Mateen Cleaves: his name is "magical" at MSU

When asking who is the second greatest player to ever wear a Michigan State basketball uniform (with Magic Johnson being the greatest) most often you will get the name Mateen Cleaves...

Cleaves, a native of Flint, Michigan, led the Spartans to the 2000 national title over Florida - their second in school history - and was named the tournment's Most Outstanding Player...Cleaves will be remembered for spraining his ankle early in the second half and limping to the lockers...with Florida closing in to take the lead, Cleaves returned four minutes later to help Michigan State go on a 16-6 run to put the game away...

Cleaves was the Spartans only three-time All-American and was named Big Ten Player of the Year twice...he is the Big Ten's all-time leader in career assists with 816...in his final home game on senior night, Cleaves dished out 20 assists, breaking the Big Ten single-game and career assist marks...

But Cleaves' success never translated at the NBA level...he was drafted 14th overall by the hometown Detroit Pistons...he lasted just six years in the NBA - mainly as a bench warmer...he then played for the U.S. D-League and for teams in Europe before finally calling it career after the 2009 season...

On March 14, 2010, Cleaves joined Fox Sports Detroit as a Detroit Pistons studio analyst...he is also involved in the music industry as an owner of the record label All Varsity Entertainment, featuring Jon Connor...it was reported in today's newpaper (March 24th) that Cleaves was recently arrested for drunk driving...