MSU Red Cedar Message Board

I have to take issue with this statement. This is utter bullshit. Izzo did not build the program on players from Detroit, which was Uncle Ed's sphere of influence. The Flintstones, Hutson, Granger, Richardson, Randolph, Taylor, Torbert, Anderson, Hill, Brown and Davis were all from areas outside of Detroit and Martins purview. The only player that was from Detroit was Ager, and he was so lightly thought of coming out of high school that I doubt he would have received much attention from Easy Ed. All played key roles in building the program. By the time Izzo returned to Detroit to get Lucas and Summers, this thing was rolling, Martin was dead, and Michigan was still trying to learn how to be competitive without cheating. The accident was the beginning of the end for UM, but had very little to do with MSU's rise.

Ager was a 4 star who we got over Marquette and Missouri. 54th in the nation on RSCI.

EDIT: I can't edit for shit on mobile so you're just gonna have to appreciate the sentiment.

I love the statement in question because the unspoken accompaniment is "... because we had to stop cheating."
It's not like the rollover was the best thing to happen to MSU because a cleanly recruited Fab Five died a firey death and the program couldn't recover.
The rollover was the best thing that happened to MSU because it brought to light the blatant cheating in which U-M had engaged for the better part of two decades and they were forced to stop.
The fact that the rollover happened to coincide with MSU appointing an 800 lb. Gorilla with a chainsaw cock to its Head Basketball Coach

The SUV was leased to Maurice Taylor.

Took forever to find out how the lease was written because the value of the leased SUV was about double the value of the home the unemloyed or underemployed aunt who allegedly signed the lease for Taylor. That detail took an awful lot of time to find. Finding the dealer who wrote the lease, who then couldn't locate the lease paper work.

My dad and i were in trippers and ran into izzo having a beer, he was weirdly happy... Celebrating (if i recall correctly he only had 1)... We later found out cleaves had committed that night

All these cute threads this past week in digging up the past are well orchestrated. They should be spaced out further so its not so obvious.

"Mar. 10, 1997

Michigan and the Big Ten Conference release a joint inquiry report to the NCAA. U-M admits to two minor violations involving a booster, Ed Martin. The report praises U-M basketball head coach Steve Fisher for thwarting possible major violations, but admonishes the coach for not reporting the problems to athletic director Joe Roberson."

Oh, well done, Coach Fisher, you paragon of integrity, you.

One you can't handle? I guess.

I do enjoy the fact you always think you are the smartest person on the board.

So happy you set such a low bar.

IIRC, Mateen acknowledged (during ESPN gameday at MSU, I think)that Florida State was interested in him as a QB. What an athlete!

Good gravy, there are a lot of conflicting facts in this thread. Are you guys all guessing?

I have some insider knowledge, and would like to set the record straight. I was riding with the AA police that night, doing field research for a short chapter in my first novel , "Fast Break". When we first came upon the scene of the rollover of the Range Rover, Cleaves was obviously hurt worse than the rest of the occupants. Still he helped all of them - Glen Rice, Bo Shembechler, Maurice "Tractor" Taylor, Antoine Joubert, Manny Harris and LaVelle Blanchard - out of the wreckage before the vehicle was engulfed in flames.

He was already close with some of the other Flintstones, having played a lot of summer and AAU ball with them, so he called them to come pick him up and take him to Izzo's house. IIRC, the guys who came down that night from Flint were Skiles, Respert, Bell, Smith, Hutson, Steve Cherry and Mike Chappelle. Jason Richardson, who played for Flint Northern, was in the NBA dunk contest that night and couldn't make it, but did call back on his cellular bag phone afterwards. Z. Randolph would have come, but was serving an in-school suspension for having a flare gun in his locker. Apparently, a shop project had gone awry, and he was really bummed.

Cleaves started every game as a freshman and led the B1G in scoring (though we called it the Big 13 minus 2 back then). He was the fifth player-coach in Big 13 minus 2 history, following in the footsteps of Terry Furlow, Bill Russell, Scott Skiles, and Antoine Joubert.

The rich history of Flint hoops and MSU carries on to this day. From original Flintstones like Magic and Mateen, to today's rugged Flintstones like Austin Thornton and Branden Dawson, this is a legacy that started in a leased Range Rover - registered to Gary Grant, BTW - on that rainy August night.

Edit: Forgot to answer the OP's question on how Izzo landed Cleaves. With no Ed Martin on our payroll, Izzo had to take care of bizness on his own. He got Cleaves a fake ID (thanks to the connections of a certain Texas Ranger whose name rhymes with "truck taurus") and a $20 QD gift card. Deal done.

I laughed. Well done.