Mateen Cleaves was the Michigan State point guard, strong and swift with the ball; fiery and emotional in the locker room; calm and collected when the game was on the line.

Izzo had the best point guard in the country at his disposal, which is why it was no surprise, Izzo says, his Spartans wound up cutting the nets down in Indianapolis last year.

Charlie Bell has helped fill the void left by Mateen Cleaves' departure for the NBA.(Allsport)

"Guard play is so critical and we had the best," said Izzo. "Mateen saved us on so many occasions."

Conventional wisdom says you can't win a national championship without great guard play. Izzo is a believer, to a degree, in that theory.

Izzo and the Spartans enter this year's tournament much same way they did last year with a No. 1 seed, a share of the Big Ten title and three regular-season losses. His problem is he does not have the same complete confidence that when things break down, he has a floor leader that can bail him out. He likes his point guards, but neither is Mateen Cleaves.

The teams with that prime point -- Jason Williams at Duke, Jamaal Tinsley at Iowa State or Jason Gardner at Arizona, to name a few -- might be the team to beat this year.

"How important is a point guard?" asks former Louisville Hall of Fame coach Denny Crum. "I won two national championships and both times I had freshmen big men. You can win with freshmen big men, but you can't win without great guards to control the play."

This year for the Spartans, Izzo relies on freshman Marcus Taylor and senior Charlie Bell to handle the point. While both bring skill to the position, neither is as polished, tough or emotional as Cleaves. If a point guard is an extension of a coach on the floor, then Cleaves and Izzo, both intense, vocal former football players, were born for each other. Bell and Taylor, meanwhile, are smoother, more laid-back players.

Dealing with that emotional change has been the season's greatest challenge for Izzo. He admits he was spoiled by Cleaves demanding intensity from teammates on the court or leading the work ethic in practice. Above the players' entrance onto the Breslin Center floor is a quote from Cleaves about "leaving it all on the floor."

"There were games when we'd play poorly in the first half and I'd be ready to tear into them in the locker room," said Izzo, who last summer named his adopted son, Stephen Mateen. "By the time I got in there, Mateen would already be chewing them out. He'd be saying this and that and I'd listen and then not have much to say. Mateen would have said it all."

Cleaves laughs at those stories.

"Coach and I had a special relationship, we always thought alike," said Cleaves, now with the Detroit Pistons. "If he wasn't on us then I was."

But it was more than that warrior mentality that led the Spartans to the championship. Cleaves could play -- efficient in the half-court set, daring yet effective on the break. He threw perfect ally-oops to Morris Peterson, but also delivered the ball down low to Andre Hutson. Like all great players, he called for the ball to make a pass, not just to shoot.

A three-time All American, Cleaves averaged 14.2 points and 4.5 assists per game in the NCAA Tournament a year ago.

"He was just critical for us," said Izzo.

"Hey," said Cleaves, "you know I am going to say point guard is the most important position. You know I'm not going to give that to the big guys."

Izzo misses Cleaves, no question about that, but that doesn't mean he is down on his current guards. He loves the complete play of Bell, who isn't a pure point, and the budding stardom and shooting ability of Taylor. He has seen both take over games this season for the 27-4 Spartans.

He also believes he doesn't need superior play from his point guard. If you have the best, Izzo says, it helps. But not as much as poor play hurts. He is demanding steady, not spectacular, play from his guys.

"Charlie and Marcus, those two guys have to play well," said Izzo. "Those two guys are still the quarterbacks of this team and you have to have good guard play.

"In another football analogy, the (Baltimore) Ravens didn't have a great quarterback this year, but he did the things that allowed them to win. I'm not sure he helped them win. But I don't think he hurt them."

In basketball, hurting is not getting the offense started and, most importantly, turning the ball over. Izzo says he cannot tolerate the turnovers.

"You just can't be turning the ball over," he said.

The defending champions no longer have the best point guard in the NCAA Tournament. They don't have their emotional floor leader, either. Izzo believes point guard by committee -- the gritty first-team senior and the talented freshman -- can overcome the loss of Cleaves. Still, play at the point is clearly the major question mark for an otherwise strong Spartan team.

"I guess you get spoiled by (Cleaves)," he said. "But I think we will be fine. Charlie and Marcus are going to do fine."