EAST LANSING - In the moments after the Michigan State Alumni Game at Jenison Field House, Friday, no one seemed to want to leave the court.

Dozens of players milled around, congratulated each other, and just hung out a while.

No one summed it up better than Steve Smith.

"We have the best basketball fraternity in the country," said Smith, who was an All-America at Michigan State in 1990 and 1991 and a long-time NBA veteran, and now a successful broadcaster. "We have guys out here that blazed the trail for us. I've made some unbelievable friends. From Jenison to Breslin, the Spartan basketball family, and all the fans here, it was great to be back."

Notes & Observations

"D.J. made some shots," Tom Izzo said. "Nix almost fell over in his chair when D.J. made that one. But I didn't like D.J.'s defense."

Stephens also banked in a 3-pointer - probably from all of that practice of missing shots on purpose in orchestrating the war drill during regular work days.

Sure enough, a few seconds later, Donnelly had the ball, and room, and drained a 17-footer from the right wing. Shades of Salt Lake City '79.

Seconds later, Rison had it on the right wing, and nailed a 3-pointer from NBA range.

Then Rison made a steal, led a fastbreak and delivered a drop pass between his legs to Adam Wolfe for a lay-up.

What could have been? Wolfe averaged a sizzling 46 percent from 3-point range during his shortened sophomore season. The 6-foot-9 shooter had 15 points, 12 rebounds and four blocked shots against Nicholls State that year. After his freshman year, he led the Big Ten Foreign Touring team in scoring and rebounding. But his college career ended shortly after becoming a starter.

"That's a drawing of Charlie Bell," she said. "Denzel drew it when he was very young."

Denzel says he doesn't remember drawing it. Mrs. Valentine showed Charlie after the game, when players were milling around the court. He nodded and smiled.

Family.

"I had to come to Jenison to make sure Dre (Rison) didn't tell me any lies about what he did in this game," White said. "I had to see it for myself."

Lo White and Andre still talk quite a bit?

"Yeah, every couple of weeks or so," White said.

Especially during football season. The losses hurt those guys as much as they hurt the rest of us.

"We talk a lot about ... football things that we need to do better," White said with a diplomatic smile.

"I want thank not only these players publicly, because it's unbelievable that they all came back," he said. "We're going to have a little function at my house tonight. To think that all these guys came back is awesome.

"But what's really awesome is to think that all of you came here. And I want to thank each and every one of you. It brings back memories to look up in the corners and see this place packed. So give yourself a hand. The players appreciate it. Michigan State appreciates it and I really appreciate it."

David Thomas 14

Charie Bell 13

Morris Peterson 13

Adam Wolfe 11

Delco Rowley 9

Austin Thornton 8

Kelvin Torbert 8

Antonio Smith 6

Dujuan Wiley 6

Steve Cherry 5

Jon Zulauf 4

Idong Ibok 3

Andre Rison 3

Tim Bograkos 4

Mateen Cleaves 4

Jon Garavaglia 4

Gerald Gilkie 2

Anthony Hamo 2

David Hart 2

Andre Hutson 2

Ray Weathers 18

Steve Smith 13

Isaiah Dahlman 11

Darryl Johnson 11

Aloysius Anagonye 9

Travis Walton 8

Kevin Willis 8

Matt Steigenga 6

Dwayne Stephens 5

Kris Weshinskey 5

Mike Peplowski 4

Ralph Walker 3

Jason Aertz 3

Daimon Beathea 3

Bill Cawood 2

Terry Donnelly 2

Anthony Miller 2

Edgar Wilson 2