last year, 71.6 percent of their scoring and 70.7 percent of their minutes played.

Embracing Expectations - Although The Associated Press won't release its preseason poll until November, several preseason magazines have released their rankings. Across the board, MSU is a top five pick, including the following predictions: Athlon - #2; Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook - #3; Slam Magazine - #2; Sporting News - #3; Street & Smith's - #2. Each publication predicts the Spartans will capture their fifth Big Ten championship in the last seven seasons.

Winning The Right Way - In addition to excelling on the court, the Spartans are standouts in the classroom. Ten Spartans have received their undergraduate degrees over the last three years, including five each in 2001 and 2003. MSU entered the semester with a cumulative grade point average of 3.04.

U-S-A, U-S-A - Four Spartans had the opportunity to represent their country in international competition over the summer. Sophomores Maurice Ager and Paul Davis played for the USA Basketball Junior World Championship Team that posted a 7-1 mark in Greece. Davis was the squad's leading scorer (17.7 ppg) and rebounder (8.7 rpg). Junior Chris Hill was a member of the USA Basketball Pan American Games Team in the Dominican Republic with Tom Izzo serving as head coach.

New Faces - With Brian Gregory and Mike Garland becoming the latest members of the Tom Izzo coaching tree to get head coaching jobs, Izzo was forced to add two new assistants to the staff. Doug Wojcik filled one of the positions after serving as an assistant at Navy, Notre Dame and North Carolina. The other opening was filled by former Spartan letterwinner Dwayne Stephens who had served as an assistant at Oakland and Marquette.

Breslin Success - Since the start of the 1998-99 season, Michigan State has won 73 of its last 77 regular-season games in Breslin, a winning percentage of .948. In addition, the Breslin Center has been sold out for 83 consecutive games.

The Golden Arches - Michigan State is becoming the home for McDonald's Al-Americans. Over the past five seasons, seven McDonald's All-Americans have joined the Spartan squad, including Jason Richardson in 1999, Marcus Taylor and McDonald's All-American All-Star game MVP Zach Randolph in 2000, Kelvin Torbert in 2001, Paul Davis in 2002 and Shannon Brown and Brandon Cotton in 2003.

Home To Mr. Basketball - Four of the last five recipients of Michigan's Mr. Basketball Award, presented to the top high school player in the state, have gone on to wear a Spartan jersey. Jason Richardson (Saginaw Arthur Hill HS) won the award in 1999, followed by Marcus Taylor (Lansing Waverly HS) in 2000, Kelvin Torbert (Flint Northwestern HS) in 2001 and Paul Davis (Rochester HS) in 2002. Although Brandon Cotton (DePorres HS) finished second in 2003, Shannon Brown (Proviso East HS) captured Illinois' Mr. Basketball Award.