0003300111
DETROIT FREE PRESS
000330
Thursday, March 30, 2000
METRO FINAL
1D
MITCH ALBOM
Copyright (c) 2000, Detroit Free Press
CHAPPELL NO LONGER AN OUTSIDER WITH MSU
THE SPARTANS left for the Final Four on Wednesday night, most of them thinking
glory and championships. One of them was thinking about the bus ride. And the
plane ride. And the locker room.
And it makes him nearly as happy as hitting a winning jumper.
"I may run home and get my camcorder, just to film all the little stuff," he
says.
Mike Chappell belongs. Oh, he may not have had the greatest season this year.
He may just now be finding his stride. But he's part of it. He's inside. Last
year at this time, when Michigan State went to the Big Dance, Chappell went
stag. Because he had transferred from Duke, he was forced to sit out the
season -- one of college basketball's incredibly hypocritical rules -- and was
forbidden to participate in most team activities.
So, come Final Four time, Chappell couldn't travel with the Spartans. He had
to buy a plane ticket. And he couldn't ride the team bus, so he and his
parents shared a cab. He was allowed to hang out at the team hotel, but he
couldn't sleep there. So at the end of the evenings -- when the fun really got
started, when buddies like Mateen Cleaves and Morris Peterson were in their
rooms, sharing the midnight talk, laughing at some stupid joke, throwing
things across the beds, being everything college kids get to be -- Chappell
went back to his hotel room across town, like a tourist.
He was the insider, on the outside. A kid with his nose to the window. To make
matters worse, MSU's opponent in the semifinals was -- who else? -- Duke.
Chappell watched his old teammates battle his new teammates -- not from either
bench, but from the stands.
Talk about a man without a country.
The road to East Lansing
"When I was a kid, I used to write lists of my goals and put them on my
walls," says Chappell, a lean, sleek-looking junior forward, designed for
shooting, which is his specialty. "I knew what I wanted to accomplish when I
was in eighth grade, ninth grade, 10th grade . . ."
And for a while, it seemed as if his roller coaster would never dip. Chappell
grew to 6-feet-9 and became a big star at Southfield-Lathrup, good enough to
not only be pursued by major universities, but to have his pick.
So instead of choosing nearby Michigan or Michigan State, he selected Duke.
After all, only the really special players get to go there, right? "I was
young and maybe I was caught up in the appeal of playing there," he admits. "I
thought it was too good an opportunity to pass up."
For a while, he seemed correct. He was embraced upon his arrival at Durham,
N.C. He even led the ACC in three-point shooting for a stretch. As a starter
for Mike Krzyzewski, he was often praised by the coach. He seemed to be on the
road to a Grant Hill/Christian Laettner-like experience.
Then things changed. His playing time diminished. His output dimmed. He was
like a flashlight losing battery strength. Duke recruited Corey Maggette, who
everyone knew was going to be a major star, and he could play Chappell's
position.
At the end of his sophomore year, Chappell decided he wanted out. He wanted to
come home.
He transferred to MSU. Which, of course, meant a year of sitting around, not
playing. NCAA policy. Never mind that college coaches can quit a team one day
and be recruiting a new team the next day -- and they get paid! Never mind.
When you play college basketball, you work for the NCAA. Their ball. Their
rules.
So Chappell sat around East Lansing, being part of the team but not on the
team. Celebrating without contributing. During games -- such as last year's
Final Four -- he was dry and dressed, and, as any athlete will tell you, if
you don't break a sweat, you don't feel involved.
The road to Indianapolis
All that, of course, was supposed to go away this season. A breakout year for
the hometown kid. This being the state of Michigan, everyone remembered
Chappell as a high school hero, and, well, if he could bring that talent to an
already loaded team ...
It didn't work out that way, Chappell started slowly and never hit stride. For
most of the season, he didn't even average seven points, and his shooting --
always his trump card -- was off.
"I think I was my own worst enemy," he says. "I set goals so high they were
impossible to reach. I started feeling like I was letting everyone down around
me, and then it feels like the weight of the world is on you. Then you start
thinking too much, second-guessing yourself on the court.
"I lost my instinct. I would catch a pass and think, 'Should I shoot or should
I drive?' By the time I thought, it was too late."
Slowly, he has begun to emerge from that funk. His shooting has improved, with
his confidence and attitude. The young boy inside of him has grown up, and has
realized you don't always hit the goals on that piece of paper. But you have
to go on.
"Did I think when I came out of high school that I'd be a bench player in my
junior year? No," he says, being refreshingly honest. "But I don't think
anybody could have foreseen what happened to me these last few years."
Nor can anyone foresee the ending. It would be something if the roller coaster
finished on a high note, if Chappell somehow hit a big shot at the Big Dance.
But he's not thinking that way. He took no joy when Duke was eliminated ("I
felt bad for the guys I know on that team") and he has no "It's my time" chip
on his shoulder.
Instead, he wants to savor every little moment on this trip, because he knows
what it smells like and looks like as an outsider.
Say, to quote the Monkees, here they come, Indianapolis, say hello to the
Spartans, including the big names you know, and the one that sounds vaguely
familiar. Don't worry about Mike Chappell. He'll be easy to spot.
He'll be the one filming the bus ride.
Contact MITCH ALBOM at 313-223-4581 or albom@freepress.com. Catch "Albom in
the Afternoon" 3-6 p.m. weekdays on WJR-AM (760).
THIS ELECTRONIC VERSION MAY DIFFER SLIGHTLY FROM THE PRINTED ARTICLE.
COLUMN;MSU;BASKETBALL;COLLEGE;MIKE CHAPPELL