INDIANAPOLIS -- Michigan State star Morris Peterson rejoined the team for Friday's workout after attending services for his grandmother, who died last weekend.
Peterson, a senior from Flint, Mich., had flown to Mississippi to be with family members as they prepared for the funeral of Clara Mae Spencer, who died last Saturday from complications of a February stroke. Peterson, who said his grandmother was among his closest friends, said it was a relief to concentrate on basketball."I've been on kind of an emotional roller coaster," he said. "(Thursday) gave me a chance to see her and be with my family. They just encouraged me to go out and have a great game. I know she's going to be with me in spirit."
Peterson, winner of the Tribune's Silver Basketball as Big Ten MVP, hopes to have another big game against Wisconsin today. In three games against the Badgers he has averaged 17 points, highest among the Spartans.
BIG DIPPERS: Critics have snickered over Wisconsin's athleticism, or lack thereof. But the Badgers followed Final Four protocol and put on a respectable dunk show at Friday's public workout in the RCA Dome.
"We have some athletic guys," said forward Mark Vershaw, who isn't among them. "I hope it showed that we have a few guys who can dunk."
Consensus for best dunk went to 6-foot-5-inch guard Duany Duany, who threw down a 360-degree slam. Vershaw made a two-handed monster jam and noted, "That's pretty much my arsenal."
DEAL WITH IT: Last year Michigan State players said the biggest adjustment to the Final Four was the media. There are hordes of reporters roaming the streets and there seems to be a live television shot going on every street corner in Indianapolis' dozy downtown.
"You're not used to all the attention, the media after practice, outside the hotel, everywhere you go," Badgers forward Charlie Wills said. "You're like, enough. But you also know that this is where you want to be."
Wills, a product of Angola, Ind., is among three Hoosiers in the MSU-Wisconsin game. The others are teammate Duany, who lived in Bloomington, and Michigan State forward Adam Ballinger, a Bluffton product.
"HOOSIERS" REVISITED? With his eighth-seeded team playing the role of huge underdog and this being the basketball-mad state of Indiana's capital city Wisconsin coach Dick Bennett was asked if he was familiar with the movie "Hoosiers."
"I've seen the movie at least 17 or 18 times," Bennett said. "I had a copy, someone took it; probably a media guy or something. But I like Gene Hackman as an actor, always have. I thought he was always good, especially good in that movie. That was a high school setting. We practiced at (Butler University's) Hinkle Field House yesterday. We didn't get the ladder out. But I eyeballed the rim and it was 10 feet. I told the kids that -- except we're not playing there.