Player of the Year

Sporting News, The, March 20, 1995

After years of watching the spotlight focus on five others who played nearby, Michigan State's Shawn Respert finally grabbed the nation's attention as one who is equally worthy Of the label: Fab. In a voting by coaches, Respert was chosen Player of the Year. Massachusetts' Lou Roe finished second; Maryland's Joe Smith was third.

"There are a lot of people who have helped me throughout my career," Respert says. "My family for their support and love, my coaches who saw things in me that I didn't even know I had, and my teammates who have worked hard and who have not received as much recognition as they should. This is an award that goes to all those people as well as myself."

Already an outstanding shooter, Respert sharpened his overall game the last two summers by playing with Roe, Arizona's Damon Stoudamire and UCLA's Ed O'Bannon in the 1993 World University Games and 1994 Goodwill Games.

This season, he became unstoppable from anywhere on the court, consistently scoring against increasingly physical double- and triple-teams -- yet within the team concept.

"Shawn gives us a maturity and a perspective on priorities. He isn't obsessed with statistics," Coach Jud Heathcote says. "He's more into winning and helping our kids get a feel for what's important and what isn't."

Minnesota guard Townsend Orr says: "He's showed a lot of unselfishness in the last year. He's learned how to score and still get everybody else involved. There's no way you can stop him from getting his points."

Respert finished the season among the Big Ten's top five all-time leading scorers and has led the Spartans to one of their best records in recent seasons. He credits the latter as the reason he is being noticed.

"I argued for three years about being in the shadow of the Fab Five," Respert says. "But I've kind of learned why. ... The thing is those guys were winners. People don't want to read about mediocre teams because so many teams fall in the middle. Now that we have a winning record, everyone wants to know who Shawn Respert is and where he has been. Well, he's here, the same place he has been for three years. But we haven't been in first place."

He could have entered the NBA draft last year as a junior but decided to return. Now, he might be a lottery pick. "At first, it was hard, seeing friends in the league and knowing I could compete at that level," he says. "But I had to take a long-range view. This was the best thing to do, as a player and a person."