SportsLine.com Report
April 3, 2000

Michigan St. shuts down Florida in NCAA final

INDIANAPOLIS -- For all their talent and run-and-gun scheming, the Florida Gators ran into a Michigan State team that chewed up their strengths and spit them out in the national-championship game.

Either that, or the Gators picked an unfortunate night to shoot lousy.

Michigan State was the team with the Final Four experience, and the savvy veterans, and the inspirational point guard, yada yada ... but mostly, the Spartans were the team that was able to beat the Gators' press and shut down the Florida perimeter game with a tough zone defense.

In the end, it was an 89-76 Michigan State victory, giving the Spartans their first national title since Magic Johnson's 1979 team. With all due respect to the Gators' miracle comeback win against Butler, Michigan State came back from second-half deficits in three of its NCAA games and appeared to be a team destined to leave Indianapolis wearing the nets.

More than that, the Spartans played like the team that deserved to wear them.

"Every time we made a run, they answered," Florida coach Billy Donovan said. "And that's the sign of a great basketball team."

Florida, meanwhile, could not take advantage of its own chances. And that's the sign of a young basketball team.

And now, after being beaten by the Spartans, they hope to become like the Spartans ... which is to say, learn from the Final Four experience, take that young roster, and make good on a quest to reach Minneapolis next year, and finish what they started.

The Gators never led in the game, but kept it tight for stretches. The most crippling stretch came in the second half when Michigan State point guard Mateen Cleaves was forced into the dressing room with a high-ankle sprain. When he left, the Spartans led by just six points and the Gators appeared to be closing. Six minutes later when he returned, the lead had actually increased to eight points.

Usually their bread and butter, the Gators guards did not come through against MSU. The Spartans' starting backcourt of Charlie Bell and Cleaves accounted for 27 points while the Gators' Teddy Dupay and Justin Hamilton failed to score.

Dupay's night was especially tough. He spent the first half jacking up long treys in a failed effort to find his shot. Then he was benched for the final eight minutes after the hard foul that forced Cleaves out coupled with a silly foul of Morris Peterson on a breakaway that resulted in a three-point play and 11-point lead for MSU.

Oddly enough, it was the inside tandem of Udonis Haslem and Brent Wright that kept the Gators in the game. Haslem finished with a career-high 27 points on 10 of 12 shooting while Wright chipped in 13 points and 10 rebounds.

In what might be his last college game, the Spartans kept a leash on Mike Miller. The sophomore scored 10 points, but scored five of those at the free-throw line and only took five shots from the floor. Miller, the big-time NBA prospect, has been non-committal on his future.

In the end, the Spartans just did too much. Usually not a big scorer, Cleaves scored 18 points on 7-for-11 shooting on his way to earning MOP honors. Peterson, after a chilly first half, ended up scoring a team-high 21 points and the streaky A.J. Granger was on a hot streak, popping for 19 points on 3 of 5 shooting.

How They Got There

Donovan didn't like all the upset talk surrounding his team's first-round game against Butler, but the Gators very nearly fell victim to the Bulldogs, saved only by a dramatic layin by Mike Miller with 0.3 seconds left in overtime. From that point on, however, the Gators have been convincing ... socking it to Illinois, Duke and Oklahoma State.

It's as difficult a row as any Final Four team was forced to hoe, and after Butler the Gators did it fairly easily. The regular season was much the same for the Gators. They had their problems, but they were never knocked off their feet.

After storming back into the national rankings last season and into the Sweet 16 before being bounced by Gonzaga's darlings of destiny, Florida began the season ranked No. 8 in the Associated Press poll and hung around the top 10 most of the way, never falling lower than No. 12.

They took two difficult overtime losses against Tennessee, setbacks that made it tough to keep up with the frontrunners in the SEC East. Then, when they had a chance to win the division outright, they went into Lexington and were blasted by the Wildcats.

They still earned a share of the divisional and overall regular-season SEC title, but by way of tie-breakers, were the No. 3 seed from the East in the conference tournament, and were forced to play a first-round game. After beating Ole Miss in that game, the Gators met reeling Auburn in the quarterfinals ... and could not pass muster, falling 78-70.

