Leading Man

The shot comes from near the right temple, sometimes an ear-high fling and other times, when extra propellant is needed on a three-pointer, from closer to the shoulder, when it looks as if he’s pushing the ball. Pretty it is not.

The turnovers just come. Ten last season against Temple. Nine this season against Indiana. Six against Ohio State. Seven against Connecticut. And, in the biggest game, five--and only two assists--last Saturday in the Elite Eight against Iowa State.

The success comes from within. Through attitude and determination, senior point guard Mateen Cleaves has willed, demanded, dragged, inspired and threatened his Michigan State teammates to either within an inch of their lives or a national championship. A player who has been hearing for years about his ugly game for some reason has decided not to quit.

Of course, it can be tough to hear that stuff at the Final Four, what with all the hoopla about success and people saying how he’s the guts of the Spartans, aesthetics be damned. This makes two consecutive trips, something no other team can claim, for the Spartans, who play Big Ten foe Wisconsin on Saturday at Indianapolis.

“He doesn’t worry about any of that,” said Charlie Bell, the other backcourt starter. “He knows what he can do out there. He’s our leader.”

Has been for years. A fire hydrant at 6 feet 2 and 205 pounds--star forward Morris Peterson is five inches taller and 10 pounds heavier--Cleaves always has been respected for what he means to Michigan State.

Two years ago, he shot 40%, was named second-team All-American and Big Ten player of the year, then finished the season by making seven of 21 shots against North Carolina in the East Regional semifinals. In 1998-99, he shot 40.6% overall and 29.2% on three-pointers, had a weak assists-to-turnovers ratio of 1.9-1, and was named first-team All-American and conference player of the year.

Then the critics found something to ponder. Cleaves missed the first 13 games this season because of a stress fracture in his right foot, and the Spartans lost to Texas in Puerto Rico, Arizona in Tucson and Kentucky in Lexington, losses that were understandable. But then they scored 49 points and lost to Wright State on Dec. 30, and the sirens started wailing.

Even an out-of-commission Cleaves caught flak. Cries that he blew it by not jumping to the NBA after the run to the national semifinals--and a loss to Duke--in his junior season were commonplace. He heard those comments too. Paid them about the same attention he paid the others.

“At that time, I still felt like I had made the best decision,” he says now. “A lot of people did call me and I heard a lot where, ‘You should have left for the pros. You can always come back and get your degree.’ That type of thing. But I don’t want to grow up too fast. I want to enjoy my time while I’m in college. The money is great, but I believe if you work hard, it’ll come. People said, ‘You should have left.’ Well, I just would have been in the NBA with some money [and] a broken foot.”

Before the Big Ten opener Jan. 5, the Spartans were 9-4. In the next 24 games, with Cleaves back in harness, in a minefield of a conference, they lost only three times--at then-No. 13 Ohio State, to Elite Eight-bound Purdue and in overtime at No. 16 Indiana.

The tournament has been so typical for Cleaves. In a bit of an upset, he made seven of 11 shots, four of seven three-pointers, in the second-round victory over Utah, but made the biggest impact by getting in the faces of Bell and Peterson, for all to see, during a second-half timeout. That shook the Spartans from an early malaise.

A game later, against Syracuse, he made only four of 12 shots but delivered a scathing halftime speech that jump-started the comeback from a 10-point deficit. After that one, Coach Tom Izzo came off like Good Cop to his players.

Around East Lansing, they’re about to send Cleaves out on the motivational circuit, or at the very least will make a “Best of . . . “ tape. So he made only four of 12 shots against Iowa State, had five turnovers and only two assists. No one blinked because he ran the point to near precision in the final minutes and did a good job all night of keeping Cyclone Jamaal Tinsley out of the lane.

“He’s done it four years straight,” Izzo said. “He had the courage to stay here. He had the courage when he got hurt to not say, ‘I wish I had gone to the NBA.’ He’s unique.”

“I’m just a winner,” Cleaves said.

It’s more than that. His is not an overwhelming talent, yet he is the most important player on the team favored to win the national championship, the only top-seeded team still standing. He may be the most-knocked prominent player this week in Indianapolis.

“It’s funny to me,” said Cleaves, a second-team AP All-American. “My first couple years, it wasn’t frustrating, but I was always trying to go out to prove people wrong. I don’t get caught up in that anymore.

“I know what I can do. I know how hard I work. I know the time I put in. So I’m not going to let anyone tell me what I can’t do. I’m the only one who’s going to dictate what I do.”

Everyone should be able to hear that.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Fnal Four

SATURDAY

at RCA Dome, Indianapolis

MICHIGAN STATE (30-7)

vs. WISCONSIN (22-13)

2:30 p.m. Channel 2

NORTH CAROLINA

(22-13)

vs. FLORIDA (28-7)

5 p.m. Channel 2

*

Championship

MONDAY

Semifinal winners

6 p.m. Channel 2