Michigan State Basketball: Top 10 fan favorite players of Tom Izzo era

The second member of the 2000 national title squad happens to be No. 1 on this list, but he got a run for his money from Cassius Winston. If Cassius was able to make another run at a Final Four and maybe even bring home the national title this season, he’d probably be No. 1 on this list and maybe even top the list of Tom Izzo’s best players ever.

But we all know what happened (thanks, COVID-19).

Here were are at Mateen Cleaves. Just how beloved was Mateen? Enough so to have a Hall of Fame head coach name his son after him — sort of. Steven Izzo, now on the team as a walk-on, was given the middle name of Mateen when he was born, honoring the point guard who brought a national title home to East Lansing.

The story of Mateen was an interesting one as he was once thought of as a Michigan-lean as a high school prospect, but Izzo won his first major recruiting battle and the rest was history.

Mateen never averaged less than 10 points per game throughout his career, but he was thought of more as a facilitator. He averaged 6.6 assists per game over his MSU career and held the school’s all-time assists record before Cassius broke that in 2019-20.

No Spartan fan will ever forget the moment in the national title game that solidified him as an all-time fan favorite when he sprained his ankle and then came back in the game later on to dribble out the clock in the final seconds with a huge smile on his face, dancing across the court in celebration.