Starting Lineup

• G Teddy Dupay (5-10, 175, So.) 9.0 ppg, 2.8 rpg, 1.7 rpg
  This time last year, he was an unknown freshman gunner who let Eddie Shannon run the show while sitting back and serving as the designated sniper. This season has been a tad rough at times on Dupay, as he was forced to handle the offense when freshman Brett Nelson wasn't as brilliant as advertised. Lost in the fact that his scoring numbers are down (from 11 last season) is that his long-range efficiency is up (41 percent from 37), and he's also a guy who will take -- and usually make -- the clutch shot. So far so good: He's 11 of 26 (and 7 of 15 on 3-pointers) through four tournament games.
• G Justin Hamilton (6-3, 192, Fr.) 4.8 ppg, 1.7 rpg
  After taking just one shot in the first two games, he's become more involved in the offense against Duke and Oklahoma State, sinking 7 of 9 shots for a combined 15 points. That's perfect for Donovan's system, as Hamilton does not need to be an offensive weapon, but it's always nice to have your secondary guys hitting, too.
• C Udonis Haslem (6-7, 260, So.) 11.4 ppg, 5.2 rpg
  Has had a fine NCAA Tournament, averaging nearly 15 points to give the Gators the inside presence they've needed. He is the perfect center for Donovan's system. He's athletic, has no offensive ego and is perfectly happy to clean up the mess for garbage points. He's a big body who wears out opposing centers and occasionally will put a big number up in the points column. Best of all, he's still just a sophomore and, with his lack of pro size, is going to be around for two more years patrolling the paint in Gainesville.
• F Mike Miller (6-8, 218, So.) 14.3 ppg, 6.7 rpg
  The Mitchell, S.D., native continues to thrive in Donovan's system, and some considered him the best player in the SEC. The thing he still lacks is consistency, but he did have back-to-back excellent games in the first weekend of the NCAAs, scoring 35 points and grabbing 22 rebounds … and hitting the shot of the tournament against Butler. He was somewhat less of a factor in the Sweet 16 and regional final, but his 12-point average was just what was needed. There has been some talk about him leaving for the NBA.
• F Brent Wright (6-8, 232, Jr.) 8.2 ppg, 4.3 rpg
  He doesn't put up big numbers, but is an emotional sparkplug, and provides some maturity. He plays largely in the paint, but as big men must be in Donovan's system, is versatile and will wander out on the perimeter occasionally where his ability to pop the trey must be respected. He only scored four points in the first two tournament games combined, but dropped in 20 in the second set of games.

Keys to Success

No team needs to control tempo like the Gators. As solid a defender and inside presence as Haslem is, he's not a strong enough offensive weapon for the Gators to settle into a halfcourt offense and expect to have success. The team has the athletes to win in halfcourt sets for short periods of time, but if a team is successful in dragging the Gators (kicking and screaming) into a long-term slowdown game, they are toast.

The Coach

Billy Donovan is not a brilliant tactician and certainly not the toughest coach to prepare for. He just does what he does and dares you to beat him at it. He has a deep, athletic bench, though not a ton of versatility at his disposal.

If the recruits keep coming to play for him -- which looks like is going to happen -- he'll continue to be tough to beat. He's 77-48 in four years at Florida, and 110-68 in his six-year career, including two at Marshall.

The Bench

The Gators' freshman class has provided the team with an amazing amount of depth and given Donovan options.

Donnell Harvey (6-8, 216, Fr.) is averaging 10.2 points and 7.0 rebounds while Brett Nelson, though not yet the superstar he was expected to be, still contributes 7.9 points and 2.9 assists. He came up big against Illinois and Duke, scoring 16 and 15 points. That's a nice sign for the future.

Then there's the team's lone senior, Kenyan Weaks (6-4, 198, Sr.), who has started for most of the season, but struggled in SEC play and lost his starting job to freshman Justin Hamilton in the SEC tournament. His numbers are down (12.7 as a sophomore, 11.3 as a junior and 10.3 this season), but he has continued to shoot the 3-pointer well (41.5 percent).

The veteran will still get about 20 minutes per game, and he shot it well against Butler and Illinois, going 9-for-15. He wasn't much of a factor against Duke and Oklahoma State, averaging 5.5 per game. His presence alone -- he must be respected -- keeps opponents honest and opens things up for everybody else.

Offense

In case you haven't figured it out by now, the Gators run. And run. And run some more. They force tempo like few teams in the nation and drag you into their game. Donovan has no end of gunners at his disposal, a recipe that led to the Gators leading the SEC in scoring. The team shoots 3-points efficiently, knocking down 37 percent. In the tournament the Gators have hit 27 of 74, a 36-percent clip.

Defense

The Gators' defense fuels their offense. Florida will throw any number of traps at opponents and lets foes run themselves out of games. If the Gators' break-neck offense doesn't kill your legs, their defense will.