Just Like 1979: Spartan Magic

Magic Johnson was standing in the RCA Dome hallway, cameras all around, when Mateen Cleaves’ mother stepped up to hug him.

“Watching you on TV so many years ago in ‘79, that set this goal for us,” Cleaves’ mother, Frances, told Johnson. “I’m just as proud as your mother was in ’79.”

Johnson said he was as nervous watching Michigan State play for the national championship as he was when he played against Indiana State in the title game in 1979.

“My hands were sweating like I would be playing the game,” he said.

By the way, he said he knew Cleaves was coming back (from his injury).

“An ankle, a foot, whatever, wasn’t going to keep him out,” Johnson said.

“This will change his life. It will. Now he doesn’t have to hear about his shooting. He’s a winner, that’s what he is. I remember hearing I couldn’t shoot, this and that, would I make it in the NBA?”

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Florida’s Teddy Dupay on the play where Cleaves’ was injured:

“The whistle had blown, but he kept going so I kept going,” Dupay said. “We just got tangled up. We’re both competitive guys. No, I never intentionally hurt anybody.”

What if Cleaves couldn’t have returned?

“To tell the truth, I thought he’d be back sooner,” Dupay said. “No matter what happened, I didn’t think he was out of the game. If he broke his leg, his ankle, tore his Achilles, he wouldn’t miss it.”

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Michigan State’s NCAA championship broke a streak of seven Big Ten teams that reached the Final Four but failed to win. The last winner was Michigan in 1989.

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Florida missed an opportunity to set a school record for victories. The Gators’ 29 wins tied the 1994 Final Four team for most in school history. . . . Michigan State’s starting guards outscored Florida’s, 27-0. . . . Florida’s Udonis Haslem made 10 of 12 shots while scoring 27 points, and his 83.3% shooting ranked second only to Bill Walton’s 21-22 for UCLA in the 1973 title game.