Men's Basketball Eager To Begin Championship Run
10/15/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Oct. 15, 2003
EAST LANSING, Mich. -
Media Day Notes
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Getting Started - Michigan State opens the 2003-04 season with "A Magical Journey" on Friday, Oct. 17 at 10:30 p.m. Spartan players and coaches will be available for autographs. The team will be introduced shortly before midnight with a scrimmage to follow after the clock strikes 12.
Filling The Bye Week - Although MSU's football team will get a well deserved week off on Saturday, Oct. 25, the Spartan basketball team will be in action with the Green-White Game. Doors to the Breslin Center will open at 10 a.m. for an autograph session with the intrasquad scrimmage to follow at noon.
Schedule Changes - There have been a few changes to the men's basketball schedule since the publishing of the media guide. Specifically, MSU's first exhibition game is against the Harlem Globetrotters, and will be televised by ESPN at 2:30 p.m. In the Coca-Cola Spartan Classic, the first round matchups will follow the original 1979 Final Four pairings with MSU playing Penn at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 29. Finally, the Dec. 16 contest vs. South Florida has been moved to 8 p.m. to accommodate an ESPN Plus Local broadcast.
 Media outlets from across the state of Michigan were in attendance at the 2003-04 MSU Men's Basketball Media Day  | |
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.)
Victories Over The Last Five Years
Overall Wins1. Duke 1582. Kansas 1363. MSU 134t-4. Oklahoma 133t-4. Gonzaga 133t-6. Maryland 131t-6. Tulsa 131t-8. Cincinnati 129t-8. Connecticut 129t-8. Arizona 129t-8. Kentucky 12912. Stanford 12813. Syracuse 125
Games vs. RankedNon-Conference TeamsIn the Regular-Season(wins in parentheses)t-1. MSU 21 (10)t-1. Kentucky 21 (13)3. Arizona 19 (13)t-4. Cincinnati 15 (11)t-4. Gonzaga 15 (5)t-6. Duke 14 (10)t-6. Maryland 14 (7)t-8. Kansas 13 (5)t-8. Connecticut 13 (8)10. Oklahoma 11 (5)11. Stanford 8 (6)t-12. Tulsa 6 (1)t-12. Syracuse 6 (4)
Games vs.All Ranked Opponents(wins in parentheses)1. MSU 59 (38)2. Kentucky 55 (34)3. Arizona 53 (36)4. Maryland 50 (27)5. Duke 49 (35)6. Kansas 43 (21)7. Connecticut 42 (26)8. Oklahoma 40 (20)9. Stanford 37 (20)10. Syracuse 30 (17)11. Cincinnati 24 (15)12. Gonzaga 16 (7)13. Tulsa 16 (7)
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). In addition, no team has ever played Duke, Kansas, Kentucky, Syracuse and UCLA during the same regular-season.
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 publications predicts the Spartans will capture their fifth Big Ten championship in the last seven seasons.
 Tom Izzo addresses the media at Media Day. | |
Returning Talent - Michigan State is a preseason Final Four favorite 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.
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.
