North Carolina State University Athletics
Behind The Scenes With Tony Haynes: Welcome Back Pack
3/11/2002 12:00:00 AM | Pack Athletics
March 11, 2002
By Tony Haynes
Hey NC State, welcome back to the NCAA Tournament. For your first assignment, we hope you'll enjoy your meeting with a program that's coming off of three consecutive Final Four appearances.
No program outside of Durham, North Carolina has enjoyed more success in the last three NCAA Tournaments than the Michigan State Spartans of Coach Tom Izzo. After falling to Duke in the 1999 national semi-finals, MSU stormed back to win it all the next year. As defending national champs, they returned to the Final Four last April before losing to Arizona.
Before becoming unimpressed with Michigan State's 19-11 record this season, consider that the Spartans played their best basketball down the stretch, winning five consecutive regular season games to end the season. Two of those victories were against Big Ten heavyweights Indiana and Ohio State.
This is a team that swept Big Ten champ Ohio State, knocked off Big 12 champion Oklahoma, topped Illinois and defeated Arizona. No wonder Izzo is trying to figure out why his team is a No. 10 seed. NC State is probably wondering the same thing. To put it in perspective, the other No. 10 seeds are Pepperdine, Kent State and Hawaii.
Michigan State's answer to the Wolfpack's Anthony Grundy is a powerfully built sophomore named Marcus Taylor. The 6-3, 195 pound point guard certainly put up Grundy-like numbers this season, averaging 16.7 points per contest. But over his last eight games, Taylor averaged 20.8 points per contest. Along the way, he broke loose for 32 in an 81-76 win at Ohio State. Just a few nights later, Taylor tallied 34 more in a 14-point triumph over Iowa.
And while Taylor's theatrics on offense are impressive, the true calling cards of Michigan State basketball are defense and rebounding. The Spartans' 'junkyard dog defense' held opponents to just 39.5 percent shooting this season. Thinking about dialing long distance? Think again. Teams shot only 29.9 percent from three-point range against MSU this season.
In its best games, NC State has been lethal from the three-point arc. In victories over Virginia and Maryland at the ACC Tournament last weekend, the Wolfpack drained 24 of 45 long-range bombs. Duke, which like Michigan State prides itself in taking away threes, was less accommodating in three one-sided victories over the Pack.
"Our main thing was to take away the threes and not put them at the foul line," Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said after his team defeated NC State in Sunday's ACC title game.
The Wolfpack, which more than held its own on the boards last weekend, will really be tested on the glass against a Michigan State team that outrebounded its opponents by an average of eight per game during the regular season. In center Jason Andreas (6-10, 245), and forwards Aloysius Anagonye (6-8, 255) and Adam Ballinger (6-9, 250), the Spartans feature three frontline space eaters that protect the lane and bang the boards.
So what's the conclusion of this latest "Behind the Scenes with Tony Haynes" diatribe? As a No. 7 seed, NC State got an awfully tough draw for the first round. But hey, this is the NCAA Tournament and it's not supposed to be easy. It sure beats staying at home or even playing in the NIT.
Welcome back Pack.
