Continuing our series power-ranking every First Team All-American in Michigan State Basketball history, coming in at #4 is Mateen Cleaves.
You can see how power-ranking these players can be tough. For reference, #5 was Denzel Valentine and #6 was Shawn Respert. These are, without a doubt, the top six players in MSU history, so ranking them can be a little arbitrary, and I’ve been using a number of factors to do so: college career, college Tournament results, and NBA production.
In terms of a college career, you can argue that Mateen Cleaves had the best career of any Spartan ever. Yes, Magic Johnson also won a National Championship over Larry Bird’s Indiana State team, but he left after his sophomore season, while Cleaves spent all four years contributing big minutes for the Spartans.
He averaged 12.5 points per game for his career, and a startling 6.6 assists-per-game, often choosing to defer to his running mate Morris Peterson. He also led Michigan State to their last National Championship in 2000 over Florida.
His NBA career was far less fruitful. Drafted by hometown team the Detroit Pistons with the 14th pick (the same spot as Denzel Valentine, coincidentally), he struggled in his rookie season and was ultimately traded to the Kings. He never really got traction in the league after that, playing in his NBA game for the Seattle Supersonics in 2005-06.
