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| | Friday, October 13 Spartans seek another knockout season | |||||
| Associated Press EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Last year, Michigan State basketball coach Tom Izzo rode into the Breslin Center on a black Harley-Davidson to mark Midnight Madness. This year, the Spartans roar into the season as defending NCAA champions, and Izzo said the team aims to repeat. One by one, the players, wearing shiny green satin robes and boxing gloves, were introduced Friday night as they entered through the ropes of a makeshift boxing ring. Izzo arrived in a white stretch limousine wearing a black tuxedo. "This is unbelievable," Izzo said after entering the ring to thunderous applause. "We're embarking on a new era. It's important you support this team like you have for three years." The Spartans are without a few key players -- and team leaders -- from last season in their quest for consecutive national titles and a fourth consecutive Big Ten championship. Mateen Cleaves, Morris Peterson and A.J. Granger are gone, now playing professionally. But seven of the 10 players are back -- including seniors Charlie Bell, Andre Hutson, Mike Chappell and sophomores Jason Richardson and Aloysius Anagonye. The Spartans also have players many considered the best point guard and center in high school last season -- guard Marcus Taylor of Lansing and center Zach Randolph of Marion, Ind. John Walton, 20, a junior, came out to see the national champions as he was waiting in line with a group of friends. "I figured it would be a pretty good spectacle," said Walton, one of hundreds waiting outside on a reasonably warm night. "We'll win the national championship again, or at least get to the Final Four. They have all the talent to do it." On Thursday, Izzo said this team is potentially more talented than last season's. "We have a lot of work ahead of us to make this championship team a championship program," he said to the cheering crowd Friday. At Allen Fieldhouse in Lawrence, Kan., another coach was cheered for coming back. Roy Williams, who spurned his alma mater, North Carolina, to remain at Kansas, walked out of the locker room just after 10 p.m. to a standing ovation that lasted about 90 seconds. He bowed to the crowd, which included women with their hair dyed crimson on one half and blue on the other -- Kansas' colors. "You can tell by the huge ovation and the sheer numbers how much Roy is wanted at Kansas," said junior Dave Martin, among those who began gathering about 2:30 p.m. -- hours before the doors to the gym were opened. "They sort of adopted this dumb guy from North Carolina right off the bat," Williams said of his first Midnight Madness at Kansas in 1988. "It's still one of my favorite moments." In College Park, Md., the Maryland Terrapins welcomed back all five starters in an attempt to reach their first Final Four. A packed house filled Cole Field House nearly an hour before Midnight Madness, believed to have been started by former Maryland coach Lefty Driesell before the 1970-71 season. "The atmosphere is like this for every game," forward Tahj Holden said. "We just got lucky and have a lot of music and lights this time. This atmosphere is what brought me here." | ALSO SEE Vitale: It's time, baby! Lefty's midnight run started all the Madness Midnight Madness: Hoosier fans flock to Assembly Hall A shot in the dark: Clouse remains part of Madness | |||||